Preparing for a Worship Set with Otto and Jayna Gross

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We are joined by the talented musical couple Jayna and Otto Gross. They share their incredible journey from Berkeley College of Music to leading worship in their community. Otto talks about his battle with scoliosis and how it led him to the piano, while Jayna reflects on her role as a student advocate and school counselor. The couple delves into their experience with diverse congregations, particularly at Christ Church Nashville, and discusses the importance of creativity in worship. They also reveal how they prepare for worship sets, including technical aspects like BPM, keys, and tracks. Stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes look at their preparation process and more!

Otto Gross

Jayna Gross

Jayna and Otto Gross

Transcript

Speaker: 0:08

Guys, welcome back to the Worship Keys podcast. Today I have the enormous pleasure of being with Jayna and Otto Gross. Welcome to the podcast guys. Good to have. Good to be here. Thanks for having us. Hey, no, and thank you for welcoming. Me into your studio, Otto and your house, uh, to hang out, um, film some content for you, wonderful people. It is just gonna be a great few weeks with you guys, honestly. Um, we're in Nashville, Tennessee, and I want you guys to, on this episode, just share a little bit of your story with us. , they have a musical story. I love a good musical couple. All right? Like, we love that. We've had a few of those here on the episode, on the podcast, I should say. But this episode is no exception. This wonderful people, Jayna Otto Gross. A few th I'm gonna go ahead and interview you guys a little bit before, before you guys take it away. Sure. I'm just gonna hog the mic for a minute, hog it, but drills me. Yoga, you get to I'm turn them loose, you're gonna hear them play, sing, all the things. Um, but first and foremost, so they went to Berklee College of Music, which is pretty outstanding. We have had auto gross on the podcast before he shared his story about learning piano. He had scoliosis during high school, right? That's right. Mm-hmm. Ninth grade you No, eighth grade. Yeah. Yeah. Ninth grade. Ninth grade said that he barely couldn't even hardly walk or go down the stairs to play his drum sets, but he knew he had to do music, so he learned piano. Crazy story, bro. Mm-hmm. And so we had him on, I think, last year at some point. Yes. And uh, you kinda talked about jazz improve . You talked about your journey through, through high school, learning the keys, going to, to Berklee study, studying percussion, but you've always been a great keys player too. And I don't know about that, but I, I try. Absolutely. Killer. You've, uh, you've been connected with Dewan Hill, with the choir room. You played a lot with him and Sure. Marcus Perry and Yes. Other people that we love very dearly here. Yes. On podcasts. Yeah. So Otto is incredible. And you're full-time, uh, staff at, at Christ Church Nashville, right? Correct, yes. Mm-hmm. That's awesome. What's your position there? Uh, director of Worship there. Director of worship. How long have you been there, man? Uh, this will be year four. Uh, in January. Year four, man, starting year four in January. Okay. Congratulations, man. Thank you. Congratulations. You've been awesome. Jayna. You are, uh. At a school nearby? Yes. Uh, a private school here in Nashville. Yes. And tell us, tell us what you do there with, with students. So I call myself a student advocate. Awesome. Um, I am a, uh, like a school counselor. Um, but I, uh, look for students who might be falling through the cracks or who just need, um, to know that they're seen and loved. And I look and I see them and I love them and support however I can. I love that. And you guys have four beautiful children of your own? Yes, we do. How old are they? They're 8, 5 2, 2 and six and six months. And six months. Wow. And the fact you guys had a free hour to just sit down and talk. I don't actually know if the hour was free, but we took it. We took it. That's for sure. We're here, we're here. So a lot, always a price to be paid. Yeah. But, um, amazing. Thank y'all for coming on the podcast for real, and sharing your knowledge. I hope that it can be beneficial for whoever's watching maybe you know, and love them and you wanna hear more of their story, more of their heart for worship. Maybe go to church with them. Maybe you, uh, just friends and family, you know, of these wonderful people here. Um, but. A lot of the audience here, guys, that worship keeps players and they're worshipers at the heart of it. You guys are worshipers. Mm-hmm. Um, and before we get into more of either, you know, either spiritual or musical things, um, tell us how y'all met at, at, at Berklee, that's probably, you know, for another time. But, um, I, I mean, I, I can remember the details of freshman orientation, um, and my now husband, but then, , brother in Christ, she called me brother. Um, brother. You know, he'd wear his backpack on the front and just, you know, his own quirky, you know, personality. Um, but what I remember Same wonderful smile though, right? Yes. Look at this smile. Yes. Um, what I rem what, what always stood out to me about, um, this man, um, was his walk with the Lord was always very genuine. Um, and I remember, you know, when you're fresh in college, you're trying to find your people. And I was trying to be intentional to find other like-minded, um. Musicians and young people who don't just play gospel music, um, but like really love God. Mm-hmm. Um, which sometimes there can be a difference. Um, and I just saw that he, um, walked the walk, talk, the talk, um, and it was all real. Like he said, we were the best of friends. Um, well maybe it didn't start off best friends, but we, we were acquaintances and then it became, um, good friends. Yeah. Almost like brother and sister. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and just the Lord really developed our friendship and before, uh, we graduated, um, we just knew that there was something more here. Um, and we. Explored it and now here we are, four kids later. Amazing. Ditto. Yes. That, that's a synopsis. Did you say ditto or did you say Diddy? Because Di Otto has Otto Daily. Diddy, yeah. Yeah. Y'all sing it Otto, Otto Daily. Diddy. I dunno if we're in the right. Yes, he does have some Auto Daily. Did It's like this animation. I mean, you, you were a part of a company that you did music for. Tell us about that. A kids a kids program. Yeah. It was a kids music education company. Okay. Okay. And, uh, we wrote, uh, music and curriculum for elementary. Um. Music teachers, that animation of you was pretty spot on. Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, it was fun. It was fun. You guys need to, we, we've talked about this last episode with you, Otto, but Jamal's job is incredible. We need to link that in the description. Maybe we need to listen to that. Thanks. One man band. Um, the same studio where you saw the, the, A music video of you Otto, being a one man band, playing the drums, playing. We got some, some bass, bass guitarist behind you. You're a bassist that was here. Uh, you're a guitarist. Percussionist. Keyboardist. You got a organ. The Leslie over here. It's incredible. Um, but. Otto's. Incredible musician, Jayna, incredible vocalist and musician as well. By the way, she studied, you studied music like technology, right? Yeah. You have a degree in this? Yes. Well, she is, she has a dual degree. Yes. I'll let her tell it. But she has a dual degree, one's in music production and engineering. Yeah. And music education. And the music education. Yeah. She was, she's like the upper echelon, as it were. Well, so I used to be a techie. I love it. And, and, and was into production and engineering, and I'm still into it. Mm-hmm. Um, and I always thought that I would be the person that, you know, when I was pregnant and with child, I would just be in the studio making music, and that would be just kind of my outlet while I'm cooking a baby. Um, and and that was the vision. Um, but I did not know that, you know, all of those years that I was spending in, in the studio and doing my studies, guess who else was with me in the studio many, many times. This guy, this one. His passion and love for production and, and then just his natural gifting. He, you know, I'll just be honest, like surpassed, you know, um, the knowledge that I had. He has that same knowledge, but then the experience of, he's always in the studio, he's always making, he's always creating. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's gotten to the point where I'm just like. I don't need to do anything. I'll just, you know, sit and watch. You'd be great. Um, and it's fun because if, if, if he's talking technical things, I understand. You know? And so it's, it's not like I'm just like watching Clueless. Like I come watch and I'm like, okay, I see what you did there. That's good. You know, and, and it just gives me like a different, um, appreciation and I think just a, a deeper level of fun and engagement of something I can do with my husband. I love that. Are you singing, um, like every Sunday up on church or, or on a rotation or? So right now, in this season of life, I usually have a baby on my hip. Right, right. Um, so I am not getting up and singing every Sunday. Um, but we will have her up though. Yes. If my husband asks me to get up and sing. I'll say, yes, sir. That's good. And I'll hand my baby off to somebody and then I'll, I'll get up and I'll sing for a moment. Oh, show. And then I usually come back down. I might do like communion, um, or, you know, I, I may do parts of the service instead of, you know, trying to lead the entire service 'cause. You know, in this season of life, it's just, it's a lot. Right. No, I bet. I bet. But I love to leave worship. I love to, I love to worship. I don't have to be on a platform to worship. That's right. I can do it from my pew holding my baby. That's right. Come on, Jayna. Preach it. Uh, okay. We've talked about this a little bit previously in a pre, previously on, we can look at Netflix previously on the Worship Keys podcast. Yeah. Well, we've talked a little bit about Eddie James. Yeah. And you've played a lot with Eddie James. You have, you, you've also, yeah, so I traveled with Eddie for two years. Okay. Maybe one and a half for me. Um, but I served as his vocal director. No way. Um, and so I, I had, um, the privilege of connecting with incredible vocalists and, um, teaching them all of Eddie's songs and just preparing them for the platform. Um, stage, presence, mic tech, you know, all the technical things for, um. Being able to, to lead worship effectively. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. It's incredible. I love Eddie James music and he continues to do great music. Oh yes. And produce great music. Yes. Yeah. He's amazing. You guys were a part of the, was it the Shift album? Yes. When you were part of that We were recorded. That there was a shift. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's so good. Thank you. We, uh, recorded that in, uh, what part of Alabama was that? Decatur. Decatur. Decatur. Where we did that album. Yep. Very nice. Dual dual disc. Yes. I remember we, we packed a lot of songs in those three days. Yes, yes, sure did. Man. It was a live recording. Yep. And yeah, also a lot of fun. It was fun. I loved the harmonies with Eddie James music at the time. Still now too, but. Tight harmonies. Oh yeah. Was he, was he okay. I need to know, was he hard on you guys or were y'all just really hard on yourselves and disciplined on yourself to be like, we're gonna get this like spot on because y'all were tight. Oh, with those, especially with the minor harmonies. Thank you. And the stacks. Yeah. Um, what's that like? I mean, we practiced, right? I mean, that, that was part of my job to make sure we were running rehearsals. Um, and so in case of Eddie James is watching, we practiced, we did our part. Um, but he is also, Eddie himself is just a, um, genius musically. Yeah. He really is. I mean, he's a musician, but also obviously an incredible vocalist. Yeah. Um, and so I just remember, you know, times when he would be teaching us the songs and he'd come into a room and say, I have this song. And he'd just start singing the harmonies. Okay. 10, sing this alto, sing this, re sing this. Mm-hmm. Um. And many times, I, I'd have like my voice memo just trying to capture and remember mm-hmm. What he's teaching us. But he would teach it on the spot. Um, and if it, if, if, if it wasn't what he wanted to hear, he would fix it. He would, um, you know, he, he made sure that they were tight. Um, and, you know, I, I felt honored that he would trust me to, like, when he's done in the room, he would trust me to make sure that it, it, it kept going. Right. Right. Um, and so yeah, we would work hard and yeah, it was, it was fun. I love it. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about Christ Church Nashville. What type of church is it? And, um, how's the production there? I mean, you guys are big into production, you're big into music. How's the music ministry there? Uh, what kind of genre, what kind of vibes y'all got going on? Tell us all about Christ Church Nashville. Give us a plug. Sure. Um, well, we're, so, we're in. An area between, uh, the towns of Brentwood and Antioch on Old Hickory Boulevard. Um, and Christchurch, they have a pretty big and extensive history. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, just special people have come through there, big artists and, um, different people. And the original pastor who started the church, I think he just had a heart for that part of Nashville and wanting to reach people there in the community. Southeast Nashville, um, it is near, um, the, the street of Nolansville and Nolansville in Nashville is probably the most diverse. Street that runs up into the city. Um, but so many, um, different cultures and nationalities and delicious food, um, are all there on, on Nolansville. And our church, um, is right off of Nolansville. It's on Old Hickory between Nolansville and Edmonton Pike. Um, and it's just a very diverse community in Southeast Nashville. And you can see that in the congregation. You can see, um, people from different parts of the country. One of my favorite services on Sunday is the Pentecost Sunday, where, um, our, our pastor will have, um. Different congregation members from different parts of the, of the world, reading Acts two in different languages. So you'll hear it in like Zmi, you'll hear in all the different languages, Spanish, French, um, a Burmese language, a you know, an Asian language, just languages all over. And it's, it's, they're people that go to our church, like all of those different nationalities and cultures are represented in our church. Oh. So all that to say, our church is very diverse. Love that. Yeah. And I think at the time when his name was Pastor Harwick, when Pastor Harwick started Christ Church, at least when they, not when they started, but once they moved to that part of Nashville, it was actually an empty space. Like it was all dirt. And I think to her point, I think something he saw is that in the future, that would be kind of a metropolis of sorts. And, um, I think that's what he saw. 'cause what, when they, when they first landed in that, that area, it was just like. Dirt and not much. Um, and now it is kind of a hub in many ways of cultures. So, um, so yeah, in time, in terms of what style, you know, uh, that we are, Christchurch is a very diverse place. Um, I'm not even sure we can categorize it denominationally because it's, because we do have literally people from Africa, um, Burmese, and you know, I mean, just every walk of life you can think of, they do go to that church. And so even as a worship director there, sometimes it, it, that's one of the rewarding but challenging parts of my position is, is trying to be intentional about how to program music for a Sunday that, um, of course honors the Lord, but also, uh, that helps. The different types of people that are there mm-hmm. To latch onto. 'cause we have people that really grew up with hymns. We have people that are really, you know, into the sort of the elevation worship, um, vein. Um, we have folks that are in between, you know, and so, uh, being able to, I mean, and some that have choral backgrounds, some that grew up with choir, some that did not grow up with choir at all. Mm-hmm. Uh, and a worship director who grew up Koic Church of Guided Christ. Yeah, yeah. Black Gospel Pentecostal. Yeah. And so trying to, trying to, um, bring it all together. Yeah. Trying to like program for that is, is, uh, I'm, I'm grateful for it. Um, but that is, I think that speaks to the diversity that we have there. So different types of music you'll hear. Um, you asked about production. That's something that, you know, we're right now, I mean, there's so many things that are going on in the world, and so our mission. Uh, and you'll hear this spoken from anybody on our staff, but it's to bring hope and wholeness through Christ in what we do. And, uh, so from a worship department perspective, my goal is always to do that and to present the gospel in a very creative way. And I'm, mine is all about our being creative and doing it, and that's releasing songs and writing songs and, you know, maybe pulling in drama and how we do communications and all that stuff. So we're still, I mean, this is year three for me, so I'm, you could say relatively new there. So we're still working out what does production look like? How do we release music? What do video, what does video look like and all of that. And I think we're still working that out. And, um, you know, and then again, it's unique for me here because they've had such a, a rich history of doing that already. Mm-hmm. Uh, over years and years of time. I mean, if, if you, if you search Christ Church. You know, in the past online you'll see, um, some stretch choir. Yeah. The, the, the choir and many other things. So I think we're, I don't know, I'm just excited about what God's doing in that way in and through his people, so I love that. Mm-hmm. And I'll let you guys have a choir. I love watching, uh, the choir room, Dewan Hill, doing what he's doing with, uh, just gathering around and being like, we're basically, it's a church, uh, choir rehearsal. Yeah. But everyone come together and we sing and, um, super cool what Dewan in the choir room's doing. Mm-hmm. And also the documentary where he was talking about how a choir, choirs are making like a comeback, you know? And, um, some of it's never left a church. Some of it did for a little bit and it's come back, you know? Mm-hmm. And it's this communal thing where we're all pulling away. It's like away from the, oh, hey, I'm the one with the microphone. Right? Sure. I'm the star of the show here on stage, but said, yeah. We're all, we all have a voice. Yes. And I love that about the choir room, Dewan Hill and what other churches are, have been doing for, I mean, centuries, decades, years. Sure. Yeah. Um. Pretty powerful. I want you to speak on, you talked about creativity and when I talked to you guys, like you j y'all just, I mean, creativity oozes out of you guys everywhere. I mean with, in all aspects, with your ditties, with the way that you're doing your percussion on your legs and clapping, uh, and with your mouth, auto, it's super creative. Um, I wanna talk about creative creativity within the church because sometimes the creativity can be snuffed, it can be suffocated a little bit. Sure. Um, can y'all speak to some creatives that maybe are on staff at church and maybe they feel like they're suffocated a little bit creatively? Um, what are some. Words of advice, what's some inspiration, uh, Otto, and I've seen you lead some, I don't know if there are workshops or, or some clinics and with, I don't know, choir directors or whatever, whether it be with kids, like you've done a lot of group settings. Um, you obviously work with kids all the time, Jayna at school. You can speak to kids in their psychology and their anxiety and there's so many emotions and things going on. What advice would you have for incorporating creativity, both like adults and kids? Yeah. The first thing I'll say about creativity, especially in the lens of the church, is we are created by a creator who is creative. We were created in his image. And so that, I think that that implies that we are naturally creative beings. Um, and, and I hear you and, and see and have felt, you know, in moments that that can feel. Um, snuffed out, as you said. Um, and my encouragement would be, um, a few things. Continue. Always hone your creativity. Mm-hmm. Know that God has put that gift, um, of creativity in you for a reason. Um, and sometimes we just have to navigate how, um, to let it blossom and, and where to let it shine. Um, I would encourage not being afraid to try it in the church, you know, to, to, um, to, to find your voice and to find your way to be who you are meant to be and how God created you to be in whatever atmosphere, whether it's the church, whether it's, you know, online, whether it's in a school. Um. Be who God created you to be because he created you for a reason, when and for a purpose. Um, and I just think all of us are unique. You, you mentioned earlier about the choir room and, and the different voices and how that's powerful because it's the different voices coming together as one. Um, and I, and I, I, I kind of see the same thing with our creativity. Like God has placed something in us to be a blessing to the body of Christ and to be a blessing to this world. Um, and, and I. But if, if that gets snuffed out of us or if we, if we're not intentional to try to find a way to use it, then I just feel like we're, we're doing a disservice not only to ourselves, but to the world. Um, and so I think my, my biggest encouragement would be continue to hone that creativity. Um, and then no matter what, find a way to use it. You know, if, if you have to, um, try different things. Mm-hmm. If you have to have conversations with leadership, this is who I am. Is there any way that we can, we can show this. Yeah. Um, and if you continue to feel a constant rub against your creativity, I would even encourage you to just pray about, like, Lord, is this what, what do you want me to do in this moment? Yeah. You know, like, is this where you have me or is there a shift? Um, because we just wanna make sure that we're, we're being, um, true to who God is calling us to be and use the gifts that he's given us because he's given them to us for a reason. So shout out to Aja Shift. Yay. Let's shift shift to another church. Yes. Things won't like the same. Yes. What would you say, Otto? Uh, I agree with that completely. I think that, you know, for those people that feel, um, like they're bound or like they're in a box, um, I, I, I echo what my wife said. I absolutely would pray about, Lord, what are you showing me through this? Yeah. Um, 'cause I, I think, I do think for a second, just theologically, I think it's easy for us to take the stance of, I'm not, I'm not using my gifts, so I need to be somewhere else when God could be. There could be a reason, you know, and we, we just, we don't, you don't know. So my encouragement would be exactly what she said, pray about it. Um, but then two, the practical things, like yeah, going to your pastors or going to the leadership or even fellow staff and seeing how you can partner. I know, you know, at Christchurch, like I have a, I mean, I work with some incredible people and, uh, one of them is the director of, uh, communications. And she and I, I mean, we'll bounce ideas off of each other and I'll, and I'll, you know, be like, Hey, I'm, I'm thinking about doing this song and doing a thing. What do you think? And she'll come up with some kind of a cool communications thing to tie in with it. And, you know, when the, when the, when the church and the leadership of the church can see that. There's, it's not just you, but multiple people are on board with something that also aligns with the vision of the house. 'cause that's important. Yeah. Um, they, they, they usually get behind that. And another thing, you know, Janice said is try different things. I'm, I'm a guy. I mean, I spent probably a good part of my younger life, not trying things. And, um, then at some point I got brave enough to try it. I don't know if it was just like, I mean. What's the worst that could happen? You know, I'm still gonna put on my pants tomorrow. Um, and I, and I just think trying things is important from a practical, from a practical perspective. And I do all the time. And there's, I mean, I'm thinking of one, uh, person specifically in our choir that she, she really enjoyed the daily diddies. And, uh, she came to me once and she was like, Otto, you gotta do some of that in church and we gotta somehow do it. And in my mind, I never would've even, I'm like, that's not something you do in church. But, uh, I have seen different ways, it's not about me, but different ways that you can integrate who you are in where you are. And, um, I just think that one, I think that's the heart of God is like for us to be. Absolutely honest and truthful about who we are and letting that shine. And there are things that will happen because of that, that will bless people that you would not have even imagined if you, if you don't. Right. If you cont, if you continue to walk in a place with the mindset of, well, they don't do that here, and I can't, that's, that might land weird. Then you, you don't uncover that rock or that boulder or whatever that will unveil a, a secret or a hidden gem that, you know, you'll, you'll find if you do try it. You know, I mean, I, I'm as a, I'm not the best video gamer in my family, my brother is. Um, but we played video games growing up and, and I loved those adventure video games. And those were the ones where, you know, donkey Kong or whatever it is mm-hmm. Where you go through the level and then. The, when you win a a thing, it unlocks another thing. Right? Right. And that's, that's kind of how I see the, the trying creativity thing is you gotta try it. Even if you're scared to, even if you're the first, the first person that's ever done it in this context before, I mean, the, the people that we see as the first to do stuff in history, they change history. That's why they're the ones remembered for it, you know? Right. So if, if, if someone's gonna try it, why not you? And then who knows what's gonna happen because of that. So my encouragement to those people are try new things, pray about it. Seek, genuinely, seek the Lord about what you're doing, why you're doing it, where you are, where you're supposed to be. Um, and then go to your leadership and tell 'em, here, here's what's on my heart. How can I partner with you to walk the vision that you all have, you know, for this house with the talent and the gifts and the creativity that I have. So. That's good. Yeah. I love that. Love that. let's talk about production for a second. Okay. Um, so. By the way guys, um, they are going to lead us in worship at some point. Probably not this week, not this episode. But, uh, I would love for you guys just to share a worship set and also share with us how you guys prep for a worship set, which has a lot to do with. Keys and BPM and stems tracks and things like that. Um, which you guys are gonna get into, but let's talk about production for a second. So you're very passionate about using Pro Tools and Pro Tools is what I mean, I think Auto Otto puts the pro in Pro Tools, but, uh, I don't know about, that I think it's just because it was what I was introduced to first. It's as simple as when you get comfortable with something, you're just comfortable with it. Right? Right. Um, but I, I'm a big proponent and a big advocate of all of the DAWs Um, I use, I do use Pro Tools and I also use Logic. The, those are the two that I use the most. Um, I've now, in terms of my workflow, to just get nerdy for a second when it comes to MIDI stuff, 'cause I do use a, a ton of vsts when it comes to midi. I am in Logic now. I used to do it all in Pro Tools and I still, if I, if I'm just like, I only wanna work in one, then I will go to pt. But, um. If I'm doing Omnisphere and kontact and Arturia and all the different vsts, I'm going to Logic because of the interface. And I think it's just amazing how it handles with midi. Uh, but I chose Pro Tools because I was introduced to it first. I mean, when, when I got to Berklee, I wasn't studying production and engineering, I was studying music education. But I, as a musician, you're always in the studio with your classmates anyway. 'cause they need you to play, you know, to do their, you know, um, whatever y'all had. Yeah. Proficiency, performances, all. Um, so when we got to the studio, I, that's what I was seeing used. And um, and so I learned it pretty quickly. Um, and then when I got, after I graduated and started touring with Eddie, uh, that, that's what Eddie had. Eddie had that, and we were on the road and I, you know, you gotta imagine. Eddie James' Ministry was a little different than most that I would say than most kind of touring gospel artists because we were in close proximity with each other. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It wasn't like fly dates and then go home. You got your own bed? No, we were in Vans and a tour bus and we would sleep in host homes, but we were always together. Mm-hmm. And um, and looking at Eddie and even the genius, she talked about him being a genius. Eddie would be in the 15 passenger van with his MacBook Pro. Mm-hmm. And a oh oh three, uh, a oh oh three AVID interface. I remember it like it was yesterday. And uh, with Pro Tools was open at like. You know, 1:00 AM while we're driving from Alabama to, you know, Kentucky or wherever it is with Pro Tools open. And so that's what I was, I was just accustomed to that and seeing it all the time. And then, uh, before I knew it, I just got really comfortable there and, and you know, the rest was history. And in college at Berklee, I mean, the primary, everybody at that time, everybody got GarageBand and Reason and then like Audacity or something. Everybody got pretty, pretty good at just making beats, making tracks. And, uh, you know, that's how that all started. So for me, yeah, it was just 'cause I was introduced to Pro Tools and I just, I, I liked, I love the way you can edit in it. I cross fading and all that stuff. The way it handles plugins, uh, when you, when it comes time to mixing. I'm, I'm a producer that kind of mixes as I go. I give it to a mixing engineer after I'm done, but I still like work in the box as I create stuff, so. Totally. That's why Love it bro. Love it because you first learned it and, and it is still the standard for. A lot of the music industry, so pretty amazing. And you're very fast at it. Well, we're gonna wrap this conversation up, but there's so much more we could probably say and do and all this, uh, but you know, definitely go follow Auto Gross on Instagram. Uh, auto Gross Productions or is it Auto gross? Auto Gross Productions. On Instagram? Yeah, on Instagram. Yeah. I think like auto gross music everywhere else. Okay. Auto gross music. And maybe you have some more music coming out, maybe this fall and winter ish for Christmas maybe. Possibly. Well, I'm thinking, I don't know if I should say it or not, but I'm thinking about doing a piano, uh, Christmas album. Just piano that might, that might come up. We support that we say. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Jaya, do you have a music page anywhere we can follow you? Um, so I have a school of music, so I do have like Okay. Jayna gross.com? Yes. Okay, awesome. And, uh, it will, in addition to my being a school counselor, I run a private lesson business. Um, and so you can find me on my website, um, and then I'm not on social media as much. Admittedly. Um, but we do have a, a joint page. A joint page. I was gonna say, however, she Okay, awesome. She, we do have a joint page. Otto, what is it? Auto Janna. Auto Janna Gross. Okay. On Instagram. And that's where you'll please follow her there. Auto Janna Gross on Instagram. Awesome. And you'll see my wife singing, and we'll be intentional to post more stuff after this. So, wonderful, wonderful guys. Well, um, I think we're just gonna let y'all kind of take it away as far as how y'all even prep, you prepare for worship. Um, and I, I know this episode will probably be a little over an hour. I don't know how long it'll be in, in total. Um, but guys, thanks for sticking around. Um, we'll just let y'all get to telling us how y'all prep for worship. All right, awesome. So I have a set list of songs that resonate and. Really, I believe, highlight the power of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Um, and so I wanna talk about the Holy Spirit being here with us, um, and, uh, while we're here, um, as we're just preparing our hearts and mind for worship. So one of the songs I have is here for you. Mm-hmm. Um, and I know we need to find the key, but the vibe that I'm hoping, usually when we start off worship, um, if it's in the morning or it doesn't matter what time it is, but usually I try to start off with something that's upbeat. Mm-hmm. Um, and so I would love some type of like, fun groove. That's great. Um, something urban, you know me, I love some hip hop. Um, but just something that's like, wake up, you know, we are here for you. We want our, our praise to be his welcome. Yeah. So something upbeat and fun and, and, um, praising and joyful. Let's do it. She has a binder that she made for us, Sal, since we are husband and wife, we have our binders. And then this is just my being quirky. That was an amazing job. You did. Incredible job. All right. So, um, and if you guys want the details, my binder just has lyrics in it. His binder would have chord charts in it. Yeah. Which practically that helps. Yeah. I'm starting off with here For you. It's an upbeat song, um, that I would love to be joyful and, um, just praising Yeah. And fun. Um, and then moving into a song called Rest On Us. Um. Rest on us Also, I think kind of has a fun groove to it. Um, they could probably keep the same groove. Okay. Well, I don't know. I'll let you decide. Um, but I'm still thinking like fun and, and groovy. Um, and then I wanna kind of coast a little bit, um, and transition into Holy Spirit. You're welcome here. Um, and that one might just be some just like a vibe, um, shakers, maybe some type of cool kick drum. Or maybe we just do piano and vocals. Yeah. I don't know. I always like the heartbeat. Like, do, do, I don't know. I feel like I, I'd love for there to be some type of consistent heartbeat going, um, but you're right. Maybe, maybe we'll cut that if we don't cut it on. Holy Spirit, you're welcome here. Then maybe we can cut it for hungry, because I feel like hungry is kind of like a sweet, um, prayer. Um. That just kind of expresses our desire for God. Um, and then I am revving it back up and, um, to house of the Lord. And then better is one day in your court, both of those kind of upbeat and groovy, okay? And with a vibe. Let our praise be your welcome. Let our songs be a sign. Let your breath come from heaven. Fill our hearts with your life. We here for you. We are here for you. Okay. Yeah, when it comes time to make backing tracks or stems, things like that, I, I mean there's lots of different directions you can go. I'm gonna do something very simple, very basic, uh, but there are different programs that you can use and I'll just pull something quickly together. So first we gotta find the tempo. So she was about here. Mm-hmm. Yep. So, so it's around 95 and we'll just kind of see what Jayna likes around that, whether she wants it faster or slower. So I am a person that really loves vocal percussion and. Sometimes, I mean, there's so many programs that you use to make, you know, loops and click tracks. Sometimes I use splice reason, uh, some of the loops in logic, um, build my own with different things. Sometimes I'll play real instruments like a Conga or shakers and I'll, you know, come down here and do all of that. But I think for this, I might actually do some vocal percussion. I love it. So what I'll do is start with, um, just an idea, a random idea. 1, 2, 3. Very quick, very simple loop. I'm gonna do the same thing again. And adara. 1, 2, 3. Let's add some more stuff. I don't know. I'm just, I'm just trying stuff three. I'm just trying stuff three. I'm just trying stuff. I could keep going, but for now's sake, for time's sake, I'm just gonna cut it here. So we got a couple of things in there, typically, I mean, again, I'm just kind of throwing this together, but I will, uh, quantize this, but since I didn't exactly sing or vocal percussive eyes on, uh, exact beats here, so yeah. Can I make one request? Mond? Yes. Because I, you know me, I like, I like my hip hop beat. Can I, can I get my, duh. Someplace. Do you wanna do it? Do you wanna sing it? No, I do not wanna do the vocal percussion. Okay. You want the, the rhythm to be done. Is that what you want? Yeah. Just some different, what you want to know? Yes, yes. Something that just kind of makes you wanna dance a, a amazing, okay. Let's just, so let's see how it's a little, again, I'm not gonna mix, I mean, this isn't for mixing, but take a little bit of the edge off. Okay? Yes. This is not supposed to invoke hip hop. I'm gonna, you know, it's, it's gonna, it's gonna reach people that you know, most church music might not reach. Shout out to the Bible over there. Shout out to the Bible. I think that's biblical. That's funny. There's in the house, the Lord. Oh yeah. You won't be quiet. Shout that works. What about for, um, one day in your house? How do, how about we do that? Like, that's what we would do. We would test it all out and we could just do that in real time. Yes. We just play And you flip through your, your yes. Notes and see. Yes. What key am I singing in right now? Uh, right now is C. All right, good. I like C. It's a central key. Jesus at the center of it all. Okay? You learn. Holy, only you're worthy. God, let your fire fall down. We, you, we welcome you. Love. Be welcomed in this place. I think that's okay. I think all that works. Um, there's nothing worth more that could ever come close. Nothing can compare. You are our living home. Your presence, Lord. So Holy Spirit, you're welcome here, come flat this place and feel the atmosphere. Your glory, God is what our hearts long for. To be over. Come by your presence, Lord. Lord, I think that works. Your presence for hungry. I come to you for you said sad is. I am, but I know your love does not run. So I wait for you. Yes, I for you. I'm falling on my knees. We worship the God who was we worship the God who is we worship the God who ever will be. He opened the prison doors, he the agencies. My God, he holds the victory. Yeah, there's joy in the house. Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet. We shout out your, there's joy in the house of the Lord, our godly in this and quiet. Better is one Day In Better is one Day in Better is day in courts, thousand elsewhere, thousands elsewhere? I think these keys work. It is all C. That was, that was C the whole time. Okay. Now if you wanna give me a key change, I probably will surprise me. Yeah, we'll figure it out. However, the Holy Spirit leads and flows. Okay. So what, how do you want to, you want to, what do you wanna do? Um, okay, so I think definitely the groove for, I'm feeling the groove for. Um, here for you, rest on us of the Lord. This sustained battle is school weekend. It's okay. Need some oil. Hey, but we coming with the holy together. So you saw a little bit of the process with how we might prepare and it, it does changes from context to context. Yeah. But that's how we might prepare a worship set together. Um, one thing that we didn't necessarily talk about is before all of this we, she does, and Jaya's incredible at it, is basing songs and the content of songs around whatever the conference is or the preacher Yeah. A theme. Yeah. Whatever the preacher might be, um, speaking about. So we would've read some, um, and just looked into scripture and prayed about it and that sort of thing. Mm-hmm. And then a lot of it for us, I mean, some might say it's tedious, um, but it is a lot of like just figuring out the key. Yep. What key are we singing each song in and transitions? I know we really quickly went through it and we probably won't keep everything in one key. But, um, what transitions we'll use from song to song. Am I gonna stop? Am I gonna start, does she want a solo in between or Yeah. What's, I'll probably read a scripture or something in between. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we figured out, um, even the feel mm-hmm. And the groove, um, which I'm so excited about. Um, and, and in talking about the, the feel and the groove, we're also like exploring the BPM. Yes. Um, because we're kind of singing a medley of songs, but they're not all the same tempos. Right. Um, so and that's something, that's something worth just noticing. I mean, you can't, just because a song is one tempo doesn't mean that you have to do it at that same tempo, obviously. Yeah. And if the moment calls for something like better is one day to be a bit faster than you might normally hear it, then that's okay. Yeah. Um, at the same time, there's. Easy musical ways to transition to and Yeah. From song to song and Yeah. Moment to moment. So yeah. And, and just going back to the, some of the transitions. Mm-hmm. I think when we're done with like the upbeat and the feel, um, and we need to make it more mellow or slow it down. Yeah. And, you know, we'll have some type of, you know, honestly I trust my hu like as the musician when when, when he feels like the groove is, is, is done, wow. Then I, then I trust him to like fade it out and to just flow, um, as a Holy Spirit leads him. Um, and for me, like as the vocalist on, on my side of things, I feel like I am. In those moments, I am praying, I am thinking of scripture. I'm thinking of how I can exhort and how I can encourage, um, kind of in those down moments. Uh, what, and just kind of explain what's happening when we're processing, um, and we're preparing for a worship set. Um, I think that there's a lot of intentionality that goes into it. Yeah. Like we are trying to be mindful, um, to, to pray on the theme, um, and, and listen to what we sense the holy, how the Holy Spirit is leading. Um, and I do feel like it's important to prepare and to practice and to have certain things like a foundation laid. Yeah. Um, but I also wanna speak towards like our preparation not being overcooked. Right. If you will. Yeah. Um, because what What we're not trying to do is like, have a performance. Right. We don't want it to be, uh. Just fake or, or show. Yeah. We, we want it to be authentic. We want it to be, um, natural and the Holy Spirit, like is a person, like he's, he's the, there. I think there has to be fluidity and Yeah. Um, just being flexible. Um, our friend one used to say about preparing, yeah, like, you, you prepare and preparation is key, but also in your preparation, be prepared to pivot if, if the Holy Spirit leads in another way. Yeah. I think the three Ps were plan prepare, pivot. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I mean the, the reality behind, specifically with sets and things like that, you want to. Why I appreciate being able to prepare for something and doing it well is because the more prep that you do for something, the more opportunity you have to move away from what the plan is. Mm-hmm. But you can't, you can't deviate, you can't improvise, you can't, you know, uh. Flow if you don't have some kind of a foundation to work from. Yeah. That's good. And I think the foundation, the foundational part of all of it is, is what's key. Yeah. Um, and it helps you more than anything. Well, at least this is talking, speaking for myself more than anything. I think it helps you feel comfortable. It just helps you feel comfortable when you know something. Mm-hmm. Up and down, backwards and forwards where you don't have to look at the paper or you don't have to know what's on the screen. You just know it up here, then you get so comfortable with something that, that, that's the, that's the land that you can live in to where if something happens, you can easily move from it. Yeah. Because you're so confident in what the plan was supposed to be, you know? Yeah. That's good. Um, but yeah, to your point, I think, you know, can, can, is it possible to over prepare for something? I think it can be. I think you can get in your head, you know, sometimes so much that everything is just super duper scripted. Yeah. Um, but with that said. Preparing for something. Excellence, I think is, is excellent. I think it's an incredible thing because again, we're bringing the greatest message ever. Yeah. Um, and in my mind, if you go to your favorite pop concert mm-hmm. Or country concert or whatever, they're going to have a presentation That's an excellent one to be able to help you hear what they want you to hear. Yeah. As best they can. And I think all the more reason for the Kingdom of God. Yeah. All the more reason for the church for us to be able to have a set and instruments and equipment that, um, we are stewarding Well, yeah. So that we can have an excellent presentation. And that's not for the purpose of a show show. Right. But that's for the purpose of pointing people where we want to point people, which is not on us. And I think the, the best way to do that is to prepare wisely and then allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you as you will. Amen. It's my thought. So good. So good. Yeah, I, I agree. If I were to add anything, it would be, um, because we are, we're also in our preparation, they're watching us do production. Yeah. Um, sure. And just my philosophy on production, like it's, we are, um, trying to bring a layer of excellence. Yeah. Um, and when you produce something, you are just, you're trying to prepare a product Yeah. To the best that it can be. Yeah. Um, and again, I don't take that as preparing like a, a as show or performance. Um, but if, if something is a product, um, I always translate like product is something that's valuable. Typically you're trying to sell a product or, um, and, and we're not putting this, um, on stage, if you will, to sell or as a product, um, that we're like trying to get money from. But like. It, the message, like you said, that we carry is valuable. We want it to reach, we want it, um, to like transcend barriers. We don't want people to turn it off because it's, it, it sounds a mess or, um, it's, it's not done well. Um, and so we're using literally all that God has given us from our gifts, from our creativity to our equipment, to um, you know, to the skills and talents and the knowledge that he's given us in production and in, um, musicianship and singing. We are just trying to put it all together ultimately for his glory. Um, and we hope that when we share it with others that they receive that. And you know, that there, there's no distractions. Nothing is a hindrance. Um, but it's like, oh, this sounds really good. And oh man, I'm feeling something with that too. And we hope that what you're feeling is a Holy Spirit moving through what we're doing. So here's my process for getting, and again, I, this, this little percussion vocal thing that, that I did in here is very basic. Um, I would take a whole lot more time and make it a lot better. Add stuff, take stuff away. Uh, but for the purposes of what we're doing, I'm going to then transfer it to how I would, how I would use it on a Sunday morning. 'cause obviously I'm not bringing my rig to church on Sunday morning. So first thing is I'm gonna make me a marker or two here. So this has low information that I really don't want. We're gonna take out those lows here. Use the same one. Cool chorus. Cool chorus. Okay, so I have a little bit of a, kind of a basic mix here going and let's say that this is the loop that I want to use on Sunday. Okay. Actually, let's just do a little bit of mastering, um, step one. So this process from getting it to. Pro tools into, I mean, you can use whatever DAW or sequencing, uh, software you use on Sunday mornings. Typically at our church, I use playback, which is multi-tracks, is, um, uh, partner, um, playback software, if you use Ableton. Incredible love Ableton, uh, playback for me is just very simple. Since I'm in my church, I'm the worship director, so I'm, I'm helping to lead the service, but I'm also music director in the band, and I'm also playing keys most Sundays. And, uh, to do all of that, to talk to the band, to lead worship, you know, in the congregation and to, and to cue the stems, sometimes that just takes different parts of the brain. So a, a software like playback is very easy for me to just click play, click go. Um, but so, I mean, Ableton is incredible also. And you can program, you know, different things with that. And, um. All of it works. Everything works. As long as you know how to work it, just work it well, and whatever your choice is, it's gonna be awesome. 'cause you're doing it and you're awesome. You're awesome. Okay? I just want you to know how awesome you are. Say I'm awesome. Good job. Good job. 'cause you're awesome. Uh, so here's what we're gonna do. First, I'm gonna bounce the stems that I want separately, um, and make stems out of this. So I want to bounce this kind of pop, pop, pop or whatever I was doing. So in my workflow, this is exactly what happens. Like when it gets to the point where it's time for me to bounce the tracks and take my little, you know, seconds or however long. It takes to bounce and then I just start having piano A DHD, go upstairs, get something to eat. Oh, there we go. My favorite keyboard brand is Yamaha. And I think it's just because I, that's what I grew up with. I grew up on motifs. My father's a pastor and you know, at our church, little small church in Baltimore, Maryland, I had, the first keyboard we had at the church was a motif, ES seven, that's what it was, motif, ES seven. And, uh, that's what I learned to play on and I learned all the little knobs and all the things. Um, and I just think that they're a great brand. I mean, I think, you know, all of the grand, just like daws, all of the keyboard brands have something special. Um, I, my preference is Yamaha though, because I, I really know the interface and how to work it and, um, I don't know, it's just very intuitive for me. There we go. Okay. Now that they're archived, the way that multi-tracks takes stems is you have to archive them all together and then you'll upload them. Uh, multi-tracks has a iCloud uploading, uh, feature on its website. If you're logged in and have a subscription for it. And um, that's what I'll use. I'll upload the stems that I just created into my cloud and Multitracks and then that will connect with the playback app, which I'm about to show you in a second. So here I click on Add Song, create cloud song. I'm gonna call this Janna's. Set Multi-Tracks. It's Multi-Tracks only actually has the masters. Yeah, has the masters. Where Loop Community allows producers like me to create stuff. Do you I get to this screen here. It says upload. So I click upload, go to the archive that I just made from the stems that we just created. So I go to bounce files, Jayna set, upload, preparing, upload. We'll see how long this takes. While this is uploading, so Playback is the app that Multitracks uses for their playback software. Very easy to use. Okay. You have your transport bar up here. Play Rewind, fade out. Um, couple other options. You've got your Tempo Time signature, how long the song is. Okay. This is a set that I actually built for, uh, a Sunday that, uh, we did at the church. Um, yeah. And so when you go into a song, let's say something like Way Maker, I tap the song. You know what? Let's do this. I'm gonna add a, I'm gonna add a, a click track that I've, or I'm gonna add a loop that I've done in the past. So I go to edit, add song, click library songs. I forgot the name of the loop, but I always give the BPM for those. So I'm gonna type BPM, and yeah, all of these are ones that I created. Um, so let's select Loop Africa. Toto. Wonder why I named it that. Click add. Okay. Now you can see the loop right here. Okay. So this is a loop that I created and it's just a continuous loop. Um, left and right. So if I want a set and I just, again, I just want some, uh, a, a click track to play something to, I just let that go. So it's, it's a very simple thing if you wanna just, you know, do quick loops, but it also does full stem. So this is one that we, that we built for, um, that we have for my church. And, uh, as you can see, faders are all down here. It has a click and a guide loops, orchestra, synth drums, bass, uh, all of that stuff. And it's just like your own mixing board here at the bottom that allows you to bring in and take out what you need. Um, so this 2, 3, 4. So it's very easy if I want to take out, you know, whatever I do, and I'll just play piano instead. Verse 2, 3, 4. So there you go. So it's a, it's a super simple app to use and that's one of the reasons why I really enjoy it, because it's easy for me, you know, if I'm playing and I just need to get a quick play. Very simple. Um, other things, you can change your buses and kind of do all of that. Uh, it has a cool pad player that I love that allows you to do just either a regular ambient pad or if I want to change the sound to like guitars. Which I love a lot, you know, when it's time to do kind of some of the more mellow, uh, elevation sort of vibe. So it's just like a very basic but but quick and robust thing that a keyboard player can easily use to, to run stems and just help, you know, bring some girth to a. Alright guys, thank y'all so much for sticking around to the very end. Most people don't make it to the end, so if you did, congratulations. Yes, thank you. Thank you for staying. Yes, Jayna Auto Gross. Thank y'all for sharing about what y'all do to kind of prep your worship services, BPM, the keys, the flow, and really don't really know exactly how it's gonna totally unfold and I love that. Yeah. Um, and I don't know if we had full time to really show this today, but basically auto, you make the tracks and pro tools, you bounce it out, you upload it into the cloud for multitracks.com 'cause you have an account there, then it all loads up. He brings it into his library and iPad 'cause he is logged on. You're on your iPad multitracks.com. Mm-hmm. Yep. You pull those same stems up. Yep. Um, which by the way, I hope y'all enjoyed him making some percussive sounds with his mouth today. That's like standard for auto. Okay. That's like, that is him so much fun. But thank y'all for sharing that and next week, um, is gonna be a fool worship session, um, with these two. Lovely humans, so stick around for next week, but y'all have a great week. We'll see you then. ​