This is the scenario: You contacted the right people at a particular house of worship, sold them on a sound package for their sanctuary, installed the system professionally and got paid well for your work. Now what? I would think that you included some training of the staff or volunteers in your bid. But what is going on with that sound system six months later? Or a year or two from your original installation? If you are not in some sort of ongoing communication with each and every worship client you have had, you are missing out on a very lucrative income stream. Buying a sound system is a lot like purchasing a new car. It inevitably will need some maintenance in the future, and it may prove to be very challenging when it comes to operating all the bells and whistles. Like a car, every sound system needs a tune-up every once in a while. In the simplest terms, you are the maintenance guy.
Driving Lessons
As you know, smaller churches generally use volunteers to handle most of their live sound chores. So what I have been doing is including some training of the faithful in my original bid. This practice has worked out pretty well until recently, when some of the volunteers I trained left their respective churches. There is also the problem that the average volunteer knows little about amplifiers, speakers, outboard gear, etc. All these factors have contributed to my new and improved methods for working with spiritual clients.
About a year ago I set up a new sound system in a church in Los Angeles. I personally mixed the first few Sunday services and also trained the only volunteer who was up to the task. Ultimately, that volunteer left the church, and they were left without a sound guy. I now have installed one of my audio techs as the regular Sunday mixer. By putting one of my men in this church on a weekly basis, I not only have created an on-going client, but I am assured that they will look to me for any of their sound needs in the future. I have offered to train any of the church’s sound tech volunteers that may turn up in the future. I am also working on an operation manual for the sound system, mixing console and outboard gear that is easy to understand and makes the operation less challenging. All these services are offered at a very reasonable hourly rate. Besides setting up basic operations of the system, I am on board for all maintenance. In addition to set-up, training and maintenance, I have offered my personal mixing expertise (if available) for the church’s “special events”.
Now, in a few days I will be checking out the monitor wiring at a completely different house of worship. Apparently, some kids got into the amplifier room and unplugged the aux sends from the mixer. The house sound guy plugged them back in, but they are still not working. I plan on sorting out the four-aux sends, re-EQing the monitor system and checking anything else I can think of. My real goal, however, is to become this particular church’s go-to guy for all of their sound needs. I will also offer to train any and all sound tech volunteers, and if the church leaders want, I can put together a simple operation manual for the entire sound system.
I currently am really pushing the concept of training volunteers as the best investment of a house of worship’s money. It is not an expensive process, and once I have taught the trainees the concepts of signal flow, frequency identification and the basics of EQ and mixing, the church becomes more self-sufficient with regards to their live sound.
In some respects this may seem like I am training myself out of a job. This certainly may be a possibility. I really haven’t explored this aspect of my sound career enough to have any solid data or experiences to relate to you. But I am currently driving down this road, and I should have some stories to talk about in the near future.
Under the Hood
In the meantime, I am working on expanding my pool of good live sound mixers. I need about half a dozen guys or girls who can walk into an unfamiliar setting with an unfamiliar or partially crippled board and mix like a champ. I also need a crew that can report back with the obvious deficiencies of the sound system. With that information I can set up an appointment to possibly improve or replace the system.
As you can see, the troubleshooting, maintenance, mixing and training niche of the worship sound market is wide and very deep. There are lots and lots houses of worship that need our help. You have the options of going after maintenance contracts or services (which, of course, would include troubleshooting) or the training of volunteers and staff or both.
I do suggest that if you plan on training people, whether one-on-one or in groups, you practice your presentation. Get a script together and rehearse your presentation. I have found that talking to the mirror works well for me. As you perfect your teaching skills, you will also improve your selling skills. It’s all about communication and instilling confidence in your students and customers. You really can’t fake this stuff. So do your homework and go out and make a lot of money. I would really like to hear from any of you who are getting into this end of the biz or have been working it for years. You comments can be enlightening to all of us.
E-mail Jamie at jrio@fohonline.com .
