The Mix?

Today I visited a church, and I had some thoughts that I thought would be a good idea to share as I'm sure they are not alone in what was going wrong.

So first what was right. Well they did have a nice system that was sized right for there building and the quality was very good. Line arrays for mains, Yamaha main board, in ear monitors (no mixers) and the drums were in another room allowing for total control. All the right stuff and a pretty good application of the hardware. So what was bad you say?

The Mix! it's all in the mix. So this is indeed the most difficult part of the sound engineers job (besides the e.q. settings on a real piano)

So this is what i wanted to write about today some good pointers on mixing live sound. The first thing to do is the most obvious, LISTEN! does what your hearing sound at all like any CD you have every heard?
The human ear is like anything else it needs training to become refined. Spend any time you can listening to worship music, Now don't just hear the music listen for the individual singers and instruments. What do the drums sound like? do they sound the same when I mix? Vocals? how many how does the blend of voices sound? is some one louder than the rest? is that okay? should everyone really be heard in the mix?

One of the most difficult things any worship leader must do is ask someone to step down from the team. Sometimes it's easier to just pull them out of the mix! I know that sounds bad, but not as bad as some people I have heard on the stages of our churches. Remember we are pleasantly amplify the band as to not distract those who are attending the service, we want to be seamless were people don't even notice the sound!

Mixing live sound is very difficult some people want to set there sound boards up once and leave it for ever! If you are one who subscribes to this idea, i'm sorry but it is wrong for many reasons. I will share a few to hopefully help you see the light.

Sound is never the same from day to day. The temperature change in the room will change how things sound. People have allergies that will affect how they sound. Instruments will change with a re-stringing or tune. all of these types of things change the dynamics of the room and you need to be ready to deal with them when they arise.

A worship service is a live set and each sound will require a slightly different mix. This must be changed from song to song and many time during the song.

It is good to know the set what songs are going to be played and what and who will lead each of those songs so you can be prepared to adjust the faders as needed.

The best tool you can have in your bag of tricks is your own set of ears! Training those ears is most important reference reference reference!

And remember to look for that guy in the service that keeps turning around to look at you in the sound both! This means there is something wrong! and you should try and find out what it is...

Till next time remember to get those ears in shape and hang in there it will get better!

God Bless!