Fresh Eyes
Posted by Travis on April 28, 2009… or ears in this situation. Some discussions I’ve been in and around over the past few weeks have been dealing with “less than ideal” results in a few of our live environments, including the one I oversee primarily. This is in no way a “shot” at anyone who is working in those environments any more than it is taking one at myself. Disclaimer aside…
How often do you have someone else with trustworthy ears come into your worship service and evaluate how it sounds and is mixed? How well do you take criticism from that person/those people? I know sometimes it isn’t packaged well and you have to sift through the arrows and find the nuggets of truth, but how well do you take it?
Our worship director at SSCC is now trying to schedule himself off stage about once a month. He will mix maybe once every 2-3 months and just be in the room for the services on other weeks. It gives him a fresh perspective of what happens in the room and what it sounds like. I HAVE to listen to him for instance because it is a “production” that he orchestrates normally, but regardless, I WANT to hear his thoughts. There are also two other tech guys on staff with me and I always like to hear what they liked or disliked about a mix. Some times the insight is more preference than right/wrong but much of the time I get great insight. Often times I ask myself “why didn’t I hear that or think of that?” Sometimes they tweak a knob that I’m somewhat embarrassed to have missed. It is part of the gig.
So, get some fresh ears on your mix and in your room. If you don’t have those extra ears in your church, get some from another church or venue for a rehearsal and do the same for them in return. I think the more challenging of a mix situation you engineer in, the more important this might be. Our ears are super-adaptable devices and this is both a blessing and sometimes a hindrance to mixing. Let someone else come in without any preconceived notions about the challenges of your mixing situation. They may hear things that your ears have grown accustomed to. (Be ready for some suggestions that you will take too personally. Think about how opinionated you are about a mix and know that they are too.) Make notes and try the changes.
Constantly find ways to get fresh eyes on your mixing. You will get better and your audience will hear better.
Win – win.
What about you, whether you are on stage or in the booth what things keep your ears fresh? If audio is not your thing, what about video or your designs?
I walk out of the room after I mix the band during the “dress rehearsal.” I’ll walk back in a few minutes later and my ears hear different stuff. When first mixing, our ears get used to the sound, after mixing for a while, an off sound can sound “ok.”
Is this the spot where I confess and ask for forgiveness if I’ve not packaged and communicated what I hear in a professional way? (btw, seeing how our eval mtg. took a jolt off the track on Monday, I may have neglected to say that I thought the mix was great in the sanctuary, and thoroughly enjoyed myself as a worshiper).
When editing photos I “finish” several times because each time I get done and a day later come back to them I find new things to fix. Amanda and I tag team the editing because she is more sensitive to certain things than I am and vice versa. I’ll spend an hour working on color and cropping and she’ll spend the same hour on fixing background distractions. We’re a team and couldn’t do it without each other.
Plenty of good suggestion posted here. Thought I would tackle the human element….
I have mixed a lot of people in my day and the sure fire way to produce a good mix is to….MAKE THE BAND HAPPY! lol. On a serious note…if the bands happy they play better. When everyone in the band is kicking on all cylinders mixing becomes very easy. The main problem of mixing in a church is you have to please not just the band, but the 800 “trained” ears that listen every week. To many cooks in the kitchen! The producer and engineer have to have a relationship of: “A” give and take AND “B” each others back. A house divided against it’s self will fall. Tuff but tru!
Travis. I’m considering purchasing some M1d’s. We do pretty rocking music. How do they sound in your room?
Brad, I love them. Very smooth sound, can handle pretty much anything you throw at them. We are a contemporary style of worship church, typically one electric on stage at all times, sometimes two, live drums, etc. I am very happy with what they produce.
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