G'day Jah,
I wasn't going to say anything here. You've received lots of good, practical advice, but what Gary, Mac and Don wrote struck a chord (pun intended).

I've been involved in the music team at my church for about 16 or 17 years now as a musician and before that on the mixer. If I've learned anythng in that time then what Gary and Mac said about skill is correct - both of them. What Don added is the most correct.

I applaud your desire to improve the sound of your teams efforts, but it occurs to me that there is a human element too. Take your drummer. I assume (s)he's doing the best they can at their current skill level - you don't want to belittle that. IMHO it would be better to follow Gary's advice and work with them to raise their skill level than try to cover up with a machine.

At the moment, we don't even have a drummer. We have keys, 1 to 3 guitars, bass, 'bone/trumpet/flugel/eupho (me) and flute. Plus 1 to 3 vocalists (in addition to 1 (or 2) guitarist(s) and keys player who also sing). We are blessed with a good team, but it wasn't always this way - it took years of work and we have had team members come and go as well. Praise God we don't have problems with personality clashes, ego's and the like.

When the children of Israel went into battle, the musicians LED them - we're the front rank - but we don't carry the battle. That's everyone's job. Your team needs to be able to lead the congregation, not dominate or replace them - nor entertain them (though that will tend to happen as a matter of course).

As has been mentioned, God looks on the heart. The joyful noise is better if it's also a skillful noise, but joyful is more important. That said, skillfil is necessary 'cos while the congregation probably won't appreciate the skill required to get it right, they'll always spot mistakes and we don't want to distract them.

By spending the time in practice - one on one if necessary - your team will benefit from the fellowship time. One of the things we do at the start of each rehearsal is devotions - sometimes the rehearsal gets cut a bit short - that's OK. The sharing is more important.

Blessya

--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya laugh --=--
You're only paranoid if you're wrong!