Advice for the New Sound Guy
November 16th, 2005 by Steve Parker | Posted in Production
Travis asked me to put together some thoughts about sound, relationships with the band, equipment, spirituality, production aspects, etc. This article is written towards those who, like me, are relatively new to the whole idea of sound for worship. I’ve been at it for about a year now with The Rock, and this article includes a lot of the knowledge I have gained in that time regarding the ministry.
The subject is absolutely huge, and there are many different perspectives and opinions out there, so here’s my two cents. But one thing I know for sure: this ministry is a lot more than moving faders and turning knobs. So here goes.
Spirituality
As awesome as it is to be a sound guy behind thousands of watts and tens of thousands of dollars worth of sound equipment, the job demands a great amount of responsibility and dedication. To be a sound guy means that you are able to completely screw up anything and everything that comes out of those speakers, potentially causing a lot of frustration to the church. One may ask: “How do I ensure that everything that comes out of those speakers is appropriate and good-sounding?” I have found a solution to this question, however (and hopefully I’m not the first person to see this):
All we need to do is desire the glorification of God above all else. With this in focus, humility and enthusiasm for sound and worship will be an immediate overflow.
This attitude doesn’t come overnight, but I guarantee that if you focus on God being glorified and getting yourself out of the way, God will use you. In my little experience, being used by God often means amazing mixes. A word of warning though, if God does use you and it sounds really, really good in there, don’t go running around afterward being prideful of your mix, it’s not your mix, it’s God’s. I myself have fallen into this trap numerous times. Pride is very destructive, stay away from it, pray that God would help you remain humble.
Here’s a bunch of pertinent verses:
If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7
For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. 2 Corinthians 8:12
Relationships with the Band
It is easy to feel very separated from the band sometimes, maybe you don’t hang out with them much, and maybe you don’t know a couple of the band members very well, and maybe you don’t really think of yourself part of the band. Well think again, the sound guy’s relationship with the band members is absolutely imperative to a strong worship team and a good worship service. It is especially important to get to know the band’s leader. As a sound guy at The Rock in Fort Collins, one of my primary jobs is to take Travis’ vision for a song and help make it happen. Travis is kinda like my “boss”, so my relationship with him is very important, the better I know Travis, the better I am able to understand what he wants and make it happen.
My relationship with the rest of the band matters in that I need to understand how they think, how they like their instruments to sound, how they like their monitors, etc. Here’s an example: I don’t play the drums, I like drums and I’d like to play them but I don’t. Jared and Chris are drummers for The Rock. Jared and Chris have a wealth of knowledge and experience about drums that they can give me to help me mix drums better, but how am I supposed to talk to them about drums and learn from them if I don’t have a good relationship with them already?
Also, your attitude behind the board will greatly affect the attitude of the band; remain composed and friendly even when things go horribly wrong. A frustrated sound guy makes for a frustrated band, and it’s really hard to glorify God when you’re frustrated.
In reality the sound guy actually is a member of the band even though we don’t stand on stage, the sound board can definitely be considered a musical instrument. It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to do it well and it greatly affects the songs.
Here are some practical applications: 1 Take opportunities to hang out with band members 2 Eagerly listen to band members’ opinions about the sound 3 Learn about their instruments (and if you have extra time on your hands, learn to play those instruments) 4 Go to band practice when you are mixing for the service that week. 5 If a band member sounds good or is playing well, tell them!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Philippians 4:29
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Production
One thing that The Rock in Fort Collins is big about is the production aspect of the Rock services. There are colored stage lights, big speakers, big sound, and usually we bring out platforms to lift the drum set and the other back row instruments up off the stage a little to be seen better by the audience. This all translates to a worship service that rides the line between church and concert. The danger here is falling too far on the concert side and losing the worship aspect, i.e. just turning it into a big show every Friday night. There are a lot of good things that come out of doing it this way though:
First of all, the music is loud enough that people in the audience can’t hear people around them singing; hearing the people next to you (or yourself) sing can be a big distraction to worship.
Second, turning the lights out in the house allows people to come out of themselves more and worship God more whole-heartedly.
Third (and my favorite), There is enough sound coming out of the speakers to allow everyone to really feel the music, this makes for a very intense, exciting, and real experience.
Obviously one concern of the sound guy should be peoples’ ears. We don’t want to cause permanent hearing damage to those that come to the service or to our own ears. So try to keep it at or below 105dB (that’s just the highs and mids, bass can be higher safely).
The production of the worship has the potential to be a very powerful thing, I remember my first night at The Rock, I was completely blown away, there were even people in the isles crying on their knees. I left thinking one thing: “Man, these people aren’t kidding around”.
Sound and Sound Gear
I constantly look at all the sound stuff that our church has acquired and stand in amazement at the fact that it all even works (probably only by God’s grace). Not that the equipment is of poor quality, but that it is just so complicated. Now the trick as a sound guy is to get it to all work together to form a good-sounding mix. Yikes, here’s another place where lots of prayer is helpful.
All of the money spent on all this sound gear was spent because someone believed that it was the best way to further the kingdom. It is good to keep in mind that the same money could have gone to feeding orphans in Zimbabwe, so try as hard as you can to use the gear you have in the best possible way. I’ll say it again: learn how to use all of the equipment to its greatest potential. And not just equipment either, use all of your resources, ask you leaders questions if you need guidance about sound related stuff, listen to band members’ opinions, listen to the opinions of people that come talk to you at the sound board, etc.
Remember also that it is impossible to please everybody. Travis has a lot of experience with this, he gets all of the complaints whenever a sound guy makes a mistake, and even when the sound guy didn’t make a mistake. People all have a different idea of what worship music should sound like. Your job as a sound guy is to follow the guidance of the worship leader, and to try to glorify God in the greatest possible way through your mix.
Okay, so there’s my two cents about sound for Rock worship. If you only take one thing away from this article let it be this: The purpose of worship is to glorify God, so that should be your purpose as a sound guy also. Worship will be our eternal occupation in heaven, so let’s concentrate on practicing hard now. Remember, even our best mixes here on earth just sound like emergency alert patterns compared to how the worship will sound in heaven. So let’s do our job with passion, enthusiasm, and desire, and let’s focus on God’s glory in all of this.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Colossians 3:23
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Great article, man. I love the point about all the money that is spent on the sound system.
Question about sound and protecting people’s hearing. Where does the 105dB limit come from? How do you measure that with the fact that most concerts (ie, David Crowder) are at around 115dB?
As the dB level rises, there is a sorter and shorter time that we can listen to continuous sound without causing permanent damage. According to the CDC and the NIOSH 2002, for 100dB the permissible exposure time is 15 minutes, for 105dB that drops to 3 minutes and for 115dB it goes down to 30 seconds.
I feel like those times are a bit short, but who am I to argue with the CDC? It also says on the website that those times are for “continuous” dB lebels, so maybe becauese worship volume goes up and down and has breaks we can go higher safeley. Either way, I think that we can generalize and say that we shouldn’t go much past 100dB. 105DB is the upper end of what we shoot for here in Fort Collins.
Your absolutely right about rock concerts, 115 is not abnormal, I always bring earplugs.
Here’s the website I fount that information on:
http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/hearingloss.cfm
and the same information from the CDC and NIOSH:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/pubs/lookatnoise.html
I’ve done extensive research on this subject, more along the lines of law though - if we damage someone’s hearing in our church service, here’s what’s involved:
The church faces some risk of liability for music that is so loud that it causes permanent hearing loss . . . BUT, there is a legal doctrine of “assumed” risk - audiences are in a position where they know loud music can cause hearing loss - it’s perfectly obvious. No one forces them to be there - case in point, all the loud rock concerts that millions of Americans attend every year. Most lawsuits brought against concert venues and loud bars have been dismissed on this principle.
OSHA has different noise level standards for the workplace than the NIOSH. According to them workers can be exposed to noises of 102dB for 1.5 hours, 105dB for an hour, 110dB for 30 minutes, and 115 dB for 25 minutes or less.
Funny thing I found while researching this stuff: Churches are subject to OSHA’s regulations, but the regulations state that OSHA is not allowed to enforce the regulations due to the religious nature of the service involved. That is unless the service is at a private hospital owned by the church, a school operated by the church, commercial establishments such as bakery shops owned by the church, or in the administrative offices of the church.
So, as long as the loud music is in the church auditorium, the church can’t get in trouble if I go deaf because I stand next to a drumset several hours a week.
At rock concerts I always wear earplugs, and then worm my way up right next to the speakers so I can hear (and FEEL!) everything clearly. I also wear earplugs or at least stuff some kleenix in my ears if we’re playing at a place that has really loud stage volume. It makes singing difficult, but it’s better than losing my hearing! I’ve also cut foam earplugs in half (the long way) to allow for some sound to get in for singing - which has actually worked pretty well.
Thanks guys. I asked the question to spur discussion. This is something we go around and around with at our church (as with every church i’m sure.) I know of the OSHA regulations, etc.
Another piece to add to the mix though: when they are talking “sustained sound” they are talking about sort of the white(ish) or pink(ish) sound of machinery, engines, motors, etc. Music is a different sort of sound than that (most of the time ;)).
However having just come back from the David Crowder concert last night, I probably should have been wearing ear filters of some sort (as I SHOULD every time we play a live show, but never do… to my detriment)
Good discussion!
wow, top quality subject. The Worship Leader/Sound Guy relationship has always been an up and down thing here. (at least for me) Some sound guys get won’t take any direction and some worship leaders either don’t give any or give too much direction.
That is a good point on how the LW gets the brunt of comments about how things sounded bad or good when really the sound guy deserves those comments (good & bad) just as much.
As far as sound, at the Rock (i don’t attend frequently, but have filled in there and stop by once in a while) they hover around 105+, then one of our locations can go as low as 87. My goal is to keep things around 100, its powerful enough but not offensive.
What’s wrong with being offensive, Ben?
As far as wthe relationship between sound man and worship leader (and rest of the band for that matter) goes, it is paramount to a smoothly running ministry. If the relationship is rocky, or non-existent, everyone’s life will be MUCH more difficult.
As with any relationship, this takes compromise and grace and forgiveness and submission (on both parties’ parts…). Maybe almost moreso than most relationships, as issues of preference, opinion, and philosophy collide weekly when it comes to running sound.
yeah, the funny thing is I’ve always been great friends with all of our sound guys, but I know when it went from being buddy buddy to “ok now you have to listen to me” they’d cop an attitude, But we’ve spent many chipotle burrito’s and cups of coffee talking it through, Now I’m trying to teach the younger worship leaders to be direct with what they want and what their goal for the overall sound is.
But Now that I am leading at our weekend services too it is a whole new ball game for me… not the leading part cause I’ve done that off and on there over the years, but more so… actualy I think I’ll do a seperate post on this situation to get some of your guys feedback rather than hi-jacking this discussion ;o)
Offensive audio: The level at which people feel the need to flee to the sanctuary to find sanctuary in the lobby. Or they go buy a box of earplugs and pass them around.
Keeping cool in the face of adversity: Sound Guy and Setup Crew Leader are jobs for the detail-oriented… but not the worry-wart. When I led the setup crew for the Rock, concerts in Old Town Square gave me ulcers - I felt it was just a matter of waiting for something to explode, fall over or blow a circuit. And that’s before the cops show up. For what it’s worth, I apologize to everybody who’s ever been sound guy for a concert where I’ve been point-of-contact for the businesses around the stage.
Oh yeah, the cops showed up. That totally rocked. They cut us off in mid-song. “Blue on Black,” I think the song was.