By The Way…
There’s a big “but” in that last paragraph. While there are preference issues to deal with, the truth is sometimes we hear mixes that are just horrid. I’ve heard my share, mostly in church, but not always. Usually, a bad mix is the result of a lack of training, a lack of a musical ear, or someone who just doesn’t care. One of those things can be fixed.
We also hear mixes that are OK, but not very good. Sometimes that is an experience thing, other times it’s a lack of understanding how music works. Not everyone can do this, that’s one thing we should all agree on.
Should It Sound The Same Every Week?
This is another question: How do we get consistency in the mix from week to week? There are a few things you can do to help with this, such as starting with the same baseline show file each week.
But the reality is, if you want the sound to be very consistent week to week, keep the same band and same guy behind the desk. Every week. Change either or both of those positions, and the sound will vary. How much it varies will depend on the skill of the band members and sound techs. But with amateur musicians and sound techs, you’re not going to achieve the exact same sound each week if you’re rotating team members. You can get close, but it’s going to vary.
GIGO
Finally, I feel I should point out that the mix is only ever going to sound as good as the band on stage. GIGO is a computer term that means Garbage In, Garbage Out. Basically, if you put bad data into a computer, you get bad results. If you put a bad band on stage, about all the mix engineer can do is make them louder—he can’t make them better.
I’ve seen pastors berate the sound guy when the real problem is on stage. I’ve wanted to tell them, “Pastor, it’s not his fault, the band is just terrible.” I once had a guy email me and ask what plugins or mics he needed to use to get that “huge drum sound” he heard on some album. I said, “First of all, hire that drummer. Second, have him bring his drums. That should get you pretty close.”
The Point
Preference definitely plays a role in mixing. It should not play too much of a role, however. Your job as the engineer is to make the band louder, enhance their sound and fix any bad stuff as much as possible. The best mixes I’ve heard are when the engineer and band are working as a team and are on the same page.
Moving along, I thought I should touch on the concept of politics. Not nation-state politics (don’t get me started on that one…), but the internal politics of the church. We don’t like to talk about this because we like to believe that everyone is one big happy family and totally on the same page. Sometimes that’s true, but often it’s not.
Dueling Objectives
Where we run into trouble—especially in church—is when we have multiple objectives.
Usually this is the case when the leadership of the church isn’t on the same page when it comes to the musical portion of the worship service. I’ve worked in those environments and it’s no fun.
When the senior pastor wants All Sons and Daughters and the worship leader wants Hillsong Young and Free, the poor sound engineer is stuck in the middle. We cannot serve two masters, especially the two masters who want very different things.
This is usually where the questions come from. When the pastor keeps saying, “Turn it down!” and the worship leader is yelling, “Crank it up!” you will never win. I want to be really clear on this so no one misunderstands: this is a leadership issue, not a mixing issue.
I’ve lived in this tension before and can tell you it’s not good. It usually happens when a church finds itself aging, so to appeal to a younger crowd, the leadership brings in a young, cool and loud worship pastor who immediately changes the musical style. This leads to all kinds of conflict, and as I mentioned, the sound people get caught in the middle.
I Know What I Don’t Like
Another big challenge is when a pastor won’t tell the sound and worship team what he wants musically, but will tell them what he doesn’t like. You start to hear comments like, “I don’t like that, it doesn’t fit our culture.” When asked, “OK, what would you like to hear?” “I don’t know, but I’ll tell you when I hear it.”
This drives me nuts. You’re not leading when you’re simply saying, “No” all the time until your team stumbles on the “Yes.” Pastors, if you want to continually frustrate your teams and make their lives miserable, don’t give them any direction, just shoot down everything they do because you don’t like it.
Choose Your Music Style
One of the easiest ways to settle the “sound problem” is to choose a musical style that fits the culture of the church. Not every church is cut out for Bethel. Not every church does well with traditional hymns. Find the style that fits the style of the congregation and mix appropriately. If you do that, the problems will go way down.
So that’s it. For now. I have a feeling we’ll be revisiting this topic again in the future because this is something that’s not going to go away. But hopefully this helps you think differently about it.