Church Sound: Communicating With The Worship Band

If he held the mic and pointed his finger on the hand holding the mic up towards the top of the mic, it meant needed more voice. If he clutched the mic with two hands, then he needed more piano. Finally, if he put his hand by his side parallel with the ground, he needed less overall monitor. 

These three simple signals served us very well the numerous times that we worked together. 

Additionally, no one (unless they were very astute) in the congregation knew that this was taking place. 

As a side note, a good number of years ago a vocal group sang at a church where I was involved with the tech. During the rehearsal time, I began to pick up on the somewhat complex set of signals they had with the sound tech. 

A raised outstretched arm meant one thing, a raised arm with a finger pointed in the air meant something else, and two raised arms meant something different. 

I figured out that their movements not only controlled monitor levels, but also song list order, when the offering would be taken and they even included a request to have someone get more water bottles. 

To the audience it was totally transparent. I even heard some say how “charismatic” the group was with their arms always seeming to be in motion. If only they knew…

From my simple example to the more complex one about the vocal group, a few important things made the signal system work.

1. Most importantly, the sound tech was constantly watching the stage. No head buried in the board action here, but rather, heads up and pay attention!

2. This seems obvious, but both parties need to know and understand the signals. I occasionally did get what I thought were conflicting signals, but usually responded with the correct action. 

The conflicting signals happened with the worship leader accidentally made a signal and then quickly corrected it by making a countering signal that negated the previous one; like more vocal in the monitor followed by less vocal in the monitor. 

I understand that particularly for the person on stage, it’s easy to accidentally give a signal or mistakenly give a wrong signal, so as sound techs, we must be gracious and respond to all requests. This will build trust.

3. As with everything related to worship sound, an understanding and gracious spirit from both sides of the stage is essential.

Doing so will ultimately help both of you out and will also bless the congregation because they won’t have to endure the interruption of a musician asking for his monitor to be adjusted.

Gary Zandstra has worked in church production and as an AV systems integrator for more than 35 years. He’s also contributed numerous articles to ProSoundWeb over the past decade.