Photo by Markus Burns
Mixing audio is part art, part science and part politics. Even in a mid-sized church, the audio systems can be quite complicated with plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong. Having trained dozens of audio engineers over the years, my training process has evolved steadily into a fairly structured process that starts with learning the system, progresses to basic equipment operation, mixing and learning how to interact with the band.
Start with the system
While I used to start people off right at the board, I’ve found a better long-term strategy is to first teach aspiring engineers how the system gets put together each week. In our program, new audio team members start off as A2s (second audio engineer) and learn how to set the stage each week. By getting the mics, DIs, monitors and other equipment out of the audio locker and onto the stage, they are in a much better position to learn how to troubleshoot when things go wrong. Because they are the ones actually plugging the mic lines into the snakes, making sure powered DIs have power and putting batteries in the wireless mics, if something amiss is discovered during line check, they know how to fix it.
A perfect example of the benefit of this training happened a few weeks ago; the click track from our tracks computer was delivering a very low and distorted level, something we discovered during soundcheck. As we began troubleshooting, my A2—a high school student who has been on the team for about eight months—suggested that perhaps the 1/4-inch wasn’t plugged all the way into the audio interface. Sure enough, that was it. By actually doing the hard work of learning how the system is wired together, troubleshooting becomes second nature. As part of our training process, I will also set [up] the stage with a few things wrong and have the team troubleshoot and figure out what the issues are. We purposely build time into our weekend set up schedule to practice things like that. Once the A2 has demonstrated proficiency with the system set up process, we move them on to the next phase.
Learning basic mixing controls
Let’s face it, once a mixing console gets beyond about 32 channels, they can be pretty daunting. For a new person, stepping up to a modern, digital mixer can feel a little like walking into NASA’s mission control. So rather than try to explain every single function on the board at this stage, I work on a few basic functions—those functions will form the basis of a solid mix regardless of what console they would ever find themselves on.
In the early stages of mixing training, we focus primarily on input gain, digital trim (if we have it available), faders and groups/VCAs/DCAs (varies by mixer). Getting the gain structure of the console right is the foundation for a good mix; and if the band is good and the system tuned well, everything else is decoration.
By actually doing the hard work of learning how the system is wired together, troubleshooting becomes second nature.
We spend a lot of time getting gain structure correct. Following the time-tested model, I’ll have them observe me run a sound check, then talk them through doing it themselves, and finally turn them loose on their own. Virtual soundcheck can be an invaluable tool here. By playing back tracks into the system, we can spend a lot of time with the A2s as they get comfortable with how loud things should sound (and where each input should end up on the meters).
Building a basic mix is the next step, and for that we move on to the next phase: ear training.
Ear training—listening, deconstructing and reconstructing
After set up and before the band arrives, we’ll pull up recordings for each of the songs we’ll be doing that weekend. By listening to the songs, we can discuss the leading instruments, the placement of the vocals, effects styles and the overall feel of the song. Then we talk about how we are going to recreate that with our band that week. By having the example recording fresh in their minds, it’s easier to build a good representation of it.
Again, virtual soundcheck is a great tool to use at this stage of training. On our training nights, we’ll do the same thing—playing back the original then recreating it with the tracks. I will start them off using my snapshots as a starting point, then as they get comfortable, change the playback levels of various tracks to help them learn to adapt to players playing louder and softer. Once they have a handle on building a basic mix, we move on to the next phase.
Advanced skills—EQ, dynamics, effects, plug-ins
With more and more churches going digital with their mixing consoles, it may be tempting to start off teaching new engineers all about EQ, dynamics and effects. I’ve found this to be problematic. Learning to mix is a bit like drinking from a fire hose, so I’ve tried to throttle it back a little bit and help them learn techniques in smaller, more manageable pieces. Only after they have a handle on building a mix do we start talking about the advanced stuff. Most of our starting EQ points are saved in our show file, so when starting off, the new engineers don’t have to do much anyway.
As they gain proficiency, we start talking about EQ and how that relates to the mix. Again, virtual soundcheck allows us plenty of time to play with various settings using actual sounds without worrying about the effect on a service. If you have access to a real-time analyzer (RTA), explaining the concepts of frequency distribution can be illustrated very visually. Dynamics controls and effects are taught the same way—lots of time on the console with tracks.
While it is possible to train without virtual soundcheck, it is much more difficult. However, if you have a mid-week rehearsal, you can experiment quite a lot without affecting the monitor mixes. If you can do it, even recording one or two channels at a time will prove valuable as you teach how fast or slow compression attack times affect various instruments.
Don't forget relationships
Woven throughout the training process is an emphasis on getting to know the band. I tell my A2s, “Never pass up an opportunity to go talk with the band.” Some of the most successful engineers are not necessarily the best technically, but they have excellent people skills. By helping our trainees learn to relate to and communicate with the band, we do ourselves, the engineer, and the entire church a huge favor.
It's a process
I tell new recruits that it may take three to six months before they get much hands-on time with the console. After that it might be another three to six months before they’re mixing a service. Training an audio engineer is not like training an usher; it’s a big task, but one that comes with big rewards. Both the trainer and trainee have to be committed to the process and willing to spend the time it takes to make everyone comfortable. In smaller churches, this process can go much faster; larger churches may require more time. The important thing is to develop a process, then work the process. When done well, everyone wins.
