Over the years at various venues, many of them worship oriented, I’ve had the privilege of working as producer and technical manager for many touring groups as they come to town to perform. 

In that time, I’ve seen a lot of crazy things: mic’ing a snare drum with the rear (strongest pick up rejection point of a cardioid microphone) of the mic pointed towards the drum head; mic’ing a guitar amp with two mics placed tight together (and taped) with the mic heads side by side and then run in mono without putting them out of phase with each other (can you say ‘phase cancellation’?)...

Anyway, you get the idea.
 
But I always try to approach events and the people involved with the mindset that I can learn something in every situation. Although, to be honest, I have to admit that there have been times where a cantankerous sound guy practicing his own special brand of incompetence has caused thoughts of “every live sound guy is an arrogant idiot!” to cross my mind. 

Then again, I’ve been that arrogant so-and-so a few times myself. Like the time I was trying to “help” the seasoned road guy who was using two mics on a snare drum, one on top and one on bottom, and I told him in relatively brash terms that it would never work. “You’re gonna have all kinds of phasing problems” is pretty close to my direct quote. 

Fortunately this veteran, who obviously had a heart for and desire to educate the “arrogant idiots” that think they know everything, stopped mic’ing the drums and very calmly explained to me why he was using this particular microphone technique, even drawing polar patterns and phasing charts on the back of a set list as he explained it to me. 

In a nut shell, he noted that by placing the mic on the bottom of the snare out of phase with the mic on the top of the snare, and doing some really bizarre (at least it seemed that way to me) equalization on both mics, a great snare sound would be achieved.
 
During the show that night, I marveled at how it felt like every time the drummer hit the snare drum, the crack was crisp, and really felt like it was smacking me in the back of my head. So thanks to this patient soul, I learned that phase shift is frequency dependent, and that it can be used as a positive.

Anyway, about a month ago, another touring act came through town. The budget was tight, so the band (internationally known, Dove Award nominated) was only traveling with stage instruments and their in-ear monitoring setup. They’d be using our house system, and this meant I would work closely with their sound guy. 

Thankfully both the band and the sound guy were delightful to work with; in fact, they seemed to be kids at play, so happy to be doing what they were doing. But I found myself questioning the sound guy’s competence.

I tried many times to explain the left/center/right configuration of the system, how the aux fed subs worked, how to patch the compressors and effects… And the whole time he smiled and nodded his head and then proceeded to do something that made it appear as if he had no clue as to what I’d just told him. 

During soundcheck, I had other responsibilities and so left him to his ways, thinking, “oh boy. this is going to be interesting.”

At show time, as the band prepared to come out on stage, I looked at the console and noted - of all things - he had the kick drum feeding into one of the effects units. Scanning the effects unit that was patched to that feed, I saw that there was a reverb with about 2.5 seconds of decay on the kick drum. 

I thought he must have meant to turn the feed of the aux fed sub up and just twisted the wrong knob, and quickly tried to bring this to his attention. He just smiled and nodded his head…

Once again I was surprised - from the first note, the band sounded great!  They have a very different style and sound than most of the contemporary Christian bands that have come through the facility, but it worked very well for them. 

Now, would I recommend reverb on a kick drum?  No! (At least not under normal circumstances.)

Did it work for this band? Yes! I found myself wondering if the sound guy really knew what he was doing or if he just got lucky. 

After the show I had time to talk with him, and found out he’s a very accomplished musician, owns a tricked-out Pro Tools rig, and was only on the tour doing sound because his own band was on a break and he needed to earn some cash (I surmised that it was to feed his Pro Tools obsession). 

I also found out that he had a fascinating mix of technical aptitude intertwined with incredible musical and creative skills. As it turns out, I do think he understood most of what I was telling him.  The nod and smile were his nice way of saying “thank you, but I am going to try some different things.”

This experience brought to mind one of my favorite sayings: “Audio is the art that everyone thinks is a science, and audio is the science that everyone thinks is art.” 

It also totally affirmed to me that when you can both understand and mix science and art together, the results can bring sound to life!

Gary Zandstra is a professional AV systems integrator and has been involved with sound at his church for more than 25 years.

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More PSW Church Sound posts by Gary Zandstra:
Sometimes ‘Live Can Just Be So Live”
Seven Steps to Great Worship Sound
Maximize Your Mix: A Step-By-Step Guide Through A Mixing Console
Testing Cables Is Essential To Solid Church Sound System Performance
Two Simple Yet Vital Tools Of The Trade For Church Sound Operators