Once many years ago I presented a top 10 list for philosophy of sound in the church. \u00a0Ok… being a software engineer in one of my incarnations allows me to count down to zero, so there isn’t a mistake in the numbering. \u00a0This is that list:<\/p>\n
\u00a010. Practice.\u00a0 Practice mixing.\u00a0 Practice listening.\u00a0 Practice with your processors.\u00a0 Practice Practicing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 9. Practice listening some more.\u00a0 And listen to different styles: rock, classical, country, talk, gospel, choral, etc.\u00a0 Listen to them at your church over your system.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 8. Don’t believe the soloist who says their accompaniment tape is “all cued up.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 7. Know your signal path \u2011 be able to describe the *entire* path to someone both forward AND backwards.\u00a0 Learn what every control along that path does.\u00a0 Learn the strengths and limitations of your gear.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 6. Don’t over\u2011process.\u00a0 Many times processing (whether EQ, compression, effects, etc) are used to fix problems that could have been avoided by proper technique.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 5. Learn your stage.\u00a0 Know what the people on the stage have to deal with when they are preaching, leading performing, etc.\u00a0 Figure out how much gain you have to work with before feedback, where the dead spots and hot spots are.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 4. Learn your floor.\u00a0 Know what it sounds like in the front row center vs. rear stage right vs. balcony.\u00a0 Know what music sounds like vs. spoken word.\u00a0 Learn what it sounds like empty vs. filled.\u00a0 Know how the sound decays, which instruments\/voices sound good and which sound bad.\u00a0 (see Practice listening above)<\/p>\n
\u00a0 3. Use good technique.\u00a0 Good mic technique, gain setting, gain structuring of the PA, panning and EQ will prevent a lot of problems that would otherwise have to be fixed further downstream.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 2. Don’t assume that just because the pastor starts preaching you can sit back and relax.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 1. Be systematic.\u00a0 Have a fixed system for startup, shutdown, sound check, etc.\u00a0 Make sure it uses good principles and stick to it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 0. Develop relationships.\u00a0 Really get to know the pastor and WL.\u00a0 What their beliefs about worship are. \u00a0How they like to approach services.\u00a0 Be available for rehearsals.\u00a0 You’ll learn how the musos and vocalists work and what to expect from them.\u00a0 They’ll benefit from your feedback (as opposed to the system’s, that is).\u00a0 You’ll be able to anticipate problems and have fewer surprises.<\/p>\n
\u00a0You might think I left out something important in this list: prayer.\u00a0 That’s because it’s not *one* of the items.\u00a0 It is EVERY item on my list. Everything you do needs to be bathed liberally in prayer.\u00a0 Pray for calm.\u00a0 Pray for patience.\u00a0 Pray for God’s glorification.\u00a0 Pray that your work is a fit offering.\u00a0 For the Congregation.\u00a0 Pastor.\u00a0 Choir…. you get the idea.\u00a0 :\u2011)<\/p>\n
There are so many “top 10’s” possible that it’s not even funny.\u00a0 Top 10 for EQ, monitoring, mic\u2019ing, etc., etc., so I focused on your request for sound philosophy.\u00a0 I’d suggest doing a search of the archives for any specific type of technical application such as gain or compression, etc.\u00a0 The important thing is to keep calm and bite off just a bit at a time.\u00a0 Especially as you are learning, keep things simple and stick to the basics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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