Essential Rules Church Volunteers Need to Know
If you go to church regularly, you probably know The Ten Commandments. Even if you don’t know them all in order, you know they exist. With that in mind, I would like to introduce some audio commandments for you. Actually, the word, “commandment,” is a little presumptuous on my part. So I will simply call them “suggestions” or “rules.” The fact of the matter is, there is no one single thing in audio production that is really difficult to learn. And if we break down all the tasks individually, the entire process becomes simple and fun. Okay, let’s get on with it.
» FOLO: First-Off-Last-On
The first rule is, turn your sound system on from “upstream” to “downstream” and to always turn your system off from “downstream” to “upstream.” Or, in simpler terms, turn you mixer (and any outboard gear) on first, then your power amps or powered speakers. When shutting down the sound system, turn your power amps or powered speakers off first, then your mixer. Always turn things on and off in this order. You will avoid speaker “pop” and speaker damage. To take this rule a little further, when you turn power amps off, wait a few seconds (10 to 20) before turning off the mixer. Many power amps have internal capacitors that will store a voltage charge (the source of the pop) for a few seconds. So, don’t turn off that mixer too soon.
Second, whenever you plug in a microphone or any cable into your snake or mixer, mute the channel of the mixer that mic or cable is being plugged into. A mic (or cable) plugged into an open mixer channel can cause a nasty pop that’s capable of damaging your speakers. If your mixer does not have mute buttons, just pull the fader completely down.
There is one more thing to remember in the realm of pops. (I’ll call this three.) Pull down faders when engaging phantom power. If your mixer has individual phantom power for each channel then pull the fader back before you give it the phantom power. Should your mixer have a global phantom power, (one button for all channels) bring down the main faders before pushing the phantom power button or switch.
For my fourth suggestion, I want to address EQ. I approach all equalization by removing frequencies before adding them. For individual channels, I remove overpowering frequencies rather than boosting weaker frequencies. I believe this method creates a more natural sound. I use the same rule when I am adjusting the EQ of my front of house speakers.
Of course, pulling out unwanted frequencies is the most important technique when ringing out your monitors. If you want to avoid feedback you have to identify the offending frequencies and remove them. This leads us to rule number five: Learn to identifying frequencies quickly and accurately. Your ears are you most important tool when mixing any live event. So, train those ears of yours to know what they are hearing. You have to be able to identify 1 kHz from 2k or 2k from 4k, etc. The more quickly you can identify a frequency, the more valuable you will be to your church.
Right up there with frequency identification is decibels identification. For sound levels, I suggest a dB meter. I will call this number six. A dB meter is the most important tool (after your ears) in your arsenal. There are dozens of apps that offer dB meters or if you want to go old school, you can just buy a stand-alone meter. We all know quiet from loud, but many churches have limits on how loud they want their worship music. Typically, I work in houses of worship that have limits of 95 or 100 decibels. Pulling out your dB meter and adjusting the level according to the wishes of your particular church will make you a very valuable member of the audio team. Even if you are the only one on the team.
For my seventh suggestion, I want to address the sorting of XLR cables. This rule will have two parts. First I color code my XLRs to identify their length. I use colored zip ties and separate my 15-foot, 20-foot, 25-foot and 30-foot cables. Of course, many churches out there only use one length of XLR cables. If that is your church, more power to you. However if your house of worship uses cables of varying length, then color coding is invaluable.
Wrapping cables properly will be my eighth suggestion today. There is only one way to wrap a cable so that it will unwrap smoothly and last longer. It is called the “inside twist” or “over/under” method. This technique involves holding the cable end in one hand (XLR or other) and creating a single round loop with the other hand. Then create another loop in the opposite direction by rolling the cable in your fingers. This is a bit difficult to explain without some sort of video clip, but you will create a figure-8 on top of itself. A properly wound cable will ultimately become trained to go into that shape more easily every time you wind it. This cable will be easier to unwind and last longer. Do not wrap a cable using your forearm as a guide and don’t wrap it like it was an electrical cable.
Number nine is very simple but extremely important. Arrive at church early for every service. Even if you mix the same preacher and the same worship band day in and day you need to check out your mic placement, your mixer settings and outboard gear setting etc. Chances are they will be the same but better to find a problem before a service than during one.
The tenth suggestion is to keep your gear clean. This is the only rule that should be a commandment, because clean gear sounds better longer. Use a vacuum or compressed air to clean your mixer, outboard gear, power amps and the immediate space that this gear occupies. Remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness
