WORSHIP PRODUCTION
[ PREVENTING 5 CLASSIC WORSHIP & TECH TEAM FAILS, EPISODE 2 | Doug Doppler ]
A number of the worship and tech team fails we bass > keys > guitars > vocals will allow the FAIL#5
encounter seem to happen week in and week sound tech to get good input levels, and for NOT
out, so how do we solve this? For the most each worship team member to properly get SOUNDCHECK
number of churches the most practical place theirs. Looping the chorus of the loudest song Be it tempo transitions, capo moves, or
is going to be just before sound check, one of is a great way to get everyone on the same keyboard patch changes etc., there are lots
the few times where all the people rostered are page both musically and technically! of reasons to practice song transitions during
in the same room.
RUNNING
TOPS
AND
TAILS
DURING
rehearsal.
SOLUTIONS:
FAIL #1
NO PRODUCTION MEETING
Regardless of the size of your church, taking
even sixty seconds to run through the flow
of the worship part of the service will work
wonders. And as noted in this article, this will
serve as the moment to prevent a huge number
of worship and tech team fails.
SOLUTION:
Before sound check, gather everybody in the
worship and tech teams for a production quick
huddle to discuss and circumvent potential fails
for that service.
FAIL #2
POINTING OUT SIGNATURE PARTS
If you want your sound techs to mix for signature
parts like the keyboard line at the beginning of
I’m going to go a bit long on this one! I like to
Regardless of
go through each song, stopping to fix anything
the size of your
that needs attention, then running the entire
song top to bottom ‘correctly’ before moving
church, taking on to the next one. Once this process is done,
even sixty seconds transitions. To keep this efficient, hitting the last
to run through of the second works really well. Sometimes it
the flow of the in order to work out the bumps. This process
worship part of into creating smooth, tight transitions between
the service will musicians, and trust me, the congregation
work wonders. *BONUS* FAIL #6
I like to take the team back through all the
four measures of the first song and the first four
is necessary to loop a troublesome transition
is also a great vehicle to jump start a band
songs. This is a real morale booster for
does notice so it’s time well spent.
KEYBOARD SOUNDS AND LEVELS BEHIND THE
the bridge in “What a Beautiful Name”, then tell PASTOR/SPEAKER
actually them. Noting
how
many
churches
have
the
SOLUTION: FAIL #4 keyboardist come up towards the end of the
The band leader arrives at the production SECRETLY TURNING UP YOUR INSTRUMENT VOLUME service, I’m always miffed at how many times
meeting prepared to succinctly describe where One of the key benefits of a functional sound I’ve seen something that happens week in and
those parts happen and what is supposed to check is that it gives the worship and sound week out turn into a fail that everyone notices.
be featured. This means that the sound tech teams a chance to decide what levels things Between the keyboardist playing away with no
walks back to the board with that in mind are set at. In case you didn’t know, if you sound coming out of the mains, to choosing
before the band runs through the songs. turn a mic’d amp up on the platform, that the wrong patch or register to play it, this
also increases the input going to the mixing bonus fail could be the perfect place to start
FAIL #3 console, potentially overloading that channel in this conversation in your church.
NO PROPER SOUND CHECK the process. SOLUTIONS:
While getting ‘there’ might require a few offline SOLUTION: During rehearsal, pick a good keyboard patch
meetings between team leads, a timely and You guessed it, if you can’t hear yourself well and register while having someone talk through
efficient sound check is a beautiful thing! enough during sound check and or rehearsal, the pastor’s mic to establish a good balance.
SOLUTION: that is the time to discuss this with the sound Also find a healthy way to let the sound team
Developing a run through order like drums > tech. know that this is a cue that can’t be missed.
#Teamwork
32
November 2017
WorshipMusician.com