Fight The Lazy!
Let’s break this down into steps:
1. Create different song mixes.
Does your worship music on your iPhone all sound the same? No. Don’t use the same scene for all of the songs. It’s OK to have a baseline mix but consider it a starting point.
If your musicians change from week to week, then the baseline might not be possible. It depends on how the bands are grouped and the functionality of your mixer. Some mixers can save channel settings separately while others save all the channels together as one scene.
Bottom line, songs are mixed differently and you need to work with the same mindset.
2. Plan out how you will use scenes.
You can use them per song, per element, or per a group of elements. I use around five scenes per service. Each scene is for one song plus any elements before or after where a logical break occurs.
For example, if the last song of the worship set is concluding with the last notes ringing out, it’s OK if the person speaking starts talking so the music sound stays as needed.
There are all sorts of ways of arranging scenes. Take your schedule and break it out into logical groups.
3. Plan your first service like it would be your last.
Even if you only have one service each weekend, put your energy into creating the best song scene mixes possible during your worship practice and your sound check.
By the time the first service rolls around, you should know you have done your best. You should expect to make some minor changes to your mixes but those are simply part of live mixing.
Consider the first service (each service) as if it was the last service you were ever mixing. You want it to be the absolute best.
The Take Away
The ability to recall scenes takes a large burden off your shoulders. You can get better individual song mixes and, in the case of multiple services, you can create a consistent sound from one service to the next. This is all good but it doesn’t mean that you can stop mixing.
The mix that worked during practice might need tweaking when you hear it with a room full of worshippers. In the case of multiple services, after reflecting on the first service, you might discover you could improve your mix for the next service by modifying a vocal mix.
And let’s not forget mixing for the moment. Recalling scenes is great but don’t let those saved settings define your mix.
P.S. Remember to save your scene changes!
Chris Huff is a long-time practitioner of church sound and writes at Behind The Mixer, covering topics ranging from audio fundamentals to dealing with musicians – and everything in between.