Image courtesy of Church of the Highlands.
As Christmas approaches, worship and production teams face the challenge of delivering services that feel both polished and powerful, whether attendees are in the sanctuary or watching online. Every vocal, instrument, and mix decision can make the difference in creating an immersive, memorable experience.
Barry Bailey, Senior Audio Engineer at Church of the Highlands advises that you err on the side of too much vocals, “Our philosophy is that the main thing is the main thing; we always want the vocals on top.”
To help church audio teams rise to the occasion, I sat down with Barry Bailey, Senior Audio Engineer at Church of the Highlands, one of the largest and most influential churches in the United States. Barry has held this role for over a decade and shared his step-by-step process for building a front-of-house (FOH) mix from the ground up. Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or a volunteer stepping behind the console for the first time this Christmas, Barry’s approach provides practical, repeatable steps to ensure your worship services sound their best.
Let’s dive into Barry’s process.
Step 1: Dial in your vocals.
This is after line check, but before a full band-run through of a set. Because worship is first and foremost about tight, clear vocals, Barry recommends going one by one through each vocal and setting a basic EQ set for each singer.
“I want to shape that vocal so that it sounds natural, pleasant, not boomy, not too biting. And if there's really bad S's for the upper end, we may EQ that a little bit,” Barry says.
Err on the side of too much vocals. The main thing is the main thing.
This isn’t the time to fine-tune them, he notes. This is just setting a general profile that sounds great in your specific room because so much of your vocal tone has to do with the acoustic profile of your room. To speed up this process, he has EQ presets that he applies across vocals because he knows his rooms and vocals so well. Current console technology makes that easy, so just about any engineer with a console manufactured in the last ten years can do the same.
After finding a broad EQ profile for the vocals, he recommends adding some compressor and de-essing as needed. “My multiband compressor or my dynamic EQ, I call that a situational tool,” he says.
Start with tracks, then vocals, then the band. Layering strategically helps the main message shine.
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Image courtesy of Church of the Highlands.
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Step 2: If you use tracks, start building your mix there.
Once it’s time to start running through songs, let your band start on their in-ears; you start with just your multi-tracks. Here’s why—“It helps me make sure that I have the tracks in because a lot of times we’ll have a tendency to just push the tracks up enough where they’re kind of there, but they’re not really representative in the overall mix to what our original recording might be, and that recording is our target.”
Keep it simple. Rely on your ears more than a stack of plugins or fancy processing.”
Barry notes that sometimes he’ll add in some vocals as well, because vocals are the most important part of the mix and he wants everything else to be balanced with them.
Step 3: Add the Band
Image courtesy of Church of the Highlands.
Now that your tracks and vocals are set, Barry says to add the band. Start with drums and bass, then layer in guitars, acoustic, and keys after that.
I got specific here and asked about where he sets the vocals in the rest of the mix because there’s a subtle difference in how different engineers place the vocals in their mix. Some engineers will scoop out an EQ zone for vocals in their band mix and nest the vocals inside surrounded by the band; others will set the vocals on top of the band. Which one does he prefer?
Barry says err on the side of too much vocals. “Our philosophy is that the main thing is the main thing; we always want the vocals on top,” Barry says. Pitch correction is helpful here, he adds. If you have the technology available to you, you shouldn’t be ashamed or afraid to use it. “It allows us to create a wall of vocals. I can do that with confidence because when I push it up, we’re not going to be embarrassed by someone being way off pitch,” Barry says.
Balance simplicity and precision. Great mixes come from thoughtful decisions, not endless tweaking.”
Final Thoughts
Building a great mix doesn’t need to be complicated. Part of the conversation that stands out to me is how little processing Barry mentions. He does recommend stacking effects on top of one another as a means to a mix; he recommended simple, repeatable steps and relying on your own ears as opposed to a bunch of technology.
Keep it simple and go easy on yourself. You’re good at this, and if you follow Barry’s advice, you can only get better.
