FRONT OF HOUSE
LESS REALLY IS MORE | Kent Morris
Have you ever walked up to a mixing console and checked out the channel EQ? Pick any channel and its status will tell you a great deal about the system’ s health, the philosophy of the FOH engineer, and the mindset of church leadership. Far from inconsequential, the channel EQ is a window into the soul of sound in the room. From the typical four-band curve, you can discern if the sound system is in good repair and configured correctly, how detailed the operator’ s knowledge is concerning tuning and integration into the room acoustics, and what leadership thinks about media in general. How so? Let’ s uncover the truth.
A sound system is a method of interfacing the proceedings on the platform with the congregation in the seats. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce the sermon, songs, announcements, and prayers emanating from the pastors and leaders. When the system is correctly commissioned and fine-tuned to the requirements of the room, little need be done on the channel level to deliver proper sound. However, when the system is inadequate to the task, the natural remedy is to compensate at the channel level with EQ and dynamics control. One look at the pastor’ s mic EQ curve and the system health becomes obvious. When the High Pass Filter( HPF) and the Low Pass Filter( LPF) are engaged at nominal points, say 150Hz and 10KHz, and there is one or two tight-6dB notches at common points around 250Hz and 1.6KHz, it is obvious the system is in good repair, the operator knows their business, and leadership values sound.
However, if the HPF is at 300Hz, the LPF is at 4KHz, and all four bands employ wide and deep cuts, there is a problem afoot. It may be the sound system has not been dialed into the room requirements or the operator uses panic mode to cut everything, but something is amiss. In fact, laying in heavy filters and then cutting all four bands widely is the same as pulling down the overall fader. It simply reduces level instead of fulfilling its purpose of surgically removing offending frequencies. Additionally, when the kick drum channel EQ has a massive boost at 80Hz, another at 400Hz and yet another at 2KHz, there is either insufficient subwoofer implementation or the operator is struggling to find the“ boom” and“ click” of the kick without knowing where to look. A typical kick channel EQ will consist of HPF set around 35hz, LPF set about 8KHz, and a small, tight boost around 70Hz, a major broad cut at 200Hz, and a tiny bump around 4KHz.
Electric guitar channel EQ denotes where the six-string beast lives within the pantheon of instruments at a given church. If anything from 1KHz to 3KHz is boosted, there is a problem because that region holds the key to proper vocal reinforcement and the electric guitar must cede energy there for the vocals to shine. Now, it can be dynamically reintroduced when the vocals aren’ t present, but that area is reserved for the human voice. Adding a dynamic EQ to the guitar channel or side-chaining the guitar to the worship leader is a simple way to let the guitar be heard clearly when appropriate and tucked under when needed.
Keys playing musical beds for prayer, etc., can be made better by having two channel EQ curves: one for songs and one for prayer. The song EQ can be HPF and LPF with just a touch of cut around 1KHz to make the piano and strings sound natural while the prayer EQ offers a stronger wide cut from 500Hz to 2KHz which allows the spoken word to ride above the keys bed without simply turning down the entire underscore.
Finally, vocal channel EQ needs to reflect the individual singer and should have a preset for each person with notches for their tone and timbre. Ensemble vocal mics, such as for choir, should be hard set with HPF around 175Hz and LPF around 8KHz, a critical cut somewhere in the octave between 400Hz and 800Hz and an“ interference” cut when multiple mics are used in the 3KHz region.
Channel EQ really does tell the larger story of how the sound system is dialed in, the depth of the FOH operator’ s knowledge, and how much leadership values sound as a ministry. The key to channel EQ is to start flat, add in HPF and LPF on everything and then make surgical cuts at the lowest frequency that presents a problem. Only boost when all cuts are set and do nothing beyond 9dB up or down unless it is a dire emergency.
Kent Morris Kent Morris is a 45-year veteran of the AVL arena driven by passion for excellence tempered by the knowledge all technology is in a temporal state.
124 July 2025 Subscribe for Free...