We recently had a discussion in our ChurchSoundcheck group about how to lay out and equip a church tech closet in a way that would really serve the need. Of course each church has varying needs, but I believe you will find their comments and ideas very helpful. Take a look:

First United Methodist Church • Wichita, KS
Shared by Kirk Longhofer

A while back I posted a question for the group. What kinds of things do you keep on hand to serve the needs of performers and musicians? Got a lot of interesting responses! As I was reading them, a few things occurred to me. A lot are "audio-centric" items... and there are several that cross over into the "backline" department. That's cool.

There were also a lot of suggestions for things that were more about comfort, care and feeding of performers. Lots that I have seen and kept around when working as a stage manager. In church settings, we as the tech folks, often function as the defacto stage manager for a "show"... aka a worship service.

With those thoughts... here's the combined list. Maybe you can hit your local discount store and use up the last little bit of your operating budget to build your "care and feeding" kit!

Tools, audio and backline stuff:

Guitar stands

GOOD instrument cables in varying lengths

Stools

Hotrod drum sticks

Spare drum keys

Guitar strings

Guitar picks

Metronome

Guitar/Bass tuner

DI's for bass and general uses

Cymbal pegs and hardware

Drum Heads

Spare mix head or small mixer and ALL cables to make it operational

Cable tester(s)

Extension cords

Headphones

Spare In Ear buds & foam

Tool kit - Build your own with what you want and need!

V/O meter and probes

Soldering Kit

Leatherman, Juice and other models

AAA, AA, 9v C and D batteries

Surgical/medical tape for securing microphones

Wireless transmitter body bags

Dry condoms or small plastic bags for keeping transmitters sweat-free

Blank CDs and thin jewel cases

Assorted Y-cables

Assorted adaptors and benders

Sonic II Noise Filter earplugs

Gaff tape

Electrical tape in various colors

White board tape

Glow tape

Small photo flash unit to charge glow tape

Kneepads

Music, test/reference CD's

Reference mic

Talkback mic

Sharpies in various colors

Post-Its

12', 25' & 100' Measuring tapes

Label maker

Other "Care and Feeding" stuff:

Febreeze

Clean Hand towels

Some Windex and other cleaners and paper towels

Throat lozenges

Hard candy, including Jolly Rancher, individually wrapped Life Savers

Gum

Bottled water

Clorox disinfecting wipes

Hairbrush

Hairspray

Foam earplugs (giveaway)

Small sewing kit

Safety pins

Granola bars

Plastic grocery bags for trash collection

Good First Aid Kit

Band-Aids

Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Aspirin

Sudafed, Actifed

Benadryl

Pepto

Tums or Rolaids

Orajel

Eyeglass repair kit

Kleenex Pocket packs

There you have it. It's a pretty interesting list. Hope it's helpful when it comes time to pull a rabbit out of your hat! Just don't do it too often!

The Tech Closet at First Baptist Church (Ardmore, OK)
Shared by Ron Brown

This is the closet under the stairwell space at FBC Ardmore OK. It is small but we packed a lot into it. The cable hangers are made of Velcro strips. Cabinets are unfinished stock from a local builder's supply. Two base cabinets are 18 inches wide and wall cabinet fit perfectly to slope of ceiling. The only problem is I left too much room on the floor so the custodians stored their furniture mover with the wheels seen on some of the photos.

The one big splurge we indulged in was a combination electronic dead bolt lock for the door. ... The combination can be changed periodically to keep the code from being compromised with the whole church over time. Besides it just looks cool.

The Tech Closet at St. Michael's Lutheran Church
Shared by Aaron Rossow

I have about the same size closet, and it took a few tries but I finally got it to the point where it works well (so long as everyone puts things away properly!).

My first photo is a view thru the door. Around the corner to the left is the keyboard. On the left wall is a series of large hooks to hold cables. On the back wall is a custom shelf unit the has room for amps underneath, four drawers that hold mics and DI's, and a shelf for things like the guitar pod (line 6) and other things.

Aviom mixers are hung from the pegboard on hooks. Small shelves hold the IEM's and adapters, and hooks below hold headphones and Cat5 cables. To the right of this (behind the door), are hooks to hold the keyboard stands.

Above the counter I created storage for tripod mic stands with boom arms by using spring loaded broom handle holders and dividers to keep them from falling over.

The Tech Closet at North Central Baptist Church (Gainesville, Florida)
Shared by Dave Wright

Here is a well organized tech closet. A place for everything and everything in its place. Dave says that they have a multi-purpose room (a.k.a. the greatest looking gym in Florida), and therefore have to store their entire sound, video and lighting stations in the tech closet along with all of their other gear.

The Tech Closet at Unity Way Church (Vista, California)
Shared by Robby Wright

Our tech closet is just that, a small closet. One of the handier things we made for it was a board with a bunch of 3/4 inch dowels coming out of it to hold coiled cables. We have one dowel for each size of cable and each cable has a colored Velcro tie that corresponds to the length of the cable: black is 7 feet, yellow is 12 feet, blue is 25 feet, red is 50 feet and green is a guitar cable.

I also made a rack that looks kind of like a comb mounted with the teeth out from the wall to hold the miscellaneous short cables that seem to multiply like rabbits - insert cables, adapter cables, jumpers, etc. I made it from 1/2 inch Baltic birch plywood and cut slots in the main board using my dado head on the table saw to create a 3/8 inch wide slot every inch. Works like a champ. I have another of these next to our patch panel.

Everything else just sits on a couple of shelves. Since the room is right by our tiny stage, we don't have to roll things around.

Do you have a tech closet in your church that you would like to share with our readers across the world!?! If so, please send us photos and a description. We would love to post your ideas here!