A Recordist in Training

Sunday, November 1 — I begin recordist training tomorrow.

There are nine trainees, plus trainers, from Australia, England, USA,
Thailand, and Kenya! All those accents! I hope I can understand
everyone’s English. Thankfully, a lot of the training is hands-on.
Thursday, November 5 — Jumping right into using recording equipment.
Every day, trainers demonstrate techniques and then we handle the
equipment and practice skills under their guidance. We use a compact,
solid state recorder/mixer called MixPre6. We’re also learning the
cultures and worldviews of the people for whom we’ll be making
recordings. We go out to the street markets for local food in the
evening, YUM!

Monday, November 9 — So much to learn!

Right now, we’re learning characteristics of sound, microphone
placement, creating a temporary recording space, and Adobe Audition
software for sound editing. We also practice research skills and how to
choose scripts which best fit a culture’s lifestyle and beliefs. We learn
which scripts will grip the heart of a specific people, figure out what
style would interest the audience, and use Bible stories in creative
ways – It’s all so fascinating! GRN’s scripts can be adapted for particular
groups. Writing new scripts is usually done in teams and partnership
with other missions and churches (that’s a relief, writing isn’t my
strong point).

Tuesday, November 17 — All day trip by bus and a long hike tomorrow.

We travel all day tomorrow to the village to make recordings which
will be used in an evangelism outreach next month. This is a “technical”
recording experience which doesn’t include writing, because the
arrangements were already made for us and the scripts chosen and
adapted. We’ll put our research and script adaptation skills to use on
the next trip. I expect we will sleep on the floor and bathe in the river.

Friday, December 3 — Editing and paperwork

Two weeks have flown by! We’ve been busy with editing and logging the
details of our village recording. Not crazy about the paperwork, but it’s
important for a mission handling almost 6,500 languages. Recordings
and paperwork will be sent to the studio where they will be checked for
accuracy and quality.

Friday, December 10 — Finally, I am an assistant recordist!

This training’s been great. I am confident with the recording equipment
and understand the editing process. I’m still learning how to choose
and adapt scripts. That takes experience to master, but there are senior
recordists around to help. I feel like I’ve been given a special tool to
bring Jesus’ salvation to the ends of the earth and I’m eager to start
using it.

You can read this story on page 12 in the 2019 Winter Edition of GR  Magazine.

Who do you know who may make a good global recordist?

Someone who…
• would like to help tell the story of Jesus in other parts of the world
• has traveled outside the USA
• could serve Jesus Christ in another culture
• you would be willing to support on a mission in another country

Encourage them to visit our website here, send them a link to this page, or call the number at the bottom of this webpage.

Read more stories: 2019 Winter Edition of GR  Magazine.