{"id":16687,"date":"2016-01-14T06:20:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T14:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=16687"},"modified":"2017-10-17T11:11:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T18:11:15","slug":"10-tips-mixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/10-tips-mixing\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Mixing For Church Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mixing for church worship – The ultimate 10 step guide. As a volunteer sound tech for your church, you\u00a0probably have not done\u00a0sound for a living and are looking for practical ways to get better. Here are\u00a0ten\u00a0helpful tips & tricks that have helped me over the years and will\u00a0certainly\u00a0bring\u00a0your mix to the next level.<\/p>\n

1. Relationship and communication with team.<\/h3>\n

If you are a member of a team, (I consider the worship and tech team to be one, not two) it will pay huge dividends if the relationships are strong. Imagine a guitar player or drummer, whom you don\u2019t know that well, playing a little bit louder than usual. You say to him: \u201cTurn down your amp!\u201c What would his response be? Not nice. However, if you have spent some time with him connecting on a personal level over coffee, getting together outside of church, you know his name, the music he listens to, what he does for a living, etc., the conversation might go like this:
\nMe: Hey, Johnny, I need a favor.
\nJohnny: What is it bud? Anything.
\nMe: I need you to turn your amp down.
\nJohnny: No problem.
\nA strong relationship solves a technical problem. Phil 2:1-11<\/p>\n

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2. Develop your ears.<\/h3>\n

The church may have techs, but they may not be musical. Mixing is a combination of art and science. It is of no value to teach someone the art of mixing if they have little to no interest in music. Listen to music often, especially to the types of music your worship leader listens to. It will help you to understand what he wants to hear.
\nLearn how EQ can help or destroy a mix. A very affordable program for understanding EQ, tone, and level would be Quiztones<\/a>. HearEQ<\/a> is another program. Typically, cut before boosting a range of frequencies. Cut narrow, and boost a little wider.<\/p>\n

3.Know your mixer and signal flow.<\/h3>\n

Mixing is fun, but what you\u2019ll be doing most is locating the problem, or finding out why something isn\u2019t working. Knowing how your mixer and system is wired will help you to do this much faster. Make a diagram of the system to know where all the in\u2019s and out\u2019s go. Organization, labeling cables and keeping things the same will help to remove the frustration and chaos that can occur when it isn\u2019t working. Know your mixer like the back of your hand, so that you can keep your eyes where they need to be: on the band.<\/p>\n

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4. Gain structure.<\/h3>\n

Recently, I was asked to help train a church that hadn\u2019t done a proper sound check in 8 years. You can imagine the look on my face. The foundation of a great mix is getting levels of every input optimized first. There are different ways to do this. I use a method called target gain. The levels are set during sound check. You may also want to do a line check before sound check to make sure everything that will be utilized during worship works.<\/p>\n

5. Sound check vs. Rehearsal<\/h3>\n

Sound check is for the sound operator; the rehearsal is for the band. Sound check is done before rehearsal. It\u2019s necessary to set proper levels for every microphone. This can go very quickly if the musicians are cooperating. 5-10 minutes is all you\u2019ll need. Once set, the band can rehearse. You may want to view a video I did a while ago called Mixing the Church. This will give you a good idea of what this looks like.
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