The lesson? Sometimes musicians and worship leaders find it difficult to trust the sound and technical people. But please, let logic prevail. In most cases, leaders of a church technical staff have the necessary experience to do their jobs correctly, certainly better than anyone in the congregation - no matter how well intentioned these individuals may be.

If a mix engineer or technician seems to be lacking in ability and knowledge, guide them to proper training. If it seems that they lack the “ear” to provide a properly musical mix, perhaps find something else for them to do and encourage others with this talent to put it to full use.

I would also encourage the sound staff to be honest with themselves and always seek to improve their skills any way possible. However, do not allow lay people to sabotage the effort and commitments of the staff.

Deadly Sin #3: Using the word “no”. Musicians often possess a certain confidence that sometimes even borders on arrogance. We get an idea or vision and we’re quite sure it can come to life, and with excellent results. This is simply a part of the creative process.

It’s up to the sound team to foster this creative spirit, not squash it. Therefore, the word “no” should fall toward the bottom of the response list. For example, if a musician asks for an additional drum microphone, the answer should not be “no”. This suggests that the sound crew has no care about the creative vision, no care about striving for improvement.

Instead, how about a response along the lines of “I’ll see what I can do. And, if you don’t mind my asking, what do we want to achieve with this extra mic?”

This is a positive, can-do attitude that’s supportive and can be infectious. Also, by inquiring further, the sound crew may be able to help deliver a solution better suited to achieve the new creative vision. Maybe it’s not an extra drum mic that’s needed but another approach, like additional drum isolation. The point is to ask, which begets learning, which begets support and collaboration, which begets a better performance.

Deadly Sin #4: Unqualified knob “twiddlers”. Musicians like knobs and blinking lights, so naturally, they want to fiddle with the sound system. The confidence/arrogance mentioned previously plays into this as well – we believe there’s no task we can’t be great at, regardless of lack of training and experience.

But the reality is that musicians usually know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to operating a sound system. And, for that matter, ditto when it comes to house and monitor mixing. The irony is that musicians indeed can be among the best “sound” people in the congregation, perhaps better than many sound technicians, due to their musical ear.

The problem: “too many cooks spoil the broth.” The solution is fairly simple and straightforward. Someone is either a musician or a sound tech/mixer for a given service. If you’re the musician, this means hands off the sound gear. If you’re the mixer, do the best job possible, and support the musician. One individual does one thing, the other does the other thing, and you meet in the middle in the spirit of mutual respect, collaboration, striving together to make everything better.

Positive dialog, commentary and suggestions on both sides, but keep you’re cotton-pickin’ hands off the gear! It simply leads to disaster, where nothing is better and everyone’s mad at everyone else. Is this the spirit of worship?

Part 2, Deadly Sins #5-7: Further understanding of both sides of the stage. It’s all about working together, both sides functioning as one. Next time we’ll share information that can help take this concept even further. In the mean time, let’s all listen to each other, encourage each other – the results can be amazing!

Based in Michigan, Robert Stam works with Spectrum Design Group of Oklahoma as a system/sales engineer and has extensive experience as a church sound tech and mixer. He can be reached at rstam@spectrumdesigngroup.com