Create The Right Mix and Meet Everyone's Expectations

Skyrocket Your Audio Production Skills

Your Step-by-Step Guide

“That’s the best worship service we’ve ever had! Thanks so much for your help,” the pastor says to you. Aren’t those the words you’d like to hear?

You have huge demands and responsibilities when working behind the mixer. Believe me, I get it. When I started in church audio, I had zero training and all of the responsibility. Oh, I also had a voice in my head screaming, “don’t mess up!”

Imagine standing behind the mixer today. Now take away the stress. Remove any uncertainty about volume levels or how to mix the band. Imagine the house mix is set right. Imagine the musicians are happy. Imagine the congregation is fully engaged in worship. Finally, imagine the pastor’s thrilled to know YOU are behind the mixer.

What You'll Learn:

  • Discover the road map to navigate through the detailed work of church audio. This guide walks you through every step of church audio production, from before you walk in the door to when you leave.
  • Learn how to produce a church service that keeps all eyes focused upfront and avoiding amateur mistakes. Stop worrying about making mistakes that disrupt a church service.
  • Quickly learn technical concepts without being bored to death. For example, you’ll learn the five characteristics of a microphone and how they contribute to feedback reduction, a better sounding instrument or vocal, and a better music mix.
  • Find out the steps for creating a good music mix week-after-week. Use this repeatable process to tackle the biggest (or smallest) worship bands. The guide also covers mixing the spoken word – get the pastor’s voice sounding great.
  • Meet the needs of the pastor, worship leader, and the congregation before anyone has a chance to complain. You’ll build trust, create a happier work environment, and discover the nuances of working in a church production environment
  • Learn the crucial work that occurs outside of the sound booth. This enables you to create a high-quality professional-level audio production.

True Story

When I started running sound at my church, I didn't have a teacher.  I was "the tech team."  I was on my own and my only resource was an old technical manual that left me with more questions than answers. I tried my best but I was always stressed out, never sure about what I was doing, and I might have even made it on the church's weekly prayer list - no joke.

I learned the wrong way to do things.  I learned the LONG way of doing things.  What now takes me seconds used to take me minutes.  And my music mixes were, well, let's just say that was a long time ago.

But today, I don't stress about the next service.  I don't wonder about what I should do.  And best of all, when problems come up during the service, rare they are, I know how to handle them.

Through years of professional training, self-education, and a world of experience, I'm confident in my ability and I want you to have that same confidence.  That's why I poured a lot of my knowledge into this guide so you can learn the fundamentals of audio production, from stage work to mix work, and even the necessary areas of communication.

I want you to be successful!

What You'll Receive:

  • Each chapter, in this 36-Chapter ebook, details exactly what you need to know, why you need to know it, and how you can apply it. You'll develop confidence in every area of audio production.
  • A step-by-step guide where I walk you through setting up the stage, working in the sound booth, and the entire mixing process.
  • Pictures and audio samples. For example, you'll hear how the microphone location can create phase problems with drums, resulting in a flat-sounding snare.
  • Chapter assignments to apply the chapter's content to your unique situation. And chapter quizzes for re-enforcing the material – this does work!
  • One of the most important discoveries since the beginning of time…all of the unspoken audio production needs and expectations of everyone within the church walls. Find out how to create an amazing worship environment while having the support of the worship leader, the musicians, and the pastor.
  • The ability to say "yes, I know what all those knobs do."

Your 9 Bonus Resources ($75 Value):

  • The Sound Check Cheat Sheet

    Avoid missing crucial details with this 12-step cheat sheet covering all areas of the sound check.

  • The Mixing Checklist

    Reference guide to create a good music mix each week by following the outlined process.

  • The Church Service Checklist

    Checklist covers mid-week preparations, as well as pre-service, service, and post-service work.

  • Frequency Charts

    Reference sheets to quickly identify instrument and vocal frequency ranges and their problem areas.

  • The Drum Mixing Primer

    Primer covers microphone choice, mic set up, and mixing both acoustic and electronic drum kits.

  • EQ Starting Points

    The key frequency areas for mixing instruments and vocals – perfect when you need a little direction.

  • EQ Reference Cards

    Easy way to keep baseline notes when EQ’ing a musician.  Better than starting from scratch.

  • 18 Tips on the Art of Mixing

    My key strategies for creating a great mix no matter what the venue.  These skyrocketed my skills.

  • The Service Scorecard

    Track your improvement from week-to-week.  A challenge all church audio techs should accept.

Get Access to the Private Community:

The Behind the Mixer Academy Community

Get help when you need it, from myself and others, in the exclusive community forum. (Yes, you can always email me with your questions).

You’ll also find other people, like yourself, who will encourage you or help with solutions to your problems. Just to be clear, the community is private, easy to search, and distraction-free (it’s not a Facebook group with ads and junk all over, it’s a true online forum).

 

What Others are Saying:

If you’re looking for something practical that will give you ‘actionable’ advice and knowledge right out of the gates, Chris’ book is for you. Chris does a great job of balancing his book with practical tips and advice, science, and recommendations about the fundamentals – i.e., relationships and purpose of technical worship support.

Mike Willis
Mike Willis University of Dubuque Director of Media Services and Hope Church Sound Tech

I just wanted to let you know how much this book has helped me. I implemented your methods and am now the ‘sound-guy-of-choice’.

Paul Jollineau
Paul Jollineau Church Sound Tech in Rancho Santa Margarita, California

What Chris presents in these 335 pages (along with a ton of equally useful free extras like mp3 files and reference charts) is pretty much a solid week’s worth of audio training that, if you sent your audio tech out for, would cost you around $500 – $1,000.

Audio Essentials For Church Sound will be your constant companion and reference guide at your sound booth. [It] gets a 5-STAR rating from me. I recommend this book every time I train church audio teams.

Brian Gowing
Brian Gowing Technical Director @ Fallen Timbers Community Church and Audio / Video consultant
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...I can tell you that your book has been the best resource for learning how to manage and operate our sound system!  I purchased 5 different books to help me understand our sound system...Your book is really the best!

Thank you for writing such an incredibly useful guide!

Rob Ransom Audio Tech, McLean, VA.

The book is really amazing, I feel so much more qualified and clued up and A LOT more confident (not only in my abilities, but also in what our youth church and band can achieve). I look forward to practicing hard and improving my skills on the road ahead.

Lance Nel Church Audio Tech

I appreciate you taking the time to so thoroughly compile a manual tailored for church audio ministry.  I read it in its entirety within the first 3 or 4 days while on vacation.  I love how, in the beginning, you covered the purpose of the church sound engineer and how they relate to the pastor, worship leader (team) and congregation.

I personally appreciated section on the science of sound, ear fatigue and the importance of a second set of ears.  I do believe that your guidelines for where and how to place instruments and vocalists in the mix will be of most benefit to our sound guys. And of course, who couldn't benefit from the section on feedback.

Thanks again!

Brent Vidrine Church Audio Tech / Musician

Can’t thank you enough for this guide...Got your book - read it - reread it - and over a weekend totally redid our entire sound system. We found the previous ‘expert’ had setup things wrong and discovered some bad equipment as well. Since then our sound has improved 1000%. When people come up and ask if we put in a new sound system...that’s a huge win.

This book and your blog saved us thousands of dollars + plus we now have a in-house team that actually knows how to use and maintain our system.

Todd Trapani Sr. Pastor at Faith Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

The guide has been an awesome resource, I have learned and understood a lot of things that we had wrong. The sound of our church is 90% better than before, especially the monitors and the vocals EQ. Also, the gain-before-feedback method works great...Thanks for the guide and the help!!!!!!

Jose Gabriel Sound Tech in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico

After just some preliminary digging into Audio Essentials, I could have cried.  Really.

I have been working in the sound booth in my church for close to three years, but I have never really had any in-depth training.  I've tried to learn more in what books I could find and I've read lots of articles online (including articles on Behind the Mixer), but these were all so far beyond my basic level of understanding.  I was missing the "Essentials"!  But no more!

I have never been satisfied with running a worship service by the seat of my pants.  I am really so excited and grateful to have this opportunity to master the technical side of the sound system in my church, so I can give God my creative best.

THANK YOU.

India Godfrey Sound Tech

I am finding answers to questions I have wondered about for some time now. As a bonus, my oldest son has been visiting with us. He is an audio pro (studio)/song writer/producer. Information I am picking up from your book has led to several great conversations with him. He seems to appreciate my interest and is impressed with my new-found knowledge regarding mics, phasing, and mixing.

Whereas before I was a bit intimidated by the thought of getting behind the sound board at church, now I am looking forward to my next opportunity to do so.

Jim Malpass Church Sound Tech, Martinez, Georgia

I learned a lot from a technical point of view - even after a lot of years "behind the church mixer". Specially the best practice EQ / Compression settings. But what really impressed me was the first chapter, "Purpose". This brings a complete new view and thinking to the work we do and I put these thoughts at the start of each discussion when I teach new young people who would like to work in church audio production.

Mark Church Audio Tech

I found the process you laid out for the sound check (last few chapters) to be the most valuable. I did our show last night using your principles and it was our best mix yet.

Tom White Church Audio Tech

I have your ‘Audio Essentials for Church Sound’ e-book loaded onto my Smartphone so I can access it on the spot whenever I need pointers…worth every penny.

Thank you for such a fantastic resource you’ve created, it has improved my audio ministry so much and has made me so much more confident especially as we rely on rented venues using different audio systems and we are now so much more efficient in setup, sound check and live.

Luke Lockett Sound Tech at New Wine Church (Isle of Lewis, Scotland)

What You’ll Learn in Audio Essentials for Church Sound:

Ever feel like you’re not sure what to do next? You’re so close to getting everything right but just miss the mark. Those days are over. I walk you through each step of live church audio production, from microphone selection to the sound check process to active mixing during the service.

A common question new church techs ask is, "how loud should it be?"  There is no single right answer for every church - but there's a right answer for your congregation and you'll learn how to find it.

Don't worry, you won't get page-after-page of technical mumbo jumbo that leaves you feeling lost. I cut my teeth on such books and it's a wonder I didn't give up. Yes, technical details are included but I make them easy to understand and apply. For example, you'll learn the various microphone properties, from polar pattern to frequency response, and how a simple microphone change can stop annoying feedback.  You’ll learn the scientific reason why musicians often ask for their monitor to be louder and what to do about it.

The Six Sections of the Guide:

1. YOUR PURPOSE (Trust me, this is important)

This first chapter determines your level of success. It took me years to figure it out. The purpose of church audio production is surprisingly simple and not at all what you’d expect.

  • Discover how following the purpose help you meet other people’s expectations.
  • Learn how the three-part purpose statement drives your actions and helps to avoid problems.
  • Find out what happens when people work in audio production without a purpose or have a messed up view of their purpose.
Chapters
  • Purpose

2. SETTING UP THE STAGE

A great mix starts with great sounds coming from the stage. I'm not talking about the skills of the musicians. Everything from microphone selection to monitor placement affects the sound quality that reaches the mixing console. Whenever I hold a training session at a church, the first thing I look at is their stage equipment setup.

  • Learn the best microphone techniques and why microphone choice is so important.
  • Learn methods to keep the stage volume down for happier musicians and a better house mix.
  • Discover the best practices for mixing monitors for musicians.
  • See how the stage setup can make for easier work at the mixing board.
  • Learn how everything works on the stage because it's your responsibility - this includes how the audio signals flow through all of the cables...
Chapters
  • Cables
  • Direct Input Boxes
  • Microphones
  • Amplifiers and Isolation Cabinets
  • Monitors
  • Stage Safety
  • On-stage Communication
  • Optimal Channel Assignment Strategy

3. THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CHURCH AUDIO

A standing wave is disastrous unless you recognize it and eliminate it.  Low end sound waves can build up in portions of a room.  And your ears WILL LIE TO YOU.  Becoming a great sound tech requires knowing the science of sound. Once you understand how sound works (and how your ears work), mixing will be a lot easier.

  • Discover how your ears can negatively affect the mixing process and how to overcome the problem.
  • Learn the methods for sculpting the different properties of sound.
  • Learn how to apply your own style of mixing while still giving the congregation a joyful sound!
  • Find out the right way to measure the sound level and the mistake of applying OHSA guidelines to a church service.
Chapters
  • How Sound Works
  • Decibels, Decibel Meters, and Measurements
  • Human Hearing
  • Frequencies and the EQ Process

4. THE BOOTH EQUIPMENT

The booth is your domain and everything within it your responsibility.  This includes, for some, the scariest piece of equipment - the mixing console.  These chapters detail the common equipment and step you through every facet of the mixing console.

  • Learn the major pieces of equipment and how they are used in audio production.
  • Find out the different types of cables used within the sound booth.
  • Learn all about the sound board, from the host of knobs and faders to all of the inputs and outputs. Master the mixer!
Chapters
  • Common Booth Equipment
  • Cables in the Booth
  • Signal Flow
  • The Mixer: Every knob, control, output, etc.

5. CREATING THE RIGHT MIX

Imagine a method to create a good mix every time.  I take you through each step and how to avoid a host of common mistakes that would otherwise drive you crazy - or make the congregation want to shoot you.  Use this process to mix any size band in any church.

  • Learn the process for running a sound check so musicians are happy and there’s plenty of time for creating a good mix.
  • Learn the step-by-step process to sculpt a good sounding mix. Chapters are packed with details on instrument and vocal EQing and how to properly use effects. It even includes a trick to make sure musicians sit right in the mix.
  • Discover how active mixing during the service makes the difference between a good mix and a great one.
  • Learn the tricks to make the pastor (the spoken voice) sound good. Have a pastor's who is hard to understand? You can change that.
Chapters
  • The Sound Check
  • The Line Check
  • Gain Structure
  • Pre / Post Send Settings
  • Channel Grouping
  • Volume Balancing
  • Setting Monitor Mixes
  • Basic Equalization
  • Creating a Distinct Mix
  • Compression
  • Reverb and Delay
  • Walking the Room
  • A Second Set of Ears
  • Active Mixing
  • Dealing with Feedback

6. MEETING EXPECTATIONS

You’ve got to make a lot of people happy; the pastor, the worship leader, the musicians, the tech crew, and the congregation.  I know I've mentioned that list a lot - it's because you are serving every one of them.  Know what is expected and you can do it.

  • Discover the unspoken expectations and how to keep the pastor happy.
  • Learn how meeting expectations isn’t the same as meeting needs and how to do both.
  • Learn my tips, from over 20 years of mixing church audio, for giving people what they want before they ask for it.
Chapters
  • Pastors and Leaders
  • Worship Leaders and Musicians
  • The Congregation
  • Technical Director and Crew

In less than 1 minute, have INSTANT access to:

  • 36 chapters of audio essentials - everything I teach during weekend training classes.
  • The step-by-step process to build a music mix.
  • The step-by-step process to make the pastor sound good.
  • The keys to meeting everyone's expectations, from the pastor to the musicians to the congregation.
  • The 9 bonus documents ($75 Value).
  • Over 330 pages of essential church audio instruction, instantly available, to help you to become a great sound tech.
  • The Academy Community...and Me!
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Only $29.97

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Save up to $8 each when getting copies for your team. Technical directors, from California to New Zealand, have invested in copies for their whole team.

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My 30-Day ‘No Surprises’ Money Back Guarantee

If you’re not 100% satisfied with Audio Essentials for Church Sound then I’ll refund your money.  No surprises in fine print.  I’m that confident this guide will help you become a dramatically better sound tech.

P.S.

Audio Essentials for Church Sound has everything you need to create a good mix and meet expectations. Along with the guide are 9 bonuses including the checklists, the cheat sheet, and my “18 Tips on the Art of Mixing.” Those 18 tips alone will skyrocket your skills. Get the guide today and I guarantee you’ll be a better sound tech by next weekend. Find out why Audio Essentials for Church Sound has been sold in over 50 countries!

About the Author

For over 20 years, Chris Huff has been working in live sound in roles varying from sound tech to church technical director. He writes for pro audio trade publications including Church Production Magazine and Live Sound International. His church audio site, behindthemixer.com, has an international following and is used for teaching live audio production while navigating the unique church environment.

Copyright 2016 - Behind The Mixer - All Rights Reserved