Karl Verkade – Q:Why do you think there is a perceived rift between sound tech’s and worship leaders?
A: Well, first and foremost, because we worship leaders usually have a really, really difficult time simply admitting, ‘Hey, I was off-key on that part. It had nothing to do with my monitor mix, or the reverb levels, or what mic the sound guy set up for me.’ Instead, we blame the easiest one to blame, the sound tech. And I include myself in this, too. And maybe we don’t do it all the time, but it only takes one bad day for bad blood to start. Just once, I think we should try taking responsibility for a bad Sunday, even if it really was the sound tech’s fault. I think we’ll be surprised by how far that goes.
And secondly, we need to remember that on the average, worship leaders are artistic wackos. Sound guys on average are tech wackos. Not all the time, but just in general. So while the worship leader will drive the sound tech crazy by not letting him work on the issue of none of the subs turning on because he still has too much treble on his acoustic guitar eq in the monitor. But at the same time, the sometimes the sound guy will drive the worship leader crazy by trying to chase the 60 cycle hum that no one can seem to hear but him, while meanwhile the drummer has nothing in his monitor. So learning to understand each other is huge!
The sound tech should try really hard to come half way and start listening to music, and learning more about how to mix music then just how to make sure that everything is running properly and efficiently. And the worship leader should maybe take a week off and run the sound for a Sunday so he can learn how everything is hooked up. It’ll give him a much better understanding of what the sound guy goes through, and how to not cause the sound techs problems by hooking something up wrong. I try and do this every few months…..it just really gives you an appreciation for how incredibly difficult running sound really is.
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Gerry Leslie – Q:What mistakes do you see sound operators make when it comes to EQ’s and mixing guitars?
A: With acoustic guitars, over mixing the highs to the point where they’re shrill. With a full band playing at once, this isn’t as noticeable, but once an acoustic player is out front all alone, shrill tone is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Interestingly this is a problem I’ve even seen with notable Christian artists in concert.
With electrics, the problems I notice are not finding the right levels, (too cranked or too soft) or having too much of the low-mid/low frequencies that make the overall sound extremely muddy. I absolutely love sound guys that understand how an electric guitar works, and can communicate what changes need to be made to get the sound quality as good as possible considering the environment being played in.
This article on worship tech advice originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
