It’s quite possible that the majority of complaints received by the modern church, that aren’t directed specifically to the pastor, are about the audio presentation.
They come in various forms, from the carefully crafted email, to the brief hand-written note that mysteriously appears on the console when you return from a break, to the snide remark as the irritated party walks by the sound booth. Those are three examples of complaints, which are very different than criticism, which can come from our leadership and our peers. So it’s important that we are able to identify the difference and respond accordingly.
Some churches I’ve worked with refer to the front-of-house mixing job as, “the seat” or even “the chair”. And I have to admit, in some of these churches, serving in that role has felt a lot like being in the chair and praying for the Governor’s last-minute reprieve.
I spent a season in the chair for a large church with a comm system that included a telephone-style handset on the front row, where the pastor and his senior staff sat each Sunday. And yes, the telephone was red. The established culture was that any time during the service you could get a call from the front row, often the executive pastor, directing you on what changes the leadership wanted in real-time. The unfortunate joke among the staff, was that your success was solely based on how few calls you got from the front row. Thankfully, they seemed to like my work since I didn’t get many calls on that red phone during my time there. Others weren’t so fortunate and stories about working in that environment still circulate today; like combat veterans sharing memories that no one else would understand. Much of this audio-mixing from the front row could have been avoided by implementing an established mix philosophy and some trust. I’ve discussed both of these topics in previous features.
As a general rule it’s a good practice to accept all comments politely and graciously and internally classify them into the two categories listed above; complaints or critiques. Then I try and respond with the same amount of effort and thought the complainer or the critic put into their statement. If someone took the time to compose a thoughtful, critical email, then I would respond with a thoughtful email. If someone is simply taking a pot-shot with a rude comment walking past me, I consider that a complaint, and simply thank them for the input and move on.
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”… Proverbs 15:1
Regardless of the critic’s tone, always, always, always, take the high ground. I like to remind myself to respond, humbly and kindly to both criticism and praise.
A woman approached me one morning before a service when I was serving at FOH. For the sake of this discussion, we’ll call her Susan. She was quite agitated about her experience the prior week and wanted to discuss the church’s policy on volume in the auditorium. I didn’t bother to tell her that I wasn’t there the prior week, but I did share with her a few highlights of our mix philosophy, including our general range of acceptable decibel levels. I listened patiently while she offered to show me, (right from her phone), studies, on the effects of long term high decibel exposure to humans. She also told me that she had majored in vocal performance in college, so I could be assured she knew what she was talking about. She was polite, but I could tell she had been planning this encounter all week. As the count-down was getting closer to service time I thanked her for her input and assured her that her comments would be noted and passed up to my direct supervisor. But it would be most effective if she would send us an email so all her concerns were documented, and, “please mention that you spoke to me about it”. I also asked her if she was currently serving in the church and told her that our worship team is always on the lookout for talented singers who take what we do seriously. I pointed out that she obviously cared enough about our worship to come and talk to me about this issue. She wasn’t currently serving in the church and said her singing days were behind her, so joining the worship team wasn’t on her radar.
After the service, she came to the booth and apologized for being so negative and accusatory in her comments. As far as I know, no email was ever received from her.
When it comes to dealing with complaints I have developed some effective responses that you may find helpful, and will recognize from my interaction with Susan.
-Make eye-contact, introduce yourself and ask for their name.
-Let them speak and don’t interrupt. You want that person to feel heard.
-Take responsibility for your position. Own the mix, as they say. I didn’t even tell Susan I wasn’t the one mixing the previous Sunday that started all this.
-Ask them where they were sitting and if anything in particular stood out as the problem.
-Assure them that you do care what they are saying, but ask them to send an email (make sure you know who that recipient is). Emphasize; the email request is not to avoid responsibility, it is to document your concerns to the leadership. And, as I told Susan, “please mention my name”.
-Ask them if they are currently serving on a team at the church. If they answer yes, your response could be, “Great. I love what you all are doing. How are things going there? We certainly value the input of our other teammates. We’re all in this together, right?”
-If they aren’t currently serving, invite them to consider joining the production team, “As you can tell, we need all the help we can get.”
All these comments/questions are designed to make sure that person knows they’ve been heard, to de-escalate the tension and to subtly point out that it’s easier to criticize than contribute.
Any good leader will tell you, it’s easy to complain and complaints are easily dismissed. Let’s not forget that even an off-handed insult comes from somewhere in the heart. Just because someone says something that seems absurd in the moment does not mean there isn’t truth in what they said. Put your ego on the shelf and look for any kernel of truth in the complaint. Ignoring comments from those uninformed in the ways of church audio is condescending and prideful. But responding to every comment and whim will distract you from the greater mission.
Complaints can be annoying, but if you’ve been serving in the chair for any length of time, or aspire to earn that position, you simply have to accept that they come with the territory.
Like most of my peers, when I visit a church, I never make comments or provide unsolicited opinions to the audio engineer. But I am often asked by church leadership to provide feedback in these scenarios. I always start with the positives and point out what was great about the presentation. I ask if they would feel comfortable showing me what went into that great vocal tone or acoustic guitar sound that worked very well. If they’re struggling in a certain area, I’ll mention a church I worked with that was having a similar issue and see if we can work together to fix it.
I always encourage audio engineers to invite trusted, experienced peers to visit and provide helpful critiques. Most successful engineers have spent years working on their craft and have endured the slings and arrows associated with the gig. So the last thing on their mind is to discourage or embarrass an aspiring fellow audio tech.
A complaint is something someone is getting off their chest, a helpful critique is something someone is pouring out of their heart.
I hope this has been helpful and I look forward to hearing how you handle complaints and critiques. You may contact me at rcochran@worshipfacility.com.
Until then, don’t forget to listen!
