Look for excellence, not perfection.
How does your service rate? I’ve visited different churches this year and found myself analyzing the audio aspects the minute I walk in the door. I’m not talking just the mix. Today, I’m listing out the 15 points I check. Review your last service against this list.
The 15-Point Service Review
Pre-Service
1. Does the tech booth look chaotic five minutes before the service? Is anyone in the booth five minutes before the service?
Last minute stuff comes up but it shouldn’t come up before EVERY service.
2. Right before the service, is anyone doing production work on the stage?
When people start filling the sanctuary, they should feel the church is ready for them.
3. Could the stage be cleaner?
A messy stage can be a distraction for some people.
4. Is the pastor fumbling with the wireless pack before the service?
The pastor should be comfortable handling their own microphone. If they aren’t, they need a short training or someone to help them with it.
5. Are the speakers in a good location?
Bad installation locations result in a bad sound. I’ve seen speakers placed with one side right up to the wall.
6. Is the sound booth in a good location so the tech is in-line with the main loud speakers?
Poor booth location puts the tech in a spot where they must mix for the location. This mean it has to sound wrong for it to sound right for most of the congregation
Service
7. Did the service start with a missed mic cue?
This sort of problem gets the congregation distracted from the beginning. They worry it might be a sign of bad things to come.
8. Can the pastor or other speaker be clearly heard and understood?
This means they’re at the right volume but also the EQ work ensures they can be understood. There’s a difference.
9. Is the worship band mixed in layers with instruments supporting each other, clearly separated, and with the vocals sitting on top?
That’s self-explanatory,
10. Does any part of the band wash out too far into the sanctuary? For example, guitar amp sound, drum sound, or floor wedge sound.
Stage volume can destroy a great house mix.
11. How does the congregation react to the music? Do they worship in their own way or does the majority look annoyed or disconnected?
The congregation has an expectation of how the band should sound because it’s what enables them to worship.
12. If video is shown, does the audio sound good?
Just because you’re playing a video doesn’t mean the video has great sounding audio.
Post-Service
13. Did anyone on stage trip or appear nervous when walking on stage?
The stage must be a safe place to work. I’ve seen a pastor trip on a microphone cable.
14. How many problems occurred during the service? How many were likely quickly forgotten versus completely distracting?
Stuff happens, but how much was preventable?
15. Looking at the problems in the service, from audio quality to stage safety to mistakes, which category do they fall into; training issue, equipment issue, or room acoustics?
Assign each problem to one of the three areas and then do something about it.
The Take Away
The point of this exercise is to review your last service, find room for improvement, and then improve. I’m not demanding perfection (neither should you) but you should desire excellence.
The Next Step
Here’s three articles if you have problems with stage safety, music mix depth, or stage volume.
elle says
December 21, 2015 at 12:33 amgood tips 4 church service reviews
Keen Learner says
April 14, 2015 at 12:23 pmI completely agree with all the comments below.
Thanks Chris, for another great article…every nugget of truth counts. :-)
Matt Glover says
April 13, 2015 at 9:07 pmThank you for a well thought through article – very helpful.
Corey says
April 11, 2015 at 11:53 amI like this post and would like to use these questions to our Pastor So I can generate feedback…and I also like “look for excellence not perfection”.
David Evans says
April 11, 2015 at 3:21 amThanks for the great website and the refreshment and inspiration it brings.
There’s nothing I’d want to add or take away from your checklist*, it’s the sort of thing I do every week and wherever I go, I just can’t help myself. But that brings me to the worrying part of this piece
– ‘ I’ve visited different churches this year and found myself analyzing the audio aspects the minute I walk in the door. –
I’ve just been blessed by a few days away at a Christian conference, and the message I received there was ‘Take a few days off!’. As techs in Church we should all strive for excellence, but we can end up fretting over it to our own detriment, if you get the opportunity take the time to just revel in the glory of worship. There were technical issues at the conference (the occasional bit of feedback, a speaker with hoop ear rings clacking on her headset….) but there was a tech team in place to take responsibility for them, as the lead on our Church’s tech team one of my friends immediately turned to me and said ‘Go and sort them out Dave’ but God said ‘I’ve got your back, just enjoy the worship’.
*Perhaps I might add one point to your Post Service section
Have I gone to find the Tech’s and said Thank you? He may not have done the most amazing job but we all know that there’s a church full of people ready to tell him where he went wrong, sadly very few will thank him.
Keen Learner says
April 14, 2015 at 1:10 pmYeah Dave, i understand what you mean and how you feel behind the mixing console…the fretting, the pressure, etc….and (may i add) especially the embarrassment and frustration when an audio issue pops out of nowhere, while the worship/service is ongoing…with random people all around the sanctuary giving you that look – “What on earth have you done with the mixer???”, or having one person telling you this and the other telling you that to resolve the issue at hand. Cheers mate….been through that, and i know how it feels. ^__^
As Chris himself said somewhere on this site, if my memory serves me right, the sound tech is usually the first person to receive any blame if something goes wrong with the audio, and the last person to receive a pat on the back (aka “Thank you..good job!”) if everything goes well.
So for me personally, i see it as part and parcel as a sound tech…the appreciation and unappreciation, the satisfaction and dissatisfaction, the joy of a job well done and disappointment when something goes wrong, or whatever it may be. I would like to see it as positively as possible, choosing to remain positive, and still pray that i may be more positive than ever being the man behind the mixer.
Hope this encourages you, Dave…and not to give up being a sound tech, whatever comes your way. God bless and guide you always. ^__^
David Evans says
April 14, 2015 at 3:54 pmThanks KL
Yes the too loud/too quiet stuff I take in my stride and use as a learning tool, I’m blessed with a good team and they are usually the first to look round with a look that says ‘do you need help?’ before the rest of the congregation notice.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, I didn’t say in my original post but in the week before Easter I was subjected to a deeply personal attack, I did the four services for Easter but when I left Church after the service on Easter Sunday I wondered if I’d ever go back behind the desk again. My wife had booked us on the conference which started on Monday, it’s not something I would normally have done, but it was just the right thing, as I said the message that I got was,
Take a Rest, I’ve Got Your Back, Enjoy the Worship,
and I spent quite a bit of time just sitting and soaking up the worship (one day I must read the supplied study material to find out what the planned message was). This Sunday I was back behind the desk, with the trickiest of our worship bands, a problem with the radio mics and still came out smiling (quite why, as a sound tech, I ended up getting water for the flowers is another story).
And excuse me if again I come back to what has become a bit of a personal mission, wherever I’m worshiping I try to find the techs and say thank you, if I can be a small blessing to just one other tech it’s a start.