This past weekend during worship service rehearsal I was confronted with an audio phenomenon that didn't fully compute. The setup was fairly normal: drums, bass, guitars, piano, a few extra line-drums, 3 vocalists. The team was well into the run-through when we were confronted with a short burst of feedback in a narrow band around 3-4kHz. Immediately I looked up from my board and toward the stage to get the visual confirmation (band and vocalists wincing in unison, looking back at us in the booth like we're idiots) that something in the system just ripped through the signal chain inducing said noise-burst directly into the ear canals of all the unlucky recipients. Fortunately we (band and techies) are a team and all collectively bore the brunt of the unruly squeal. Experience immediately told me that a vocal microphone was just pointed into a monitor wedge...Although there was just one little problem: THERE WAS NO STAGE MONITOR WEDGE IN USE!!! It was, however, a little different in that it was not as full in volume as a typical feedback burst would be, so I cataloged it as an anomaly and moved on. A few minutes later it happened again. Mystified, I started scanning through all my FOH gain settings, then moved over to take a look at the gain settings in monitorland. The vocalists were collectively singing louder at that point and a few of the input channels and IEM transmitters were living in the red-zone a bit too much. So I had the monitor board operator dial back a few of the things to leave some headroom for the actual service, but didn't equate any of the changes as being related to the main issue at hand. The feedback problem didn't happen again, but after about another half-hour of mulling it over it dawned on me what might be the source of the problem. There was a particular vocalist for that service who notoriously sings quietly, putting out very little acoustic energy, thus requiring significant reinforcement from the mic and speakers. She also has a very narrow tonal range, which complicates the matter. Still, I new the feedback was not coming from the house PA as I've been able to beat her EQ up regularly enough that it's not a problem for me (note: this after frequently and lovingly encouraging her to "sing out!") and the house doesn't characteristically ring in this range if at all. This lead me back to consider the monitor setup. It dawned on me that just as I needed to turn her up in FOH, so did the monitor guy. Then I realized that the vocalist was committing the unpardonable sin of using only one earpiece of her in-ear monitor setup but with the addition of her draping the unused earpiece on the front of her shirt, hanging a third of the way down her chest...just at the same location she decided to hold her microphone while not singing!!! Who woulda' thunk!?! Feedback issues with IEMs... Her vocal was SO cranked in her mix that when her microphone passed by the open earbud, catching it at just the right angle, it caused the system to spiral into unstable audio territory! Crazy... One for the books for sure.This obviously got me thinking about the whole in-ear monitor scenario in general. I've had long debates in discussions about all aspects of the issue with band and technicians alike. The musicians and singers at our church are typically mixed in their usage with some using both earpieces and some using only one. The argument for usage of only one earpiece goes something like - "Well, I feel cut off from the audience, band, etc." which is understandable but fixable. The worse scenario is the defeatist mentality of "well, the mix doesn't sound great so I won't be a bother to the sound guy...really, it's fine." That, in my book, is completely unacceptable as an excuse.
I won't be exhaustive here about all the issues and how to fix them. There are a number of informative resources that address the process and challenges already. What I do want to do is pose a charge to both performers and technicians, especially as it relates to serving in the context of the Worship Ministry.
First of all, the sound team exists to serve the musicians and singers, who in turn serve the congregation by leading them in song-worship of the Living God. This all is then laid on top of the charge that we are "serving the Lord Christ." (Col. 3:23-24) As such, we can not with good conscience continue to wallow in a sea of indifference and mediocrity if we are to serve with excellence. There are some very tangible ways to get better at what we do, what we should expect, and how we develop our craft.
For those on the platform (band, singers, musicians) I ask you that you be honest in two areas:
1. Your hearing is important to us and it should be to you. Using only one ear puts you squarely on the fast track to long-term hearing damage. In a recent informative Mix article, Michael Santucci, noted audiologist and founder of Sensaphonics has this to say about using one earpiece vs. two:“When players take one out, their brain loses its ability to do binaural summation, where two ears together add up to a 6dB increase in your perception of loudness,” Santucci explains. “If you're hearing 90 dB in both ears, your brain thinks it's hearing 96 dB. If you take one ear away, then that one ear has to go from 90 to 96 to sound like 96. And now the other ear is open and getting bashed by the band, the P.A. and the crowd. So this loud sound coming into the open ear causes you to turn the other ear up even more. In terms of ear safety, using one earpiece is a dangerous practice — it could actually be worse than using none at all.”
2. You need to begin demanding better mixes from the technicians. Ask for a nice musical mix; something that's well balanced (with you on top of course), but something more inspiring than just plain-old functional, i.e. - "lots of my voice and maybe just a little piano and acoustic guitar." Get the right amount of stereo ambient or crowd mics into the equation to get a sense of spaciousness and you should be good to go.
We love you musicians and desperately want you to use your gifts to lead us for years to come. God has given you talent to steward through your voice or hands, but he's also given you two ears to steward as well. As such, please do not take lightly the potential risks involved in compromising your monitoring situation. Your feelings are no match for the brutal reality found in empirically verifiable data on hearing loss due to poor listening practices.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Now, on to the technicians (myself included). The charges here are the similar as the ones I give to those on the platform:
1. Soundboard operators are responsible for providing safe listening levels in the house and on stage. We are joint-stewards of the hearing faculties of the people we serve, and so we need to be increasingly concerned about creating and promoting a safe environment for our worship leaders.
2. We need to exhibit an increasing proficiency in our craft. It's a poor excuse to say "Well I'm just a volunteer," or "I'm only on once a month; I don't do this for a living and you can't expect perfection." First of all the Lord Jesus (and hopefully those you serve with) see what you do as more than just being a volunteer. Friend, do you not realize this is an act of worship. We put forth our our time and skill and heart and preparation and prayer as an offering to God knowing that we're part of a larger movement to stir people into praise and change peoples lives. It is service and it does require a great degree of humility. Oh, and it definitely requires much grace, especially from the band as it pertains to expectations. We understand that most people who serve on the tech team don't exercise the same skill vocationally during the week. It would do everyone well to remember that the board operator can't pick up the big soundboard and take it home to practice much like a guitarist or vocalist can take their instrument with them. However, this is not a license to neglect the craft in between times we serve. I'm not saying we need to be perfect; we just need to be seeking ways to excel in our craft.
As it pertains to mixing monitors, there are so many ways to get better. Here are a few ideas:
A) Run sound in a different ministry that meets midweek. Sound is sound; any experience can be brought back to the weekend ministry context.
B) Communicate...A LOT! Don't just sit in the booth during the weekend. Go talk to the people you serve; after or in-between services is always good. We're on a team together, and team mates seek to build comfortable relationships where the craft can be discussed. Ask them what they like or don't like about the mix. If you get a simple answer like "It's fine..." News Flash!!! It's not fine. Be specific about something to start the dialog. Try something like "Hey, I tried to brighten up the piano to help the notes cut through a bit more. Did that help you?" This may prompt a response like "Well, I didn't notice that so much, but what I could use is a little more kick, snare, and hat to feel the rhythm better."
C) For IEMs, start improving the stereo mix. We have two ears to hear, which give us a sense of depth and spaciousness. Nothing short-circuits this sensation faster than listening to a mono mix. Often we use two mix channels for input to each wireless IEM transmitter. This means that the system is capable of a stereo mix to the receiver. I worked for years in a studio creating stereo monitor mixes for artists. It takes lots of practice, but it's worth it for them and you. Our singers and musicians should be asking us for a beautiful and inspiring stereo mix...everytime! When was the last time you listened to your iPod with only one ear in? I thought so...Pan out that drum kit, spread out those piano, synth, and keyboard channels, pan the guitars out a bit. Keep the vocal up the middle and prominent, and for good measure, bleed in some of the crowd mics and/or reverb fx to "wet it up."
D) Be listening to lots of music to get some perspective. If you don't love music, you probably shouldn't be serving in this area. Listen to both high quality reference music and sub-par stuff, too. I'm a firm believer in exposure to good and bad sounding stuff, otherwise you never have a guage on the sound quality of the stuff you're mixing. Additionally, be listening to stuff that the band and singers listen to; and not just the mp3 of the special for the weekend, but invest in a variety of CDs of the styles and artists whose songs we play.
E) Be immersing yourself in the wealth of resources outside of just prerecorded music. There are a host of trade publications, books, websites, video tutorials, etc. all available for free or close to nothing. Read multiple perspectives on how other people use the equipment and start experimenting and finding what works and doesn't.
F) Experiment with open channels. Most of the boards we use at Harvest are digital. As such, the ability to patch sound sources to multiple channels allows the operator to set the mix using preassigned channels, then also double-route inputs to open channels that nobody else but the operator hears. This creates the perfect environment to experiment with real live sound sources with which the tech person can then practice different EQ and compressor settings (or whatever else your heart desires) without the effects being heard by the musicians. As you find some useful settings begin to implement them as long as they don't create a distraction to the hearer.
Much more can be said about this, but enough talk; let's get to work. It's going to take a joint effort on the part of musicians/singers and the techies who serve them to improve in these areas.
Patience, grace, practice, ongoing dialog...Prayer, humility, did I mention patience?
"Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men." Proverbs 22:29
