That something will go wrong seems to be the motto of most audio teams in the Church, as well as any other form of live and recorded music. Whether at the stadium, restaurant or other social gathering; it’s not so much the question “if” things go wrong, but when. For volunteer audio teams, musicians and singers in the church, knowing the five signs of a technically challenged team can make all the difference between ship-shape and ship-wreck. Here’s how to navigate through the storms at sea and chart a course for team success.

Branon Dempsey leading worship with a Shure ULX-S/SM58 Wireless Mic.

No Navigation Plan

Symptom: The easiest thing to do is throw caution to the wind, begin the service and catch things on the fly. If you do this, you will catch more than what’s on the fly as it will hit you over the head.

The cure: Preparation, as simple as it sounds is often the most overlooked and under-thought. Go figure. You rush up to the church or venue, wherever you came from. Quickly flip on the power, roll out a few lines, climb back on your stool and wait for the band to show: this is procrastination.
One safe way to help you prepare for your team is to create a checklist before every service. In this list, I include things like:

• power supply and audio processors
• check cables and connectors
• test mics and check capsules/cartridges
• test the signal chain overall
• check wireless components
• locate the headphones to help test channels
• put in an mp3 and test the mains and monitor systems
• digital scene tweaking, gain structures and so forth

You’re really preparing before you prepare. We need to be ready, before the worship team arrives, not during their set up. When you’re prepared, you can spend that extra time serving the band by checking on their logistical needs, helping with load-in and being a servant.

No One at the Helm

Symptom: Communication is the number one failure for most audio/media teams. Whether it’s changing the rules or players in middle of the game or not appointing a leader who calls the shots, miscommunications lead to huge shipwrecks.

The Cure:  When the worship leader or pastor plans the set list, it needs to also go to the Audio Team before the rehearsal and/or service. This enables the team to be in the know to prepare set up, lines, mix and space on the stage. Keep your game plan consistent, on time and unchanged as much as possible. When change does occur, you’re able to roll with the punches.

• When there is an on-the-fly change, it first needs to be discussed with the Audio and Media Team and Lead Engineer ASAP.
• Changing players is also a big deal. It’s common to have a musician or singer to be replaced and/or missing for the weekend. If it’s somebody like the drummer or bass player, this is a huge adjustment in the respect of equipment and sound needs. If you have a new player who shows up, unannounced on a service/event without communicating first, you’re in for a shark bite.
• My head AE and instructor Kent Morris (Editor’s note: Kent is a frequent contributor to Shure Notes) has an awesome approach. He will go down to the front of the stage and ask the guest musician to share his or her exact needs. If the guest brings in a piece of gear that is not the right application or fit, he will work toward a positive solution.
• Another key factor is channeling the verbiage through one person on stage. Whether it is the MD or Worship Leader, the Engineer can hear one complaint / sound need at a time and not five people all at once. Say no to the choirs.

Attitudes That Run-Aground

Symptom: Uncommunicated last minute or unspoken changes between worship staff, pastoral staff and the audio team

The Cure: If communication doesn’t sink your ship, attitudes will.

• Work with the Worship Leader toward a model that curbs unwanted personalities. How, you say? It begins with you. The more professional, calm and polite you can be, the more people notice and will respond by adjusting their behavior to yours.
• Attitudes need to walk the plank in order to get the positive minds back on deck. I don’t suggest posting a sign that says ”Thou Shalt Not Whine.” Although, it may be effective for some, but for others, they just need a good kick in the kindness. A soft answer truly does turn away wrath.
• Real teamwork is about learning how to serve others. For example, when you have really great service at a restaurant, your dining experience is enhanced. The same is true at worship services.  The worship team is like wait staff – serving a meal to enjoy for a common goal.
• Listen and follow through when leaders give direction – even if you disagree. It’s about the team, not about you.
• Know your position on the ship and do your part.
• Avoid telling others how to do their jobs. Let the leader do it.
• If there is conflict either go directly to that individual privately, or work it out with the leader of that ministry. All in all – serve one another.
• A happy team is also a productive team. Like any job or volunteer position elsewhere, your collective positive attitude as a team will keep you on course. You’re able to think clearer and respond more quickly because you’re focused on the plan and not the drama.

Storm at Sea – No Disaster Plan

Symptom: Things will go wrong. When they do, what’s your plan?

The Cure: Expect the best and plan for the worst.

• Years ago, I posted up an Emergency Procedure list in the audio booth. Things like: what to remember or do when a wireless channel fails, a mixing scene freezes, a battery goes out, etc.
• I also provided my own version of product CliffsNotes for the board, amps and other audio/media components. Velcro not included.
• The best pro-action is to have a strategy in place and be ready to employ it. An audio team is working best when it’s solving problems, not creating nor avoiding them.
• Character under pressure is another life preserver. All eyes are watching you. How you handle a stressful situation will help you land in a good place.
• Trust me; no one has ever died as a result of worship service snafus. It may feel that way, but the sun still comes up on Monday. You as the leader or team member are committed to the mission – don’t abandon ship!

Land Ho: Putting Praise in the Praise Team

Symptom: Where is the love?

The Cure: The hallmark of a great service? When no one complains about the sound. A bonus is when people thank each other for their time, effort and goal-focused energy.

• Thank members of the worship team. When’s the last time you did that?
• Another great indicator that the audio and worship team has done their job: the congregation, singers and other participants can hear themselves clearly without any audio difficulties. They too, were able to focus on what is happening service-wise and not the technical errors.
• Think about who the winner is at most meetings. It’s the person who brings the food. Try it. You’ll never lose when you play as a team.

You’ve Got to Serve Somebody

Our technology tools, whether a headset microphone or a digital mixing board, serve the users. The praise band serves the song and the congregation by engaging them in a personal and profound worship experience. The Audio Team serves everyone by delivering great sound. This is one way to honor the Lord who gave us these talents and treasures.

Technically, we can learn all the new tricks on the board, in the mix or at the rig, but the most difficult task requires good old-fashioned people skills.   The pay-off of preparation, leadership, communication, teamwork and careful planning will help you reach the shores of performance paradise.   Make sure you and your people paddle on both sides of the boat; otherwise, you’re just going in circles.

Fast thinking:  Proof that the SM58 can be a vocal mic and an instrument mic – at the same time.

There was a time when a mic failed on stage and the audio team was quick to the rescue. We were running two mics: one for acoustic guitar and one for voice. When my guitar mic failed, I had to maneuver my vocal mic to pick up both my guitar and voice.

Thanks to the trusty Shure SM58^®, all sound levels were saved. Thanks also to the skilled engineer who kept his cool. Just one more reason why the SM58 and the ULX-S/SM58 are my personal go-to mics for worship leading.

About BRANON DEMPSEY: He is the CEO, Founder and Training Director of Worship Team Training® a ministry providing workshops and online resources to over 400 churches across North America.  Branon writes a monthly column for Worship Musician and is a training partner with Yamaha Corporation of America.  For Live Workshops, Online Mentoring and Streaming Education for Worship Teams and Leaders, visit: www.WorshipTeamTraining.com

Anyone leading a praise or worship team in a small or mid-size church has faced the challenges of an all-volunteer tech team.  Many are called but few can face the fearsomeness of an intimidating soundboard or the possibility of the vocalist’s mic dropping out mid-solo – especially without a background in pro sound.

Here Allen Sargent, a 20-year praise team leader, who is currently Discipleship Coordinator at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Fallbrook, California, shares his tips for striking the right chord with newbies by keeping it real …simple.

As a leader in a mid-size church, I’ve found that volunteers are the most important resource, since there is rarely a paid staff member either in the band or running sound and video. Occasionally a trained person appears, but most commonly, the Worship Leader selects the music, leads the band, trains the audio and visual team, and is primarily responsible to repair or upgrade all equipment as required.

Volunteer recruitment is an ongoing project at all levels. Turnover in the audio/visual area can be high because it is the most thankless and pressure filled job on Sundays. No one will ever tell that audio person “Great work today, no feedback and all your levels were perfectly mixed and EQ’d just right!” No one will ever tell that video person “Wow, your lyric screens were not only accurate, but perfectly displayed right when we needed them!” No, quite the opposite! The only time an audio/visual person gets attention is when something is not working. It feels like everyone in the building has turned around and is staring. So, as the sweat rolls off the brow and seconds seem like hours, the Worship Leader is not just praying that a problem is fixed, but that the audio or visual volunteer will not quit after this day! It’s true.

All Worship Leaders agree that the very best sound person is a musician – and that’s why professional sound engineers often began their careers playing in a band. Band experience helps them set the right levels for the monitors and the room.

The average mid-size church is commonly be lacking in available sound volunteers with any experience. Even most reasonably-experienced people at our church rarely dive into technical aspects of what they do (comparing models, analyzing sound patterns, etc.). Also, there may be only one or two trained individuals in the church, and frequently I have had to place a last-minute saintly “sucker” in front of the soundboard – someone who is completely overwhelmed by the number of buttons and knobs. For that reason, and due to the real pressure and thanklessness of the task, and because of the lack of experienced individuals, I strive to find solutions that are simple. This is what I call Stupid Simple.

This is not a put-down, but really matching the volunteer’s time and training level to that which equals the task required. How does a complete novice figure out which end of the XLR cord to plug into the mic? Or why does this 1/4″ jack not fit into any of the slots on the snake? Where’s the “on” button? If everything is on, how come I still can’t hear anything? I thought you said our sound system plays CDs?

Experience has taught me this, and many are the times I have driven to the church before a wedding or funeral service (“that didn’t require a sound person”) to answer these questions and quell the hysteria – sometimes to unpress the mute button, sometimes to turn on the amp because someone (but who?) turned off each component separately instead of using the main power switch!

I have learned that instructions requiring more than three steps are too confusing. Instructions that do not include pictures may be ignored. And if directions are not visually obvious, or stated in everyday, non-technical language, the hapless volunteer will become easily and quickly confused.

Tips for Keeping It Basic

As stated: keep it simple.
Leave simple instructions at the board at all times.

Color-code your vocal mics and cords to match a specific channel on the board. Channel 5 is red. The mic has a red cover, the cord has a band of red tape at each end with the number 5 clearly marked, and the channel has a piece of red tape at the bottom of the slider. I try to use all the same Beta 58 mics and Monster^® cables (for reliability and the replacement value). Cheap mics and cords that host a variety of mic styles will only confuse people.

When training someone new on the board, always overlap. A trained person will sit with the newbie during Sunday (and at rehearsal when it is possible, which it is frequently NOT).

Introduce one channel at a time, NEVER touch the EQ buttons, DO NOT use headphones but walk around the room to listen in corners, sides, front, middle and back. I encourage the sound person to stand on stage (when possible) to listen to what the band is hearing. I challenge the sound person to pick out each instrument and each voice in the mix, but that is a higher skill that will take time (I know, isn’t that the job of a sound person?

In our church, sometimes it’s good enough to have the person simply turn on the system, leave the levels where I have positioned them unless there’s an obvious correction required, and to make sure any muted channel is unmuted when it’s time to do so. Mixing a great blend is the added whipped cream. Having NO feedback today because someone is NOT playing with channel sound levels can be the cherry on top!) The reality of unskilled audio people managing sound during a service is all too common.

There are two ways to avoid dropouts:

1. Training is helpful – but experience is the best teacher. If someone feels the heat of a live issue, they’re more likely to take corrective action or know how to handle a situation next time (assuming they don’t quit).

2. Avoid distractions - having a ‘friend’ sitting at the board with them can be trouble; I encourage a sound person to sit by himself or herself in front of the board.

Twenty years of experience leading the charge each Sunday environment have told me that technical specifications are like binary code to a computer user – the sound person thinks “someone has to understand all this, but all I want to do is get this done without making myself look or feel like a fool”.

Always remember that volunteers have a lot of responsibility and pressure thrust upon them and very little time to learn the skills required for the job. Phone apps (thank companies like Apple) are written to be very user-friendly and don’t require programming skills to use them. Church audio needs to take a page from that playbook – and be simplified to a level so anyone can hit the switch and make it work.

About Allen Sargent: He has led praise teams for over 20 years, managing sound, volunteer recruitment and training in small and mid-size congregations.   He has also been musical director for a private K-8 Christian school, writing and directing Christmas and spring musicals. Allen enjoys working with worship teams in different congregations and leads special event teams comprised of musicians from a variety of churches.  He’ll be returning to Camp Pendleton in Santa Fe this December to lead a rock band for the annual Santa Fly-In Christmas Family Day where the elves, according to Allen, are “pretty darn tough-looking”.