Photo courtesy of Legacy Christian Church, Overland Park, Kansas, Blue Valley Satellite Campus.
We've all seen it. The guy or gal behind the console spends a few minutes establishing a mix, then sits back and does next to nothing for the rest of the worship program. Maybe an occasional tweak, but that's the extent of it. Eventually the pastor takes the stage and the operator mutes the instrument channels, brings up the pastor's mic, and again does little or nothing during the sermon. We've just described a common, but less-than-optimal way to approach the art and craft of mixing sound.
Passive Mixing
Setting up a mix and then setting down into a chair to become a passive observer is not what sound engineering was meant to be. Contemporary worship bands don't often excel at self-regulation. I'm sure this will come as a surprise, but we've actually seen guitarists turn up for a lead line and not turn down again when the lead is over. Shocking, I know.
But tongue-in-cheek aside, many contemporary Christian bands can use a lot of help to define and control their dynamic range. Some just play loud… all the time. Others play louder. But then there's the breath of fresh air when consummate artists create musical space for a lead vocal, a keyboard figure, or a guitar passage…so that each stands out as it should.
It's all in the Dynamics
While every musician has a specific way of expressing him or herself musically, there are some common denominators, and almost all have to do with dynamic range. We say ‘dynamics' because it's not the same as volume level, which is one-dimensional. Dynamics are multi-dimensional. As the engineer in control, you can do wonders to change the landscape, or in this case, the soundscape.
To start, you build on the dynamics that the musicians have established. This can, and almost always does, require changing levels when an instrument takes a solo or dominant role. Notice that we did not say making an increase in level. Sometimes an increase is completely appropriate, but other times it's far more effective to decrease the backing instruments. If your console is equipped with submasters, VCA's or DCA's, then the task is easy. The reason to avoid – or at least minimize - level increases of soloists is to keep from ‘mixing into a corner.' Bring the overall level up or down as needed to suit the content and the audience mood. But do it consciously. If you always increase levels, but rarely decrease them, eventually you will run out of fader travel. “Turn everything up louder than everything else,” is an old sound engineer's joke.
The Great Volume Debate
First and foremost in your cache of skills is the issue of overall volume. This is a tough one because people hear differently and also have widely varying tastes. An aggressive Christian band will want it louder. Older church-goers will want it quieter. Those wearing hearing aids may be unable to tolerate any appreciable level of music at all, depending on the sonic quality of their assistive hearing device (it's a good idea to walk through the aisles and see how many people might fall into this category, if applicable to your situation).
The best advice regarding level is to become present and aware, and willing to adjust accordingly. When you are conscious of the audience reaction as the program progresses, it's not hard to tell when all is well. It's even easier to tell when people are showing body language in reaction to excessive levels: often they fidget, talk to each other, then get up and walk out. That is not a win. Music levels should be loud enough to be compelling and captivating, but not so loud that they sound false. An acoustic guitar and vocal duo should never be elevated in level beyond that which is needed to be clearly audible throughout the room. The guitar should sound like an acoustic guitar that's being played right in front of you. If it's overly loud it loses the acoustic feeling. Same for the vocals. They can be large and powerful, perhaps augmented with reverb, but not so much that they sound artificial. During the sound check run them too loud for a moment, then back them down as far as you can from the starting point until they sound thin and lost. Bring the level back up a bit to a point where the vocals just seem to “fit” with the other instruments. That's your optimal starting point.
Sound Check versus Performance
Anyone who's been working with sound for more than two minutes knows that the band never plays the same during sound check as they do during a live performance. Think 3 dB to 9 dB louder, at least in most cases. You can prepare by dropping a few dB of gain from your input trims and bringing the overall output level down by about 4 – 6 dB. It's better to start low and quickly increase the level – if needed – than to start high and try to back things off - which rarely works out well. If you do nothing more than manage overall level, you're off to a great start.
Hearing
If you work in a very loud environment, especially close to the time of service (perhaps a Saturday night club gig?) you should give up all rights to independently decide on the appropriate volume level range for Sunday morning. Human hearing responds to the intrusion of high-level sound by closing down the nerve functions for protection. This means temporary deafness, which eventually may come back to normal, but rarely without a contribution to long-term hearing loss.
Dynamics that Make Sense
Today, most people are routinely exposed to well-polished audio; TV, CD's, DVD's, Blu-rays, downloads… and even car radio… are largely of good fidelity and high standards of production quality. It stands to reason that the average church attendee is expecting to hear a polished live performance. Ragged and uneven music mixes; vocals that cannot be heard - or are too loud; instruments that are buried while others are dominant; none of the above is acceptable in these modern times. .
The Cure: Work the Faders
Fortunately, it's not hard to fix these problems. The key is to ride the faders. That's the key. But you have to learn to do it subtly. No one wants to hear sudden increases or decreases in level. Listen to as much recorded music as you can. Learn to hear how the engineer has carefully and subtly dropped the level of one instrument precisely as the next one takes over the main ‘voice' of the song.
Every Song has a Voice
All music has one, or sometimes numerous, ‘voices' that run throughout the piece. The main voice at any given time might be a saxophone, a vocalist, a guitar motif, a bass figure, a horn section accenting another voice (perhaps Hammond organ leads), or anything else that the writer/composer could dream up. Only in avante-guard music and a few other isolated genres, does one encounter everyone playing at once. If that happens, just go with it.
So the task is to help build the song's voice – as each moment passes by. You have to learn the music, and then learn to work the dynamics along with the musicians, if the goal is to bring a dynamic and compelling soundscape to the listeners. Any instrument (or ensemble) that takes a lead should be featured, volume wise. But you must be careful to turn that same instrument down after the lead line is over.
Vocalists should always be 3 dB or more above the backing music, unless they are backing vocals. In such case they should be heard…enough to complement the lead vocalist(s)… but usually not at the same level unless that's what the chorus or other segments of the music is about. You'll want to speak with the performers, if they're not known to you. When three, four, or more vocalists will be working together, try to get them to sing for a few moments without mics, perhaps just an acoustic guitar, so that you can hear how they naturally blend when no sound system is present.
The Rock Bottom
Bass guitar or synth sets a sense of overall band level. If it's too loud, it will sound like the band is too quiet or that the bass is just standing out, depending on the style of playing. Too soft, and there's no bottom to anchor the rest of the music. The band will sound wimpy. That's a technical term.
Percussion
Drums and percussion instruments are critically important and can be a lot of fun, especially if you have an electronic kit (highly recommended) that will permit you to have true control over the individual levels. In small to mid-sized rooms, acoustic drums are often too loud without any mic'ing, so the trick is to get the player to play much more quietly. Clear acoustic panels don't absorb the sound, they just reflect it. This can leads to poor tonality.
The key to mixing a trap kit, of course, is managing the kick, snare, and high-hat/ride cymbal. You want the snare to be clearly heard but not dominant. Turn it down, slowly in increments, until it's too low. Then bring it back up a couple of dB. That should be right for most music. If there's a featured snare part (think Little Drummer Boy), then of course you'll want to adjust appropriately.
The kick can be in the background, or it can be authoritative and powerful, or it can be somewhere in between. It depends on the music. In any case the kick should have definition. It can thunder - if that's required - but with an audible instant of impact. It's a kick drum, not a kettle drum (tympani). A boost at 50 – 75 Hz, and another at 2 - 2.5 kHz usually results in a solid low end with a good, sharp punchy definition.
The high-hat should be clear and present, as that's what's setting the time signature in many cases. Same for the ride cymbal. Often drummers will use the ride as a primary percussion voice; others are more hat-centric. Only a few use toms to keep time.
Levels from the Stage
It's not just drums to worry about, but all of the instruments that generate level from the stage. In small and mid-sized rooms it's imperative that the musicians learn to play quietly. Otherwise, all you can do at the FOH (front of house) is to turn up the vocals, turn off everything else, and the overall level might still be too loud. And it's a sure bet that the tonal quality and dispersion throughout the room will be quite awful. That's not why we're here folks.
Solutions
IEM's (in-ear monitors), guitar amps mic'd in remote closets, pedal board guitar and bass amp emulators…these all provide answers to the problem of too much sound from the stage. Use them. Next to an electronic drum kit, they are your best friends.
When musicians can hear each other, they play their best. When they can't then all bets are off. Sub-standard monitoring affects some players and vocalists much more than others. Also, not all are able to use IEM's effectively. If one or more musicians insist on wedge monitors, techniques exist to help ease the situation. First is chasing out the obvious feedback points. That's essential.
Next is more subtle. If you have access to remote control of EQ on your house or monitor console, use it to match the sound quality in the house to that of the wedge monitor, as closely as you can. This is not a common practice because the main goal always seems to be reducing monitor feedback. But think about it. If the instrumentalist or vocalist is ‘playing the space,' as they should be, they need to hear what the audience is hearing, not a rarefied “max level, limited bandwidth” version of it. Hearing what the congregants are hearing will enable them to use their voice or instrument to the best possible effect. It's not an easy prospect to match the tonality of a wedge monitor to that of the house system; it will take time, effort, a lot of walking back and forth, and much practice. But it's well worth the investment in the grand scheme of things.
Feedback
Feedback is a serious event. It's akin to stalling an aircraft. Not acceptable. You want steady, level flight. It will mostly occur from the pastor's mic, but occasionally from a vocalist who sings on the soft side of the level spectrum. Lavalier mics are the worst offender; handhelds are the easiest to manage.
Feedback should be ‘chased out' long before the service starts. One method is find someone who is about the same height and build of the pastor to act as a stand-in. Bring the level up slowly until you hear ringing. Set a parametric filter on the pastor's channel to about 1/3 octave Q and about 6 dB boost. Sweep the filter, all the while riding the fader, until the feedback is accentuated. At that point cut the filter, perhaps as much as 6 to 9 dB, and then reduce the Q until the feedback is eliminated but the Q is as narrow as possible. Repeat for as many ring points as you can identify, or until you run out of filters.
During the service you can try making small changes to the EQ settings to make the quality of speech as natural as possible. Small reductions or cuts are not going to launch you into feedback, but large ones might. Therefore, be careful and be subtle. With some practice you can get the GBF (Gain Before Feedback) that you need, as well as keeping the vocal quality natural.
