If your church is like others, the excitement of having a live stream is tempered by some of the problems that inevitably arise. Maybe people are having trouble connecting. Maybe you aren't getting much traffic. Maybe there's a problem with the stream.
A lot of times, though, it's something that you can foresee and make allowances for. Sound is one of those things. Unless you record your services now, you might not know that what you hear live can be very different from what's recorded. Without an ambient mic, the there won't be any reactions -- no laughs, no sighs, no applause.
That's not the only problem though. Music, especially can sound really bad. There's a good reason for this. The acoustics of the live-venue play an important roll in what reaches our ears.
Think of it this way. If you had a silent stage, mixing audio would be simple. It would just be a matter of adding or subtracting based on taste and for the peculiar acoustics of the room.
Even with all electric instruments, that's not the case, though. Some people sing loudly, while others sing in hushed tones. Singers may hold their microphones at various distances from their mouths. This causes even more differences in levels.
Don't forget the volume levels of instruments. Acoustic drums often the worst culprits. (see related article, Taming the Beast: 5 Ways To Overcome Drum Volume ) Some churches lower stage volume by placing them in Plexiglass cages; that doesn’t make them silent though.
When you mix sound, there's no such thing as a “negative microphone.” So, you need to raise the sound of the keyboards and other instruments to the level of the drums. From that point, where the sound is well-mixed, you can then raise the total volume to the level it needs to be in the room.
Remember that what's coming out of the sound board might not have drums, but would have a lot of keys. Without the sound that comes from the drums, they'll sound much too low. In the same way, if a singer is loud, you might not have much of him or her in the actual mix.
The way your sound is EQ'd is probably different for your sanctuary than you'd EQ for the little speakers built-in to a laptop. Perhaps you've even pulled down frequencies that tend cause feedback. Since there aren't any microphones in remote locations, those frequencies aren't a problem there.
So we've established that mixing for live sound reinforcement in isn't like mixing for recording or broadcast. However, in the case of a live stream, you're doing both. You're mixing to make it sound like the person is live and in-person at your church, but you're also mixing for playback or broadcast in an environment over which you have no control.
There are a few possible ways to deal with this. To create a separate mix, there are two options. First, you could have the live audio engineer at your church create the mix with your current sound board by mixing to an aux. For better results, you should have another person mix the live stream in an acoustically isolated location. The advantage of the latter is that his or her full attention can be on the mix for the live-stream, and more importantly the isolation allows the engineer to mix with out spill from the PA or stage wash. The disadvantage is that you have to invest in additional equipment, space, and human costs. Again, if people and money aren't an issue the second option will yield more professional results.
For most churches, the main or monitor engineer will handle the live-stream mix, too. This doesn't add cost, but it does add complexity. If the mix is complex, adding another layer of responsibility may be too much.
What comes out of your sound board might be a little “dry” without the ambient sound, so you might want to add an ambient mic into the mix. Doing this, you can restore some of the audio to the mix that the sound coming directly from the board lacks.
The mix isn't the only challenge to good live-stream sound either.
Dynamics that sound great live might be overpowering when heard remotely. Maybe your music runs at around 97 dB and it's much quieter when someone is speaking or praying.
A good strategy to deal with this problem is to run a compressor on the output signal before it's sent to the encoder. This way, you'll have less range between the quiet parts and the louder parts of the service. It will never be perfectly even, but closer is better.
Your goal should be to prevent the moment when someone watching online would reach for the volume control.
Avoid the temptation to just lower the volume across the board. You want a good strong signal coming to computers, portable devices, and set-top boxes across the internet. They can always lower the volume if it's too strong, but if it's too low, raising the volume will add noise that you don't want.
Good sound for the live-stream isn't something that just happens. You have to plan for it. As long as you do, you'll be able to minimize problems. It might take some experimentation to find the right formula, but the results are important. Don't let poor audio be the reason your church can't build an online audience.
