Last night I attended an awards banquet with my wife. She teaches at a charter school with multiple locations, and all of the Ohio schools came together to honor the honor-roll kids. In a 1,000 seat ballroom at a downtown hotel, I heard some very unprofessional audio mistakes, and it reminded me, sometimes it can be about what you don’t hear.

First of all, there was feedback. That should never be the case. Learn your frequencies and how to kill the feedback. I remember showing up to an empty auditorium when I was in college, just to fire up the audio system and make the mics on stage feedback. My buddy and I would challenge each other to guess which frequency we were hearing.

When the children’s choir sang, the electronic piano wasn’t audible through the P.A. This is your friendly reminder to soundcheck- everything. While checking, find out how far you can turn those mics up before they do feedback. Learn your limit.

Lastly, the mics on the stage were always on, including when people were walking up to the podium, when the kids were walking on and off the stage, and when some of the kids were acting up between songs. Each footstep on the platform was amplified through the speakers, and the kids laughing and playfully hitting each other were audible.

Muting the mics to keep unwanted sounds from being amplified is just as import as making sure the mic is on before the 1st word is spoken. Does your guitar player always tune between songs? Make sure that’s muted from the house. If the lapel mic falls off your speaker and is dangling down by the floor, mute the mic while he or she grabs it and re-attaches it. As the band leaves the stage after the last song, don’t leave all of the channels on to pick up the shuffling of paper and sounds of instruments being put away.

Paying attention and implemeting these small factors will make your service much more fluid, less distracting, and be much more appreciated by your pastoral staff and congregation. Stay focused behind the board, and look for these little opportunities to take your audio to a more professional level.