of a reaction to the stylistic change . Perhaps the actual output level of your mix was lower ‘ mathematically ’ than before , but this person saw an electric guitar and Jimi Hendrix showed up with his flaming Stratocaster and Marshall stacks in their mind .
The key takeaway here is that we often hear with our eyes . Many folks are also very hesitant to change , particularly when it comes to worship and what they may view as their tradition of churchgoing . Responding that your fancy measurement devices didn ’ t register the service as being any louder than last week doesn ’ t address their actual root cause concern . Just as with the flashing ‘ SLOW DOWN ’ sign and its indication that you should pay more attention to your speed , this comment ( particularly if you received it from a handful of folks ) could be the type of feedback to share with the worship leader and key church staff . “ Hey folks , are we all aware that the addition of overdriven guitars has caused a stir with a good chunk of the congregation ? Do we need to slow down ? Thoughts ?”
WHO ’ S THE BOSS ? “ It sounds like we ’ re in a cave and I can ’ t really understand the vocals well .” This is the last thing you want to hear as a church sound technician . Intelligibility of the spoken word is goal number one . This brings up my next couple points on the feedback topic — what is the goal and who are we serving with the goal ? While the pinging VU meter graphics , new reverb plugins and the stereo double-miced parallel compression guitar mix trick are all calling out for your attention , let ’ s not get too far in the weeds and forget that for 99 % of the audience they just really want to clearly hear what the pastor and lead vocalist are saying / singing and don ’ t care how we got there .
My day job is in the pro audio industry and specifically within the marketing function . I regularly receive feedback on ads I ’ ve designed , emails I ’ ve coded and even articles I ’ ve written ( ahem ). One helpful thing I always ask myself when feedback comes up is who the audience is and who is literally ( or proverbially ) paying my check . In an Allen & Heath ad , the audience is usually mix engineers and dealers of said mixing consoles . If I get feedback from someone outside of that audience , it lands differently . My mom thinking that my ad looks pretty is certainly taken differently than a key FOH touring engineer commenting on the ad visuals or messaging . My boss commenting on how an ad has impacted sales results lands much differently than the editor of Worship Musician saying he loves the ad ( Thanks , Bruce !). Not ‘ good feedback ’ and ‘ bad feedback ’ or ‘ useful person to share feedback ’ and ‘ useless person to share feedback ’ or ‘ useless feedback ’, but just different feedback and different filters to process them through if necessary .
All feedback is important to consider and reflect on and analyze , but it is equally helpful to ensure that a .) you are clear as to the expectations of your gig as a mix engineer b .) clear as to the expectations for the worship mix overall within the service and c .) clear as to what your mix priorities should be . Feedback from Mrs . Sullivan in the third pew is just as important as feedback from your boss , but how you process and utilize that feedback will certainly vary .
Remember that we can view the subjective nature of sound to be a positive thing — while there isn ’ t a perfectly ‘ right ’ volume level or ‘ right ’ mix , there also isn ’ t a completely absolute ‘ wrong ’. Feedback is a wonderful way to ensure that we are learning and growing and bringing more of the congregation along for the musical ride . Just watch your mains fader and keep your ears open to the sound of the mix and the content of every bit of feedback that comes your way .
Jeff Hawley A 20-year music industry veteran — equally at ease behind the console , playing bass guitar , leading marketing teams or designing award-winning audio products . He currently heads up the marketing for Allen & Heath in the US .