BlackPod is a no-fluff podcast for church production leaders, live audio engineers, and creatives who care about doing it right.

Hosted by Lee Fields, Shep, Tyler Kerpsack, and Brad Bramer, BlackPod dives into real-world conversations around church audio mixing, troubleshooting AVL systems, leadership accountability, and building drum sounds that actually translate in the room.

In this episode, we talk Valentine’s Day and life outside the booth, but we also get into practical production topics like:

• How to troubleshoot live sound systems under pressure

• Why personal accountability and self-awareness matter more than gear

• The truth about target curves — and why you shouldn’t mix toward them

• How to shape drum sounds for impact, clarity, and consistency

If you’re a church sound engineer, production director, or volunteer trying to level up your mix and leadership, this podcast is for you.

Real conversations. Real rooms. Real leadership. This is BlackPod.

Hosted by Lee Fields, Stephen “Shep” Shepherd, Tyler Kerpsack, and Brad Bramer, the BlackBox Podcast is unfiltered conversation for church production teams, worship leaders, AVL directors, and creative pastors who actually carry the weight of Sunday.

This isn’t theory. It’s field-tested leadership, live audio philosophy, system design, and the stuff nobody talks about but everyone feels.

In this episode we dig into:

• DAW vs. Console Mixing — What actually matters? Where plugins help, where they hurt, and why great gain structure still beats everything. • Leaders Who Do vs. Leaders Who Don’t — When to get your hands dirty, when to step back, and how ego quietly wrecks teams. • Weight Loss, Health & Production Life — What long Sundays, stress, and tech ministry do to your body — and how to lead sustainably. • Nervousness in Production — Why anxiety shows up in high-stakes services and how to handle pressure without spiraling. • Target Curves & Why You Shouldn’t Worship Them — The truth about measurement mics, system tuning, and why your room isn’t a spreadsheet. • New BlackBox Offerings for Churches — On-sites, audits, coaching, long-term partnerships, and how we help churches solve production problems before they cost them money.

If you’re a church audio engineer, production director, worship leader, or executive pastor trying to build healthy systems, stronger teams, and better Sundays — this podcast is built for you.

BlackBox exists to help churches design better systems, build stronger teams, and solve problems before they ruin momentum.

Subscribe, share with your team, and let’s build something that actually lasts.

In this episode, Lee Fields, Tyler Kerpsack, Shep, and Brad Bramer are back together talking through the realities of church production during the Christmas season.

The conversation covers what it really looks like to lead production teams at scale during the busiest time of the year — from church staffing models and production budgets, to caring for volunteers, working with contractors, and making smart decisions around gear and resources. The group also reflects on Christmas gifts for church production teams, how to show appreciation without blowing budgets, and where leaders often feel the most pressure during holiday weekends.

If you serve in church production, audio, lighting, video, broadcast, or technical leadership, this episode offers honest perspective, practical insight, and shared experience from leaders navigating Christmas in real time.

Follow along, share with your team, and subscribe for more conversations around church production leadership, staffing, budgets, volunteers, and worship technology.