Worship Musician Magazine September 2020 | Page 148

An Allen & Heath Avantis console and its attentive audio engineer are a key part of the mix at Welcome Church in Woking, UK.
is going to be gentler than the last CHORUS
after the GUITAR SOLO. Going back to the
Wilco “Impossible Germany” video, it is clear
that the OUTRO has the bottom drop out and
the overall energy dip way down after the final
rush of guitar licks in the solo.
One trick that I picked up years ago while
mixing musical theatre gigs was to set a
dedicated level fader for the subwoofer output
and ever-so-gently ride that fader up as the
orchestra neared the end of their overture and
the lights went to half as the show was about
to get under way. I didn’t need to closely follow
the musical score to know that we wanted to
build excitement and get folks to settle into their
seats for the show. Just a small bump in the
low-end energy made a big difference as things
built up naturally with more tuba and bass
drum and double basses in the pit. I became
somewhat of an extension to the orchestra,
taking their big moments even bigger and
focusing in on small and exposed moments
of important dialogue by carving out any other
competing audio sources.
This same subtle low-end energy massaging
can work well on a piano or synth pad under
a pastor’s rousing message. Rather than
riding the master level for the keys channel,
adjust and control its low-end via a dedicated
send or a carefully-tuned dynamic EQ. As the
pastor builds and rises to their high point, allow
148 September 2020
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