Let’s give him some steps to follow
1: Decide the depth of the lesson. Will this include drum mic’ing techniques or will it be limited to mixing drums?
2: Provide an outline. The outline could look like this:
a. Importance of a proper drum mix
b. The kit pieces that set tempo (that people use in their monitors)
c. The frequency characteristics of each kit piece
d. The kit piece to mix first
e. Mixing drums for the song “Better is One Day.” (Naturally, you’ll want a drummer on hand).
f. Lab time – give sound tech’s chance to mix for that song.
As for you…
1: Give him time. A month’s notice is good. Don’t say “at tomorrow’s meeting, you’ll be teaching people how to mix drums.”
2: Be supportive. Not everyone is a natural teacher. Find out if he could use some assistance during his session, such as passing out hand-outs.
In Conclusion
One cool spring day, I was talking with a fellow fisherman about my recent jaunt into fly-fishing.
I showed him the flies I was using for bass (all were meant for trout fishing). That’s when the unexpected happened. He said he does fly fishing himself and gave me a fly he designed specifically for bass.
He said he catches fish with it every time. I went home, made a couple of flies just like it and went fishing with great success.
My point is there are sound tech’s all around us that might not be great at all areas of audio work but are great at one area. And you can learn from them. Your team can learn from them.
You can take the above method one step further once you move through everyone’s talents. Assign a topic to a person.
They research it and present it at the next meeting.
For example, if the band plays a cajon every once in a while, a member of the team could research the cajon (freq’s, playing styles, mic’ing methods, mixing methods) and present that to the team.
So, What could you teach people on your team? There must surely be something. Be sure to let me know what in the comments below!
Ready to learn and laugh? Chris Huff writes about the world of church audio at Behind The Mixer. He covers everything from audio fundamentals to dealing with musicians. He can even tell you the signs the sound guy is having a mental breakdown.