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It’s Sunday morning sound check, and for the third time, the worship pastor is asking for more of their mic in their ears. While the sound engineer wants to do everything they can to serve the worship pastor, he/she can’t give more of what the worship pastor wants. Even if the engineer could, he/she knows that if the worship pastor’s vocal is loud enough during rehearsal it will probably be too much during the service because he will sing louder. So the volunteer and the worship pastor are stuck in a cosmic staredown during the practice. Sound familiar?
The tension between worship leaders and sound engineers is that worship leaders may know what they want but they may not necessarily know logistically what it takes to get it. Sound engineers often don’t have the time/capacity to help their worship leaders understand the intricacies of mixing as well as the difference between what happens at sound check versus the actual service. This article is here to help with conversations between worship pastors and sound engineers. Here are a few things most sound engineers wish their worship pastor knew.
1. The microphone gain can’t just be turned up so the mic is louder in the monitors. When mixing there is a concept called gain staging. Without going into a super technical explanation, it’s important to know the sound engineer needs all of their inputs (controlled by the gain/trim) to be consistent across the mix. From the kick drum to the lead vocal, all input levels must be at a similar volume. So in order for a vocal to be mixed well, the gain doesn’t need to be significantly different than other things. Therefore, there is a reality that an individual vocal or instrument can only be so loud in a monitor mix.
2. There are two ways to turn something up. Often the largest complaint from someone on the platform is their monitor mix, whether it’s an in-ear or a wedge. Often the person feels like they can’t hear something they need and ask to have it turned up. However, half the time they don’t need something turned up, but they actually need to identify what needs to be turned down. It’s important for everyone to know: “I can turn something up by turning it up or by turning something else down.” If things always just get turned up then the mix can become indistinguishable over time. Tell the worship leader to listen to what seems to be overshadowing what they want to hear the most, adjust that in the mix and then have them turn the overall volume of their pack up a little if they are using in ears. The same concept will work for a wedge mix.
3. Dynamics matter in sound check. So much work is done during a 15 or 30-minute sound check. Setting the gains, getting the drum mix right, adjusting compression on the worship leader’s vocal, it’s all dialed in during sound check. The problem with that is, often worship leaders don’t sing at the same level of intensity in practice as they do in the service, the drummer might not play as hard and the background vocals, well half the time they may not even be singing. This affects the mix in the room, but it also affects the monitor mixes. If the monitor mix is significantly different from practice to the service, it’s not because the sound console has gremlins, it’s because the dynamics used in the practice are different than service. That is unless a sound engineer is a little passive-aggressive, (that’s a joke). Worship leaders need to stress to themselves and their team that their volume, intensity, and energy matter in practice. When that energy is matched in service, across the team it makes a much better experience for everyone.
We all want to get better, whether on the stage or in the booth. Often the greatest way that both can get better is for both ends of the team to educate each other about what’s going on at their end. Worship pastors need to better understand mixing and sound engineers need to better understand the stage experience. When both sides of the team work to understand each other, it makes the experience for those serving less stressful and easier to engage in worship. After all, that’s what we are all here to do.
