10. You must have a TEAM mentality.
The sound booth is not a fortress. It’s not a place where you stand and give orders, ignore requests or protect yourself from talking to other people (we are mostly introverts). The technical production team and the worship band and everyone else involved with the service are all part of a team with a common goal. Miss this and it hurts everyone, including the congregation.
11. Plan time away from the mixer.
A danger of being a new tech, especially in a small church, is trying to work every possible service. It’s great you want to gain experience and practice, but a few things can happen:
- Your family will miss you at church—“You never sit with us for a service.”
- You’ll start seeing church as a place of work, not serving and worship.
- You’ll be on the road to burnout. Oh, the first year is great, but three years down the road …
I’ve seen people burnout and quit. I’ve heard from techs who still work in production long after burning out because no one else will take their place. Check out the following article that hits burnout in depth. Don’t avoid it because “it will never happen to me.” Read it, because one day you could be that person. Be pro-active.
12. Accept that mistakes and disasters will happen.
As a rookie, I would become frantic when something unexpected happened. It would take me longer to fix the problem and my obvious emotional state would be a worry to the pastor and the congregation. Today, a disaster becomes more of an annoyance. I work through the problem, solve the problem and keep my cool throughout.
Problems will occur. Keep your cool and work through it. A tip on that, if you can fix something in just a few minutes, then fix it, otherwise go for a plan B. And you should always have a plan B—if the mixer goes out, what will you do; if a wireless microphone dies mid-service, what will you do. Plan for problems and have solutions at the ready.
As for mistakes, expect to make them as a rookie. I still make them, though on rarer occasion. Did I ever tell you of the time I accidentally muted the pastor’s microphone mid-sermon? Anyway, as I heard it once said, “Don’t let your mistakes define who you are.” Accept that they happened, forgive yourself and move on.
Mistake or disaster, there are four questions to ask;
- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- What can be done to prevent it from happening?
- What did you learn from it?
13. You are placed in an area of great responsibility where God works through you to affect the hearts and minds of others.
Read that a few more times.
What would you say to techs before they mix in 2015?
Got some experience under your belt? What would you tell someone new to audio production? What changes do you see coming in 2015? Do you disagree with any of my points? Please leave a comment.
