I saw the survey results about listening with a critical ear…and I want to be honest with you. It’s hard for me to worship when my head is too busy thinking about how I would have EQ’d the sound or how I might have arranged the volume levels. I want to crack my head open like a chicken egg and dump my brains out. I don’t want to think about sound! The survey showed many of you also suffer from, what I like to call, the mixer mentality. So what can I do about it? What can YOU do about it?
Worship at another church! That’s usually the thought that I have. But what is that going to solve? I’d probably be just as critical and become focused on the wrong things during the service…like "a little mid-range boost would be good for that guitar."
Don’t get me wrong, please. The other sound guys at my church do a good job.
Maybe I’m a sound snob?
I know I’m not perfect at the job. I’m sure other people could come in and do a better job. If I thought I was perfect at it, I’d have a whole different set of problems. I learn new stuff each week and when I can, I also post stuff up here. Some of the stuff I post is new stuff I learn and other is stuff I already knew. I just love teaching people. But I’m running off on a tangent…
Sunday mornings, I have to listen with my heart. My heart is where I draw close to God. My head is just this bobbly thing on my shoulders that holds my glasses in place. If and when I recognize this fact, I can ignore the thoughts of EQ and microphone placement. If I’m successful, my head is empty and thoughts of instrument balancing drift away.
So there you have it, me and just one of my many imperfections. If you don’t suffer from the mixer mentality, you are one of the lucky ones. But if you do, unscrew your head and leave it in your car before you walk into church. Pray a little prayer before you walk in.
My name, Christopher, means "bearer of Christ." It does not mean "saintly sound man."
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I'm Chris Huff and I've been working behind a mixer for over twenty years. Since 2008, I've been helping other sound techs learn all about the art of church audio through behindthemixer.com.
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Amen.
Take the thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.
Humble yourself, listen to what the Lord would say through the music, not critizing the sound. Don’t think of the reputation you want to give the church of being a “perfert” soundman.
All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23
So stop trying to look like the calm, collected, in controll person. Just give your all in service to the Lord, do your duty as unto the Lord, and not unto man. (Clolossians chapter 3) we serve the Lord Christ, not the audience.
Christopher, I think I understand what you are saying about listening with your heart, but I have to point out that Christ did tell us that we are to worship God with our whole being: “heart, soul, MIND, and strength”. “Unscrewing your head before you walk into church” is definitely NOT in keeping with this command. Taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, showing patience toward less skilled sound mixers, and repenting of idolizing even helpful things like sound equipment and the quality of the sound itself for the worship of Christ are more biblical counsel. In the case you are describing, when I am experiencing similar frustrations, I have learned/am learning to do a heart-check and to repent of my wrong thinking/attitudes, selfishness, judgementalism, and idolatry of things other than Christ. My name, John, means “God is gracious.” We’re all in need of His grace, and that includes me!
I also pray before I mix. I find that when I pray that God blesses me in what I do, bless my ears and in how I enable others to worship God.
On the other hand I find it very easy to worship while I’m mixing. I’m quite the opposite. I find so much fulfillment in seeing 600 people worshipping freely that it helps me worship. During rehearsal I have my game face on and when there are big problems I become distracted from worship.
However I have had to come to the realization that when you are halfway through the worship set and you’ve asked God to bless your ears and your mix, you’ve made everything sound as good as you know how to that you are leaving things in Gods hands to work on people’s hearts. In some senses you have to let go. I try and be proactive in keeping the mix balance fine-tuned but I try not to tear my ears out on the minutia of EQ, compression or level balance because it means that I get caught up on the tools of worship (the board) rather than worship itself.