A few weeks ago, while I was mixing front-of-house for Sunday service, two of our church's elders lovingly approached me with complaints from a few folks within congregation. What was the problem? Of course, the volume was too high. Apparently one individual had gone so far as to leave the room covering her ears. I was measuring the volume at front of house (which is a recommended practice regardless of the situation) and I knew that "loudness" was not the real issue. However, I knew I had to respond immediately to what the two men were saying, and I must admit that it took me a second to process the big picture. But I realized that the first thing I needed to do was turn it down, and figure out what was happening with the system later.
The first issue to be dealt with in a situation like this is the condition of our hearts. If we are not first and foremost servants, then we have lost the reason for what we do. Beyond the example of Christ as the chief servant (Mark 10:35-45, Philippians 2:5-11), we must regularly remind ourselves that the role we play on Sundays is as one part of the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8). This analogy applies perfectly to this type of situation as it is less important to be right than it is to serve the body toward the goal of spiritual health and discipleship.
Because the use of technology within the church is focused on the mission of discipleship, the way we do things should reflect both a desire to worship Christ by doing things well, and to handle conflict and tension in a way that reflects humility and grace. The result in this case was that I both needed to respond to the need of the congregation in that moment and to later understand what the cause of the "loudness" was.
A situation like I experienced a few weeks ago typically causes the church sound engineer to think about how things are being done and what process or policy changes could be enacted to help in the future. My goal as the person overseeing the audio system and the other technical team members was to first respond appropriately while face to face with the church elders, and then investigate the technical reasons behind the complaint.
On that particular Sunday, I had made a small tweak to the signal processor on the subwoofers. After asking some careful and intentional questions of some folks who were sitting in the same area as those who had shared concerns (for example "would you say it was more boomy or tinny?"), I was fairly certain that the issue was related to that adjustment to the subs. After reducing the volume throughout the remainder of the first service, I reset the processor and returned the volume to our previous normal levels during the second service. There were no complaints or issues during the second service even though I mixed louder by around two decibels A-weighted than I had in the first service.
I was certainly grateful for the fact that we were measuring SPL, as we always do, which gave me at minimum a reference point for what was happening. With regard to the future impact on our processes, it seemed appropriate at the time to make a last minute tweak to the processor before the first service, but I now realize that I didn't leave sufficient time to evaluate its full effects. This type of situation helps us develop and modify processes and policies that could prevent variables like adjusting a system processor just before a service. In this case, what we thought was going to be an improvement (a bit more low-end) wound up being a bad idea because it led to distracting the people of God from worshipping Him!
In the end, I am grateful for the comments and concerns posed by those attending at our church that day, even though it was difficult for me at the time. Sometimes negative feedback is more helpful than the positive for the long-term because it helps you to see issues you might not otherwise see.
Sometimes the criticisms we receive from the congregation are less than polite. This can be a divisive and extremely discouraging situation for those serving on the tech team. However, within the framework of our role in the church's mission, we can learn to both receive this type of criticism in a way which reflects the grace Christ has shown us, and also try to glean from it opportunities to improve the way we do things for His glory.
