There are a number of challenges that come with serving as the sound mixing engineer in a church, especially in a church that embraces a contemporary style of worship music. For me, one of the greatest "opportunities" is being caught in the middle of the seemingly eternal struggle between the congregation and the worship band over how loud is too loud.

Both groups can be quite vocal about their viewpoint. When you talk with the players in the band, most cite their inner need to feel the music. I've been through that very dialog on several occasions.

But the players don't get to read the emails we receive from church members who say they've stopped coming to our church because the worship services are so loud. They don't get to meet the middle-aged couple with a baby that chooses to sit out in the foyer listening to the ceiling speakers and watching through the windows into the auditorium rather than be assaulted with what to them is an overwhelming SPL. And during the service, the head usher doesn't go on stage to tell the band that people are leaving because the sound is too loud - they come to the FOH desk.

But the band comes back to further defend their point by saying that when they go to other churches to play, they're allowed to play as loud as they want. When they come to our church they feel stifled because we ask them to keep the stage level down. To them, ours is a sterile environment, so they don't enjoy playing.

Now in all fairness, there has to be some middle ground that we can reach and be happy with. We do our best to keep our contemporary worship services below 100 dB-SPL, preferably in the low 90's, but sometimes it tends to creep up. Some of the complaints from the congregation are quite valid. If it's too loud for me, it's way loud. On the other hand, I spent an hour on the phone one day with a member of our congregation, and he still doesn't understand why we can't keep our contemporary worship services back to something on the order of 65 dB-SPL. He claims the he does just that in a school setting that he's involved with. I swear he's using a different meter than mine.

Before someone starts putting contemporary worship music and loud sound together, you should know that actually some more traditional Sunday morning services are often louder than Saturday night contemporary services. Blame it on the organ. That big, electronic, I'm-going-to-be-a-pipe-organ-when-I-grow-up organ. I do love a great sounding electronic organ, but the organist in most churches doesn't have a clue how loud their instrument is heard, no - felt - out in the main auditorium.

Stop the Whining

It seems that there's nowhere to run and hide when the complaints start to come in. Everyone has an opinion along with stories to back it up. To make matters worse, because of their general lack of knowledge about technical realities, the audience is fully convinced that the loud sound is totally to be blamed on the sound technicians, not the band. Like it or not, the sound engineer ultimately takes the responsibility for how loud things are, so you find yourself stuck in the middle of the dialog.

It could be that you've tried everything you can think of to solve this dilemma. Maybe you've talked about the issues until you're blue in the face and you still can't seem to get everyone to come to an agreement on how loud is too loud. It takes the sound ministry and the worship ministry working together as a team with a common goal to achieve a sound level that everyone can be happy with. The smaller your church sanctuary is, the more important it is to exercise control over the sound level. Let's take a look at some possibilities for solving this issue.

First off, what are the major contributors to an out of control sound level? In most of the cases that I've worked with it has been acoustic drums, guitar amps, electronic (or pipe) organ, and a worship leader who likes their stage monitors really, really loud. Not necessarily in that order.

Feelings

I made my living playing in rock & roll bands for twelve years, so I think I know what it means to feel the music. And I agree - it's better that way. But hasn't every seasoned studio player had to get over that urge and get to the point that they can perform at their best with just a pair of headphones to listen to? If that's the case, then it seems to me that using headphones in a live setting should be viewed as being pampered rather than being forced to suffer for the sake of the congregation.

The House Ear Institute produced a videotape some years back for their Hearing Is Priceless educational campaign extolling the virtues of limiting the overall sound level that you're exposed to simply to save your hearing, and the hearing of those around you. On the tape, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Doobie Brothers' fame shares his thoughts on why he started using headphones on stage long before it ever became fashionable. To him the benefits were that not only could he hear the monitor mix better than anyone else on stage, but that after the concert he could hear normal conversation better than the other players in the band because he'd kept his listening volume at a reasonable level. If you've never seen that tape, I'd encourage you to get your hands on it. Play it for your worship team and pray that they'll take that wisdom to heart.

With all of the benefits of playing with headphones, I guess I don't get why so many players in a church have such a problem with using them during a worship service. It's as though they're holding on to the past. You may not get everyone on stage to wear them, but certainly the rhythm section can wear headphones or earbuds. If you can accomplish that feat, and get the worship leader to wear in-ear monitors, you'll be way ahead of the pack in solving the loud monitor spill issue.

Thankfully, more and more churches are discovering how beneficial it is to get the worship team to wear headphones. In fact just this past weekend I was reminded of how dramatic the change can be during a visit to a friend's church. He has successfully won the battle to make the switch from open stage monitors to in-ear monitors. The drummer now wears headphones, everyone in the rhythm section wears cabled in-ear monitors, and the worship leader wears wireless in-ear monitors. The only open monitors on stage are five small personal monitor speakers - three on the choir and two for the backing vocals. The stage volume has dropped from an average of 100 dB-SPL (with peaks of 110 dB-SPL) to around 85 dB-SPL!

If you've never experienced that change, you have no idea just how major of a blessing that low of a stage volume is to both the house mix engineer and to the congregation. It allows the engineer to deliver a clean, clear, uncluttered mix at a reasonable volume. It allows the congregation to enjoy a great musical mix without being assaulted by sheer sound pressure level. You owe it to yourself and your congregation to at least try it.

Chasing One's Tail

Unless the players and vocalists are seasoned enough to exercise some restraint, you're always going to end up with one person asking for more of their instrument in their monitor, after which someone else asks you to turn their instrument up. That of course prompts another player to ask for their instrument to be louder, which eventually comes full circle with the first player asking for yet more of their instrument in the monitor, and so on. How many times have you shut off the house sound only to realize that the sound coming off the stage and spilling into the audience seats is so loud that it's uncomfortable? Obviously there comes a point when the desire for louder sound reaches a point of diminishing returns. It's up to the sound mixer to communicate that reality to the players on stage, and convince them to work with you to bring the level down.

Some drummers still insist on playing acoustic drums. I was stunned to hear a talented drummer say recently that the Roland V-Drums aren't a "real" instrument, as though it would be beneath them to be seen playing such an instrument. Give me a break! That's the same argument that pianists used to proffer when they were presented with the early electronic keyboards, and look how important a musical instrument they are today. Will a set of electronic drums ever replace a great sounding acoustic kit? Not likely. But an instrument that sounds as good as some of the electronic drum kits these days is still a viable tool that should not be ignored. They offer churches a big drum sound without the sheer sound level that comes with an acoustic kit.

Bless Them With Your Perspective

One of the best things you as the sound engineer can do to help the worship team understand your perspective is to give each player a chance to hear things from your side of the mic. So try this. In your next rehearsal arrange to have another drummer on hand to play the drums, and have your drummer come out into the audience to listen with you. Point out the problems you're dealing with, and work with him/her until they truly hear what you're hearing.

Explain to them that when the other instruments start playing, and the choir starts singing, and the congregation joins in, that the overall sound level easily gets out of hand. Illustrate to them how that dilemma forces the house engineer to push the mix even hotter simply to let the congregation still hear the worship leader.

Assuming they understand your concern, use that momentum to go to the next step by discussing with them at length what measures could be taken to solve those particular issues. Are electronic drums a viable solution? Go to a music shop together and listen to the available kits. Are using gobos to control the sound the only reasonable alternative? Then discuss the relative merits of freestanding plexiglass panels versus wood-framed gobos. Talk through the prices, where you could purchase them, or who might be able to build them for you in-house, and how soon they can fit into your budget. While you're at it, don't forget to consider how to short circuit the drum sound reflecting off the ceiling over the stage.

Is the sound that spills from the bass guitar amp into the audience just as much of a problem? Then get a really long cable (or a wireless system) for the bass guitar player to come out into the seating area and walk around with you until they understand the issues you're dealing with. Lose the bass amp, take them direct, and then work with them out in the house to achieve an EQ setting on the house console that gives them a sound they like.

The same goes for your worship leader. Let someone sing on the lead vocal mic during rehearsal while you take the worship leader out into the house seating area to let them hear the sound with the worship leader's monitors on at their usual level, and then turn those monitors off. The abrupt improvement in sound quality heard in the house when those monitors are turned off should immediately give them an invaluable perspective on what you're dealing with.

Then work with the worship leader to see how softly they can use their monitors. Maybe they don't need the full mix in their monitors. Maybe they could work with just one keyboard, and/or one guitar, and a little bit of kick and snare, or even just the high hat to give them a sense of time. If you have enough monitor mixes available, see if they don't really need all forty-seven backing vocalists in their monitor. If you have the budget, try a set of wireless in-ear monitors. Who knows - they just might really enjoy the experience.

Don't forget the choir director. If the choir just has to have drums or lots of the worship leader's mic in their monitor, let the choir director come out into the house to hear the sound with and without those elements being fed into the choir monitors. The sheer improvement in the sound of the choir should be enough to convince any seasoned, rational choir director to let you make the changes you need to.

While you're at it, put the test mic in front of their monitors during a rehearsal a couple of times. Let them see just how loud their monitors are running. If they have any sense, they'll run scared straight to an audiologist to have their hearing checked.

Then talk with them about how a sparse monitor mix can be a major help in dropping the overall sound level on stage. The monitor sound will be cleaner and clearer. It lets everyone on stage hear what they need to hear better, and therefore they shouldn't need to run their monitors as loud.

Don't Take Ownership

My guess is that you know players who just don't have a clue how loud their instrument is out in the house. They're not being rebellious in refusing to turn down. They just don't grasp your perspective. If they truly knew what you and the congregation are hearing, they'd likely be the first person to agree. So here's another idea that will help them visualize the problem. If you have a sound level meter that allows for a remote mic connection (e.g., the Audio Control RTA), put the test mic out in the main seating area but then try placing the SPL display on top of, for example, the organ. Then ask them to play at various typical volume settings to see just how loud their instrument is in the house. Later, you can put the meter on stage where the band and worship leader can see it. Work with them so they know how loud is too loud for your congregation. Oh, by the way, remind them that they virtually always play louder during a worship service than they do during a rehearsal.

Your Mileage May Vary

Look, if the loud sound is truly caused by your heavy-handed approach to mixing, then you deserve the complaints you're getting. But if the extraordinary sound level is out of your control, if you have to mix loud just to keep up with the level coming off the stage, then don't take ownership of the problem. Don't let the audio ministry be the scapegoat. Change the rules.