Understanding Needs Of The Congregation
During my college days, I spent time behind a different kind of mixing board – a radio broadcasting board. I discovered an interesting fact related to the broadcast audience. It’s this—they will call you, asking for information on everything from parade times to road closures to event locations, and they will expect you to have the answer.
In order to understand the needs of the congregation, let’s look at the needs of those radio listeners. They perceived the radio station broadcaster to be in a position of knowledge I was the one reading traffic reports, weather reports, and urgent news alerts. Doesn’t it make sense that I would know when the local Catholic church was having their spring carnival? In their minds, yes, it indeed made sense.
Working in church audio production, you are perceived to be in a position of knowledge. The presumption is that because you work directly on producing the church service that you must also know:
—The location of empty seats when people walk in at the last minute.
—When it’s too warm or too cold and you have the ability to change the thermostat.
—The time that any church event starts, ends, and where it takes place.
Congregational Requests
You will find people asking you a variety of questions. You will have the answers to some, but not to all. And sometimes, you just don’t have the time to answer them. For example, the service starts in 30 seconds and you need to be ready to start.
When it comes to congregational requests, I deal with them in this order:
—Answer the question if I know the answer.
—Point them to people who can answer their question.
—In the case of first-time visitors, I with call out to someone else or I will walk them over to someone who can help.
Be courteous and professional at all times. They might ask you a question at the worst time. No matter how bad the timing, remember you are representing the church and God so let that show through your actions.
Their Need To Vent
People need to vent their emotions. They can be upset over what the pastor said, the choice of songs, the volume of a song, or even over the smallest of mistakes. Maybe they are just having a bad day. They might even turn to you to vent. I’m an easy-going person so I tend to listen and they give some words of encouragement.
If they are upset over something regarding the audio, then you need to start asking questions. Your goal is two-fold: expressing concern over their complaint and looking for the cause of the complaint.
Consider these statements and the follow-up questions:
—The music didn’t sound right. What was it that didn’t sound right to you? Could you understand the singers? Was it a problem with the volume?
—The music was too loud. Was it all of the sounds or was it a particular voice or instrument? Where were you sitting?
—I couldn’t understand the pastor. Where were you sitting? Could you understand anything that was spoken by anyone during the service? How could you not understand it (was it a volume issue, was it unclear, etc).
—What happened with the feedback? This is a complaint or they are just giving you a hard time. You can either explain in detail what happened or say “I made a mistake, I’m sorry about that.”
Asking questions will give you answers as to why there was a problem. If they were sitting right in front of the loudspeakers then it makes sense if they thought it was too loud.
At one church I know, people were complaining about getting headaches. It turned out there was a lot of low-end frequencies that were gathering into a part of the sanctuary. Maybe you had the guitar too loud in the mix…maybe they just don’t like the style of music. Learn what you can and change what you can.
Asking questions also shows you care.
The Joys
The joy you get from the congregation comes in a couple of ways:
—You overhear then say “the band sounded great.” You mixed the band, so take that as a huge compliment.
—They tell you directly, “you did a great job today.” This usually comes after a particularly crazy service that keeps you hopping. They see that you were able to keep up with all the changes and maintain your cool.
—You watch them worship. God used you to help build that mix, that sound, that feel. He used you to give the musicians what they needed.
—You heard them talk about the service. In short, they kept their eyes and ears focused on the church service. Take joy in that because it means you’ve done a good job.
Summary
The congregation will be the source of your greatest joys. They will be the source of your greatest frustrations. Guess what? That’s the way it should be.
Give them what they need. Treat them with respect. And take joy in the fact they are focused on the pastor, the music, and God.
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.