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Top 10 things that annoy me about modern worship music recordings

April 20, 2010 at 6:15 am, by Rich Kirkpatrick

Once in a while, a general vent is what blogging is expected to offer as well as the self-indulgent list. So here we go. As one who listens to many church modern worship recordings and who has recorded a bit, I noticed a few things that really seem to make this music unapproachable to the uninitiated person.

In other words, there are some signature and cliches we use in worship recordings that may not be helping us in relating to the average person out there who first hears it. This is all pretty subjective, but maybe there is something to learn from a list like this.

Top 10 things that annoy me about modern worship music recordings

  1. Auto tuned backing vocals, that are overdubbed a thousand times
  2. every song is four-on-the-floor (kick drum every beat, for the lay person)
  3. 7 electric guitars are overdubbed (so,what worship team has that many?)
  4. Loops that sound like crickets and chirpy things that jar you, rather than pull a song along.
  5. Does this tune have an ending? Really.
  6. How about the bridge that keeps repeating then getting louder each time.
  7. Tap delay on the guitar on EVERY song…so 1990s! Nothing wrong with a bit of overdrive or clean, right?
  8. LIVE recording does not have to mean your are in a cave!
  9. Did I hear this CD before?

Anything I am missing, besides a sense of humor?

Categories Music, Worship Leading | Tags:

  • Craig

    Oh, according to the worship guy at my church .8th delay is what defines modern worship music. That’s why I’m not playing at my church.

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Hi Craig,

      It does not have to Craig! I like the tap delay, but there are many sounds you can get out of an electric guitar.

      I can even learn tap-delay…I bet you could do it if required, eh?

      • Craig

        Rich,

        I totally agree, I think that delay of any kind is a valuable tool. I am actively working to incorporate .8th into my playing. I have actually been taking lessons for this and some other stuff (after 17 years of playing in worship). I am actually excited to broaden my knowledge.

        The reason why I will probably not be playing at my church for this particular worship guy, is more about attitude. For someone my age .8th delay was modern in the 80′s when U2 got big. Now its a great tool, but it’s not modern. To insist otherwise seems out of touch. My other issue is kind of a leadership/vision/team thing. I see the worship leader position as one that should be taking the individual talents or styles of folks and using them to craft something bigger. Not to force people into some mold just because it’s “modern worship”. I also have a problem with the “cover band” mentality. Again, I get learning parts and licks, I’ve done it for years, but there is a point at which it’s not just replicating the CD (especially your 7 guitar overdubs), seems to miss the point of what we’re there for.

        Fortunately, I have a much healthier situation that is a great fit while I work on some new stuff.

        Thanks for the blog, I really enjoy your wisdom.

        • Craig

          For the record, I really don’t look like Boris Yeltsin. I can’t make the picture go away.

  • http://garydurbin.blogspot.com Gary Durbin

    Way too many covers of “it is Well”. Seriously, how many times has it been redone on worship projects?

    Also, it seems that the art of the great melody line has been lost. Some of the songs are way too dependent on the instrumentation and the recording process…(i.e. 7 electric guitars overdubbed.)

  • http://klampert.com klampert

    add to that…

    -naming your greatest hits CD after a song you “covered” and didn’t write
    -rehashing the same hymns over and over again
    -coming out with a “new” CD with nothing new on it
    -coming out with a Live CD with all the stuff from the regular one you put out a few days ago
    -writing all your music to sound like hillsong and coldplay had a baby
    -not being creative lyrically
    -when you are creative lyrically the Church forces you to change the lyrics cus they are “uncomfortable”
    -using the lyrics “we are gonna party” anywhere ever!

    • Alastair

      Just brilliant Joel. Love your list.

  • nate

    that every live worship record starts with a crowd cheering. Just in case you didn’t see that it said “Live” on the front of the record, here’s the crowd cheering. AND they make it sound like 85,000 people when it was no where near that amount

  • http://allglory.blogspot.com David Paul Regier

    Missing:

    Real instruments
    Real singers
    Real room
    Real congregation

  • Craig

    Every song structure is the same (yet my drummers can’t seem to remember them).

    Verse – chorus – verse – chorus – chorus – chorus with drums dropped out – build up chorus – chorus end.

    Seriously every song!

  • Craig

    Fun post Rich, it’s nice to indulge in venting once in a while. Some time back a Blog posted “Top Fie” worst worship songs…A Firestorm raged, not everybody appreciated it.

  • http://churchaudio.blogspot.com Jeremy Blasongame

    recording everything in the studio then overdubbing some crowd cheering to make it a live album. (Yes we did that).

    All the worship music recorded today appeals to women going through menopause, is there no music that appeals to men?

    Being a recording engineer, I’ve seen a big project come in the door and know that the sort of people who usually want to record a worship CD shouldn’t. Mostly because they’re reptiles.

    A live worship album is NEVER live. When the words auto-tune, beat detective, or overdub are used, it’s a studio album.

    • craig

      With you Jeremy…lets put some beef back into worship. These days everyone is “The Worship Whisperer” light airy vocals in the key of, “I need tighter pants to sing that.”

      • http://supermatt28.wordpress.com Matt Anderson

        Tansponse . . . capo . . . be creative yourself?

  • http://inspiringworship.wordpress.com paul

    My peeve: another hymn remake that sounds like the last remake that sounds like the last remake…etc!
    On occasion I like a new version of a great song, but not crazy about a new version of a poor song over and over. But I am so guilty of verse, chorus, bridge buildup & down, repeat chorus 3 times etc.

  • http://Supermatt28.wordpress.com Matt Anderson

    Wow Rich! I do agree with a lot of it. There is a lot of un-reproducable stuff I recorded worship music. Maybe even a lot of cloning of sounds. That seems to be what we do really well, mimic and immitate the ‘popular culture’. However, I believe that worship leaders need to be creative and usethe giftings that they have, and that those they are surrounded with. DC*B for instance has 3 guitarist all doing different yet melodic things, their last album had 3 layers of drums, synthesizers etc. When I lead worship I cannot reproduce it. My challenge is to then creatively adapt it to my and my band’s giftings. I’m not saying it isn’t frustrating and annoying. Ithink th fact that most songs are in 4/4 is annoying and shows either a lack of creativity or a desire to be marketable. I don’t really have an expert opinion, just another opinion.

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Matt, you are approaching things correctly I think. A really good song can be covered more than one way, so making it fit your band to sound excellent is a key.

      • Craig

        A friend of mine who comes to play guitar for me once in a while says this “We don’t let the song dictate the musicians, we let the musicians dictate the songs”.

        Craig (The Other Craig who doesn’t look like Boris Yeltsin)

  • http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com andrew

    feel sorry for you if you listen to that every sunday. funny!!!!! peace

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Andrew…fortunate for my church and I that is NOT the case :) we are in fact working on more variety.

  • http://churchaudio.blogspot.com Jeremy Blasongame

    Craig, I love your comment, you just made my day!! Variety is a very good thing. Otherwise you become musically constipated.

  • http://supermatt28.wordpress.com Matt Anderson

    As I was mulling this over this came to my mind. “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9. This may not be on point, but seems relevant to the discussion nonetheless. Seems like we want something new and creative and different, and even above I talked about that. That verse tells us the truth plain and simple.

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Matt…is that verse literal OR could it be the bitterness of Solomon based on his choices–a lush life that tainted the appreciation for the new. His father said “Sing the Lord a NEW song”…so…hmm…

      • http://supermatt28.wordpress.com Matt Anderson

        Yes a new song indeed. I think my application of the scripture was more as to time signatures, build ups, drops outs styles and even words. I think the combination of music is vast, and thus a new song is easy to create, maybe the right new song is not easy to create however. Just sharin’ whats in my head! Love you Rich!

  • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

    So far NO ONE pointed out that I have only 9 listed for my top 10 list…how lame am I, or what ;)

  • http://realworldworship.com CHRI$TIAN

    I think for me, the biggest annoyance has to do with lyrical creativity. I find most of what’s happening in the worship movement to be very cliche (the words glory and/or glorious should be banned freaking now), repetitive or plagiarized, insignificant and relatively meaningless, and full of insider language. Some of this was actually the topic of the latest episode of Reveal Podcast and is often the topic when I’m in a room full of worship leaders.

    Seems like the church spent so long trying to make it’s music relevant, it forgot to make the words relevant, too. I’m finding that I’m using popular songs in worship more meaningful to most of the folks in our church community than what’s being marketed as worship music these days.

    • http://supermatt28.wordpress.com Matt Anderson

      Shouldn’t we plagiarize words and phrases from the Bible? That might be the real issue with repetitiveness, in my opinion the worship song should come from the heart with the support of scripture. So lines will be repeated a lot. I highly doubt we’ll get a song out of John 11:35 . . . but I could be wrong.

  • http://realworldworship.com CHRI$TIAN

    I believe I mean plagiarizing other worship songs. And if you’re going to use scripture, even that should be done in innovative and fresh ways. Worship should be captivating. Largely, it is not.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=667916634 Andy Liggins

    Does anyone know any good SAD worship songs, i.e. which speak about people’s real day to day experience? Or by definition are they not WORSHIP songs??

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      How about “Psalm 13-How Long Oh Lord” by Brian Doerksen?

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=667916634 Andy Liggins

        thanks – I’ll check that out

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