We’ve all experienced attending a group event when someone is taking photos. After the event when you see the pictures, what’s the first thing you look for? Yourself, of course. We all want to feel good about our presence in photographs. Some want to blend in, others want to stand out. It’s not narcissistic, it’s simply human nature.
That’s why I’m never offended when a worship musician or singer approaches me to say, “I was watching the stream from last Sunday and I didn’t really hear my part.” This happens from time-to-time. I’ve worked hard to develop trust with my teammates. I’m glad they feel comfortable enough to approach me on the issue, and it’s never been presented to me in an accusatory manner. My most recent discussion on the topic came from one of our young electric guitarists, who very graciously asked if there was anything they could do with their tone or parts to make a more useful contribution.
There are a number of reasons why certain instrumental parts or voices seem to be missing from a broadcast mix. Is it the singer or musician’s fault? Unfortunately, sometimes it is, but in my experience that’s rare, (more on that later). There are larger components at play and I think discussing them will be helpful to both broadcast engineers and worship teams.
Serving the song
One of the most liberating concepts of mixing church audio is understanding that You don’t have to hear everything all the time. Even in professional studios where an album is being recorded, not every instrumental or vocal part tracked makes its way into the final mix. That’s usually an artistic decision. As in everything, there are exceptions to that rule. I’ve been in recording sessions where the musicianship is at such a high caliber, the engineer has to do very little to make the song sound great. But that is not the world we live in. In church broadcast audio (and at FOH) we still have to serve the song, and that requires some level of curating the musical and vocal components.
Serving the church’s mix philosophy
If you’ve read any of my work, you know that I am a proponent of churches developing a mix philosophy. (Here is a detailed discussion on the topic)
The church I do a lot of broadcast work with has a very specific mix philosophy. One component is a high value on vocals (including choir), and encouraging congregational participation. Another component is to prominently feature the occasional, non-standard instrumentation, such as a violinist, horn section, or other soloists. In a situation like this, everything is subordinate to vocals and special instrumentation. So sometimes there simply isn’t enough sonic space to make every instrument on stage audible.
Serving the video
When I mix broadcast, I’m watching the multi-view monitors where I can see all the camera activity and preview what is upcoming. The video producer is calling camera shots and switching cues to capture what’s happening on the platform. As the camera captures singers and instrumentalists I do my best to follow along with the audio, so what you see is also what you hear. For example, when the camera is focused on the acoustic guitar momentarily, you will hear a very subtle increase in its volume. I do the same for singers and for instrumental solos of course, albeit a more exaggerated level change. This is tricky and has taken a long time to develop as I’ve learned how each of our producers “call” the service. I believe what we see on screen should be what we hear and I go to great lengths to contribute to that end.
Serving the team
I’ve worked with many churches over the years and the ones I love the most are the ones that honor their people. The last thing I want to do is mute one of my teammates from broadcast or FOH. They’ve put in the time to prepare and they are there to worship with us! In the course of my career I have been asked by leadership on occasion to mute certain singers or instrumentalists. I find that very distasteful. It dishonors everyone on the team. If you’re simply putting people on stage as eye-candy, you need to check your heart!
I’ve personally witnessed singers and musicians mature and grow their skills tremendously over months or years. We need to have room on our teams for developing talent, while maintaining high standards in the presentation. In doing so, some singers and musicians will be less prominent in the mix than others. Unless I am directly ordered to do so, I never mute a singer. But they may be “tucked-in” a bit below their mentors as they are developing.
If an instrumentalist has bad tone, I’ll do the best I can with it, and treat it similar to the developing vocalist. In our combined efforts of serving the team, I’ll mention it to one of the leaders as something to work on. The only time I completely remove an instrument is when it is out of tune. But I always discuss this with a leader to help mentor the musician.
Serving the arrangement
I worked with a church many years ago, that would bring in a tenor sax player occasionally. He was an excellent musician. The plan was typically to feature the sax on a specific song that everyone prepared for. It was always tastefully executed, and everyone loved it. But the worship leader wanted the sax player to stay on the platform and just “jam” on the rest of the songs. After multiple services it became obvious that the just jam suggestion was a really bad idea. Situations like this put the audio engineers in an awkward position. Aside from the one prepared song, you’re stuck with a sax on stage that everyone can see, ruining the other songs, while every fiber in your being is telling you to mute it.
This is my cautionary tale and gentle rebuke to worship leaders. Set your team up for success by creating arrangements that suit the song, the singers, and the instrumentalists. If you’re going to have multiple musicians playing the same instrument such as guitars, make sure they’re working together preparing complimentary parts. If you have a featured solo instrument, establish what their parts will be when they’re not soloing. Curate your tracks to compliment and honor your musicians, not to replace their parts.
The more intentional your arrangement is, with detailed assignments for each instrument and voice, the more likely each individual’s contribution will compliment the video presentation.
I look forward to hearing and seeing how your audio and video compliment one-another. Feel free to share clips or links of your broadcast with me at rcochran@worshipfacility.com . I’d love to hear from you.
Until then, don’t forget to listen!