sound engineer

Worship teams and audio techs exist in order to help lead our congregations to worship and love God. We all have the same goal, to provide excellence in leading worship. So why do Audio Techs and Worship Leaders frequently experience conflict, having a hard time supporting and respecting one another?

Placing loudspeakers and having them sound good involves a lot more than just pointing some speakers in the general direction of the listening congregation. While your church might hope that it would be this simple, it isn't. There are many “rules” for loudspeaker placement that are blatantly violated every week — especially with portable church sound systems.

Worship distractions come in a variety of packages. Some distractions just can’t be avoided, like the baby in the back row making a less-than-joyful noise. But there are a number of distractions that can and should be completely avoided. In terms of technical system distractions, there can be many causes.

There’s nothing quite like learning how to use a new piece of gear or practicing a new technique, and then having to train someone else on your team how to be proficient with it! The great thing about this is that it forces you to truly grasp the fundamental concepts of what you’re doing and why. In order to teach something effectively, you need to distill the complex variables of your task into manageable concepts that your student can comprehend and then put into practice.

Yes, I know December seems far away, and you might not be ready to start earnestly thinking about Christmas – but a little thought and planning now could make any upcoming Christmas tech plans go much smoother. You can start benefiting from this preparation right now! Here are seven tips to help you get started readying your worship technology for the upcoming Christmas season:

Mixing sound is as much an art as it is a craft. And like any art or craft, it requires a commitment to learning and practice in order to stay proficient and mix with excellence on a regular basis. That’s all well and good to say, but what does it really mean to “practice sound?” How can church sound techs practice and get better? Are there tools that can help measure that advancement in knowledge and skill? I hate to break it to you like this, but if you want to get better at mixing sound then you’ll need to do more than just show up at mid-week worship rehearsal, shadow the lead mix engineer on Sunday, and “think about running sound.” Fortunately, there are some great resources to help you get started (if you're an audio rookie), and tools to help you continue your education (even if you’re a live sound veteran).