Welcome our first drummer guest, Aaron Johnson of River Valley Worship, to Summer of Sounds!

Aaron is a Minneapolis-based drummer, producer and instructor. With over 20 years of experience in live performance, recording sessions and teaching, he has always had a deep passion in building and serving the local church. He has played drums and been the music director for River Valley Worship for the past 15 years appearing on over 14 River Valley Worship albums during that time.  He has done remote sessions, clinics, and live performances with artists and churches all across the U.S.  

Aaron talks about the first time God gave him a vision for the purpose of his life, serving the song as a drummer, and how gear quality is important, but it’s more about how you play. Listen to the episode on all platforms!

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Welcome Peter James to our second Summer of Sounds podcast episode, hosted by Mike Graff of Coresound!

Many consider Peter James to be one of the most influential sound designers and keys players in modern worship, and the pioneer of creating software instrument templates for live use. He has contributed to over 45 Hillsong albums and his sounds are featured on countless Netflix and HBO series like The Walking Dead, Good Girls, and many more. In this episode, Pete speaks on tapping into emotion in his sound design, the music that has inspired him over the years, and how he feels about God’s calling on his life.

Listen to the episode today on every platform!

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The Summer of Sounds series, hosted by Mike Graff of Coresound, is here!

In addition to 25 years as keyboardist, musical director, and producer for Michael W. Smith, Jim Daneker has had a diverse musical career. He has produced albums, arranged and written music for film (including trailers for Hollywood blockbusters such as the Fast and The Furious franchise, Transformers 2, Chronicles of Narnia, and several Disney projects), and most recently, created a virtual instrument series under the banner Backstage Pass. Whether an epic film score, album production, orchestral arrangements or synth programming, Jim's pursuit of excellence is passionate and relentless.

Jim shares the start of his journey in Nashville, sound design insights, the genesis of Backstage Pass and how through it all, his career has been full of “God stories.”

Listen to the episode today on every platform! Jim Daneker also teases new synth sounds coming to MultiTracks.com. Explore his sound bundles here.

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“One aspect of recording the crowd is you want to get the room in terms of the whole picture. But then the other aspects you’re trying to capture are those special worship moments that are happening in specific places. If you pick one or the other, I don’t think you’re truly capturing the worship that’s happening.”

Geek out with us on all the technical aspects of capturing Elevation Worship’s latest album LION featuring LJ Mitchell (Music Director) and Jonathan Mix (Head Audio Engineer)! Every Elevation Worship album sonically reflects where their church is right now, and LION is no exception.

 LJ and J Mix discuss why Elevation calls their live recordings “Nights of Worship,” the spiritual sweet spot of marrying spontaneity and structure, the last-minute addition backstory of “Same God,” and more.

Check out this inspiring episode today!

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“I write my best songs when I get lost in His presence.”

Jonathan David & Melissa Helser long to empower those they encounter with the truth that Jesus died to be with us and vibrantly lives inside of us. In 2007, the Helsers hosted their first discipleship school called the 18 Inch Journey, named for the distance between the head and the heart.

Jonathan joined us to speak on the mission of this school, spontaneous worship moments, and the unique recording process of The Land I’m Livin' In: “We wanted this school and this land to be embedded into the fabric of the album.”

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On the heels of her debut album CLARITY, DOE joins us for an episode on bridging the worlds of secular and worship music.

An artist that coalesces several genres into one, DOE declares that “God reigns in both the secular and Christian worlds” and explores the fact that when you communicate with people in the language they speak in, you can reach them more fully.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did! Resources for CLARITY are now available!

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Our first podcast episode of 2022 is a special one. Songwriter, father, husband, mentor and worship pastor at The Austin Stone, Aaron Ivey joins us to speak on the crucial topic of Racial Reconciliation and how it is intrinsically linked with the message of the Gospel.

Our host Chris Baker and Aaron are both a part of multicultural families and they share how that has influenced their worship leading, preaching and how they live life. “Reconciliation is what we’re told heaven will look like. Why wait for heaven to have true reconciling happen?”

Check out this convicting conversation today!

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Carlos Whittaker is a People’s Choice Award winner, a former recording artist, a social media maven, and currently spends the majority of his time writing books and speaking on stages around the world. Carlos fearlessly confronts tough topics and encourages a culture of healthy communication, giving the people who engage with his content the opportunity to focus on helping and serving one another, and looking past each other’s differences.

On our final episode of 2021, Carlos and Kristian lean into the wisdom from his book, Kill the Spider: Getting Rid of What's Really Holding You Back (2017). Carlos unpacks his own personal “cobwebs” and defines “killing the spider” as breaking the agreements we’ve made, either knowingly or subconsciously, with lies that are typically sown in childhood. He urges us to confess, reject and replace these lies by immersing ourselves in scripture, and declaring who we are as sons and daughters in Christ.

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