5) Do a proper but efficient sound check.
A sound check is not always the easiest or the most fun thing to do. However, when handled in an orderly and proper fashion, it can set the tone for the service. There’s often a debate of what constitutes a sound check and what makes a rehearsal; the lines between the two often get blurred.
To me, sound check is a 15-minute (or so) period with the band where I check input levels and do some initial EQ work. During that time I take the lead and control the flow. Musicians may provide input, but I’m in charge.
Following sound check, I turn over control of the stage to the worship leader who’s running the rehearsal. I can ask to stop or redo a section, but this is his time to get the band comfortable on stage.
It’s also a time when monitor levels are set and tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked… Are musicians ever satisfied with the monitor mix? More on that later.
6) Sound check with each band member.
During the sound check, also systematically go through each input on the console. I prefer to start with drums then move to bass (drums and bass are the foundation that I build my mix on), followed by keys, guitar(s), other instruments (sax, flute, etc.), and finally vocals. I also ask that all musicians stay on stage, ready to play.
This is important because it insures everything is working (and hopefully working properly), plus I can hear how certain instruments are going to interact and feel. For example, I always listen to the kick and bass guitar together. How I equalize the bass is dependent on how I equalize the kick drum. A word of caution though—keep the whole mix in mind when you sound check to help insure an optimum result.
When I first began running sound, I would spend about an hour on sound check, each musician playing separately for as long as it took me to get their instrument sounding rich and full. (It was usually a considerable amount of time.) And it was so “rich and full” that each player could do a solo concert. This was not helpful to the outcome—the musicians would get bored, restless, and anxious to warm-up and rehearse, while all of that individual work on my part did not translate to a good mix.
Thankfully, a veteran sound operator straightened me out, stressing that the way to approach the mix is by beginning with the end in mind. He also taught me how to EQ the kick and bass to be complementary rather than competitive—and that adding a 10 dB boost at 100 Hz on the kick, bass and keyboards was not the best plan to achieve a tight, chest thumping low end.
7) Make the musicians are happy first.
This may seem rudimentary but it’s vital to understand that we and the musicians share (or should share) the same goal: to present inspiring music that sounds as good as possible.
Take the role of a gentle teacher when it comes to technical things. When the guitar player tries to use his special 1/4-inch to XLR cable to plug the speaker out directly into the mic input, don’t yell at him. Yes, stop things ASAP, but then take a few moments to kindly explain why the mic preamp in the mixing console is not interested or capable of receiving such a high-voltage signal.
A simple way to cut the tension is to use a talkback mic. If your console is not equipped with talk back mic capability, simply plug a microphone into an input at the console and turn up the appropriate aux sends. If you don’t want the mic to go over the house system, set the auxes to pre-fade or unassign the input from any groups or master outs.
There is little that’s more frustrating and stressful than a mix engineer yelling from the booth to a musician who has no other option than to shout back. The simple act of using a talkback mic and speaking slowly and calmly into it will greatly reduce the tension and potential hostility.
A proper monitor check also helps. Start by asking all musicians what they want in their monitor mix before the rehearsal starts. After roughing in those settings on the console, have the band play through a song. Following that, all musicians should provide direction as to how they would like their individual mixes changed.
Next, allow the band to play through two to three additional songs without taking additional requests. This helps force them to be more precise in their requests while also providing the engineer with an opportunity to focus on the house mix. After each musician once again (in an orderly fashion) asks for monitor mix adjustments, that’s pretty much it. No further changes unless something drastic happens. Time to focus fully on the house mix.
