I’ve been to my fair share of church services, and more than my fair share of contemporary/modern church services. Some of the mixes I hear are fantastic! Some of them, however, are less than stellar.

I’d like to think I know it all, but know enough to understand that’s completely not true. Certain mixes hit my ear different than others, and that’s O.K. All I can offer is what I believe to be that modern, pop-y Christian mix.

I should note that my mixes are heavily influenced by gospel and R&B because these are the genres of music that I typically work with and listen to recreationally outside of the church.

Vocals

Man oh man, can these things get buried. Vocals are the number one priority in all of music. If I can’t understand your vocals, you’re losing the entire message of the song. I understand that things happen, but this is a no-no for me. They should fit right on top, right in between any melody-carrying instruments.

I tend to cut out a lot of low end. Perhaps a lot more than others, but it’s necessary to make plenty of space for instruments whose fundamental frequencies reside below 500 Hz. So I place a high-pass filter (HPF) at about 150 Hz and do a low-end cut at about 500 Hz to get rid of any boxiness.

I’ve also noticed I like the sound of a “notch-out” at about 1 kHz. In recent months I’m finding more and more “throatiness” in some of my vocalists and people speaking, likely because of the hot and humid weather we have in the Midwest. I find it fun to try opening it up a bit.

Guitars

I love a robust guitar sound, but what I don’t love is over-amplification of electric guitars. There’s a time and a place (read: solo) for strong loud guitars, but I don’t consider it in contemporary Christian music. (I can already hear the crowds boo. I regret nothing.)

Now, if it’s a pleasant acoustic guitar, go ahead and let it take center stage (aside from vocals – never, ever push the vocals away.) I like my acoustic guitars with just a little “meat” at around 250 to 300 Hz, and plenty of sparkly high end without getting too much fret noise. Once I notice the fret noise is really prevalent, I can’t un-hear it.

The low end of guitars can tend to be a little tedious as I’m balancing it with the rest of the low end. I usually end up cutting at 400 or 500 Hz while still trying to keep that previously mentioned beef at 250 Hz. This is all a balancing act you may be familiar with.

In general, though, I whole-heartedly believe that guitars can’t always serve as the main instrument. They have their places and I love really ethereal licks, but this isn’t a metal show and there are often many more instruments on stage that could use some love.

Drums

I consider drums to be the second most important piece of the band behind vocals. We all know how poorly some congregants keep the beat, so we need to make sure that a nice crisp clear drum set can be heard.

Kick and snare, most of the time, are vital. I prefer a very fat low end with a cracked snare. I boost the kick around 60 or 80 Hz depending on what the feel of the song is, and also boost just a tad at about 1 kHz to keep some of the pedal sound in.

On snare, I always prefer to have top and bottom miked. The approach here is a boost at about 250 Hz or so with a cut at 500 Hz, which produces warmth. Then the bottom of the snare provides a sharp boost at 1 kHz to really give it a snappy, cracked sound.

I typically blend the two sources, with slightly more top than bottom. Finally, I like toms present, round, and resonating, but not overwhelming, and I prefer cymbals to be bright, but not harsh.

I find a lot of churches use enclosures (i.e., a plexiglass shield around the drum kit), which adds a certain level of complexity to the mix. I love the isolation, but I really hate how “boxed in” it can sound. You have to fight that in almost every mix of your kit.

Bass

I love a smooth bass line. I’m a bassist and really enjoy when I can’t pick out really weird sounding (or overpowering) bass in mixes. I had to accept it growing up playing the instrument, and we must accept it as sound engineers: bass shouldn’t be the loudest instrument in the band.

And by that I mean a nice round low end (I hate the sound of frets on a bass. Any uprights or fretless out there?) with a HPF at 60 Hz with just enough finger noise around 2 kHz or so to distinguish accented notes without overpowering the kick, or worse, the vocals. The kick and bass should be working harmoniously, not stomping all over each other. Don’t be afraid to use ducking to get them to behave.

Keys

Pianos have been in churches for as long as both have been in existence. Nothing can replace a really incredible pianist. (I envy those who can “tickle the ivories.”)

Usually, I don’t do anything particular to keyboards and pianos because they were made to be left alone. That’s not to say I don’t slap on a HPF every now and again, but I do try to stay true to the piano and let it do it’s thing. The only thing I can say is make sure I can hear it in the mix.

Everyone mixes differently, and every congregation likes its music differently. Because of the generation in which I grew up, my mixes tend to sound a lot funkier and modern than some generations before me. (I also consider myself one of the most conservative.)

Always be careful to take care of your ears. I know exactly when I start to reach the 95 dB point (if you can get your congregation to even accept levels that high) because I begin to get uncomfortable. It’s actually been something I’ve been working on lately, sometimes my mixes are perhaps too quiet – a good problem to have if you ask me.

If you take one thing from this discussion, it’s this: listen. Really listen. If you just walked in off the street, could you understand what the vocalist was saying even if the words weren’t onscreen? Our job is a balancing act and when done right, it’s incredible.