The first time I did it, I was new to live audio. The pastor’s wireless mic went out mid-service and I walked up to swap in a new battery. Talk about killing the mood of the service not to mention distracting the pastor. Since then, I’ve heard stories of pastors and even worship teams interrupted by the person in the sound booth. Let’s look at how booth-to-stage communication should occur.
Once a church service starts, you and I need to do everything possible to keep the mood set. The mood is established by the topic of the sermon and the music the band plays. Mixing, this might mean pushing different instruments or frequencies in the mix. As far as the service itself, it means stuff like avoiding feedback and hitting all the microphone cues.
A simple way to break the mood is to make our presence known. This could be through opening our mouth or walking up on stage at the wrong time.
The only reason we should feel any inclination to open our mouth or walk up on stage would be if;
1. Something stopped working like a microphone or a cable.
2. There has been a change like they need to use a different microphone.
This is NOT to say we should do any of those things.
Let’s look at the events that can happen…
1. The pastor’s microphone goes out. First off, you should have a backup plan in place. It should be a wired microphone on the stage or another wireless. The pastor will hear when his microphone goes out and he should know where to grab another microphone.
2. A musician’s vocal mic or instrument feed goes out. You have two options. First, if it’s a vocal mic, that spare on the stage will come in handy. Second, if it’s an instrument, you have two options;
a. Move around to the back of the stage and swap cables between songs.
b. Do nothing.
c. Swap cables during a stage change. For example, if the issue occurs during the first of two musical sets, wait until the start of the second set to replace a cable. In most cases, the musician can swap the cable for you.
3. A change occurs and a person needs to grab a different microphone. Chances are that you’ll know this before they even walk on the stage. Therefore, discretely let them know while they are still in the audience. Calmly and quietly walk up and kneel next to them and let them know. Or pass them a note. If they are on stage and look lost, the first place they will look is to you in the booth. Simply point to the mic they need to use.
My point is simple…you and I need to do everything possible to keep the mood set. As soon as we break it, we’ve failed at our job. Maybe that day a person doesn’t come forward during an altar call because we killed the mood.
There is one caveat to all of this and that’s church size. In a small church, when a pastor’s mic goes out, most of the congregation can still hear him. In larger churches, that’s not the case. But in any case, the solution is not yelling at them. The solution is having a process in place so they have a spare microphone already on the stage. They will hear the difference in the volume of the room, large or small, and they will do what needs to be done.
Remember, our successful days are those when people don’t know we are there.
Question: How Do You Deal With Such Events?
Steve says
April 24, 2019 at 5:50 pmWhat if the pastor leaves the mute on his belt pack. He hasn’t noticed, isn’t looking at the back of the room where the other tech can gain his attention and you’re in the congregation near the front with easy access? Do you, leave him talking into a dead mic, quickly pop up and switch it on.
Chris Huff says
April 27, 2019 at 11:06 amIf it’s a small room and people can still hear him, just let it go. Unless he’s just started and he’s giving annoncements …just not started into the sermon.
Joseph Cardana says
April 1, 2015 at 7:34 pmHa! Just this last Saturday, the elder took our podium mic for Garden of Prayer. Snap, crackle & pop. (Bad cord) So what do I do? From the back of the church I hollered, “Use Number 8!” OK, I now know not to do that. Be prepared and have a plan.
Ted says
May 21, 2014 at 2:49 pmChris,
I love that I found this website. I’ve been searching online for pointers in trying to make our services sound better and also to learn how to do things better than I’ve been doing them. There is some excellent info out there but this is the first place that I’ve found that has a lot in one place.
I’ve been doing things for a few years and I can usually tell what the Worship leader is mouthing or motioning. Finger tickling, point at monitors and thumb up means turn the keys or organ up in the monitors. Point to an ear and at a singer means I can’t hear. Twisting around a finger on one hand means ring. They also can send a text when needed, and worse case I will just politely walk to the music pit and ask what they need. I’m kind of glad we don’t have a talk back system because it seems as though it would be a distraction because of the way our monitors are set up.
The choir and the ministers however… It’s like rocket science to get them to understand that a mic is off and to grab a backup. I had one soloist who was singing on the cordless and it went out, but instead of just moving over to the nearest mic on a stand she continued singing. None of the other praise team members thought to hand her a corded mic. I did not want to destroy the mood by going up and handing her a corded mic so I just let her keep singing.
Ultimately I’d like to get a backup cordless but for now we’ve mostly eliminated cordless battery issues by purchasing rechargeable batteries and fresh batteries go in before each service. Our other church location is still buying batteries. Seems like such an easy fix. Quick, 15 min, rechargeable batteries for the cordless mics. I’ve also contemplating changing them again mid service just because. Now if I can just get ministers and singers to NOT put the AudioTechica mic in standby during use by touching the recessed button on the bottom and looking at the sound guys as if there is a technical issue. Even after we’ve explained to them how the cordless works.
Chris Huff says
May 21, 2014 at 3:05 pmTed, good call on leaving the singer alone. Either their didn’t notice it or they didn’t want to “break the mood.” I’ve had a similar situation and found it best to let it go. As for the rechargeables, they should last for multiple services. I can use ours for sound check, an early practice, and then the two services. I do make a point of checking them between services.
Mike says
December 22, 2011 at 5:46 pmOur Music Pastor who is on stage all the time has an in ear monitor. I have a mic hooked up in the booth and can talk to him through his in ear piece. If there is a problem with a mic in the middle of a performance he normally grabs the extra and hands it to who ever needs it. He has an old lavalier mic that he clips on just to talk back to us in the booth. we can monitor this channel if he needs to talk to us and no one ever knows we are talking.