Rehearsal Saturday, check.
Sound check Sunday morning, check.
Personal monitor mixes dialed in, check.
Everything seems to be in order.
Then the service starts.
Something happens between sound check and rehearsals that throws off personal mixes and floor wedge mixes. Folks on stage try to smile and be welcoming while simultaneously glaring at the team behind the board. “What changed?!?” their body language says.
Techs have checked gain stages, aux levels, group levels and everything is in order. The techs behind the desk shrug their shoulders and motion to belt packs, “Nothing changed here, what did you change!?!” they try to communicate.
Consider starting with songs and choruses that everyone knows.
What changed between rehearsal and performance? Generally, it comes down to one thing. Adrenaline.
Let's rewind back to rehearsals. Everyone plays a little riff (usually independent of the rest of the band) so techs can set gain levels. Then performers make their personal monitor mixes. Generally in rehearsal, songs are stopped, started, restarted, transitioned, transposed… and the list goes on. The performers may not be overly confident in the songs or the transposed key and everyone is feeling out their role in the song.
Jump to sound check Sunday morning. Confidence is higher, but everyone is tired and might not have had enough coffee. In very tragic cases, they have not had coffee at all. This translates into hesitant playing and singing. Maybe they concentrate on the chord chart more while brains wake up and riffs are remembered. You likely practice songs that gave you trouble in the last rehearsal and jump quickly through the transitions. Performers are playing from their heads and not their hearts.
After a brief pause it's time for service to start. A few new elements (besides caffeine) enter the mix. Confidence. Adrenaline. Giving your all for the King. And immediately, every person on stage is playing or singing a few decibels (or more) louder than they were 30 minutes ago. Personal and house mixes have changed instantaneously.
With this in mind, how would we run rehearsals differently? Here are some tips to get to mix levels that need minimal adjustments when going “live”.
Worship Leaders:
Consider starting with songs and choruses that everyone knows. Let the team warm up and get comfortable with the song. Select one with a strong chorus and building bridge that explodes back into the chorus. “The Stand” by Hillsong is a fantastic song with great dynamics and has the added benefit of preparing hearts. Don't be afraid to use the same song week after week. You are looking for comfort, confidence in playing, and dynamic levels.
When the team is confident, they will be making their monitor mix according to confident volume levels. When it comes time to play live, they don't have to make sweeping changes.
Another important note here. If you have a personal monitor system like Livemix or one of the others that allow you to save a mix, do so now. And coach the team on not changing their mix too much the rest of rehearsal. Your live performance will be closer to the “comfortable song” mix than mixes made during the stop/start/transpose/change part of rehearsals.
Church Techs:
Make some notes on where musicians are hitting the meters when playing the comfortable songs. From week to week you will start to know and sense when a musician will have issues with their live mix. Keep good communication with the team to let them know you need more from them if they are holding back.
If you have the ability to save mixes, doing so during the comfortable song is a good idea. Recalling this at the start of sound check will get you closer to performance levels.
Make sure each musician knows where they can save their mixes so they can recall it the next time they play. Provide some time in rehearsal just after the “confident song” for saving and walk them through it if needed.
Worship Team:
If possible, save your mixes right before you leave the Sunday morning stage. The ability to recall your performance mix will save time the next time you rehearse.
Try to keep in mind what things can and will affect the mix. Things like playing a different bass than what you rehearsed with, switching from a single coil to humbucker pickups, singing after jumping around on stage, fresh acoustic guitar strings, all have an effect on your mix one way or another.
Most of the time, between sound check and service time, nothing will change on the technical side. However, the effect of adrenaline is often overlooked. Be aware of what it feels like, sounds like, and looks like to perform with confidence and ensure you are making your personal monitor mixes accordingly.
