So far this year I’ve been to a few church services that are more traditional- piano, organ, choir, hymnals, etc. In a way, it’s been a little nostalgic for me, as I grew up in small churches that only sang hymns with piano accompaniment. It occurred to me how a lot of traditional churches on the surface appear to not suffer from the frustrations of audio problems because they aren’t trying to amplify drums, electric guitars, etherial keyboards, pop-style vocals, etc. The reality though is that there are still issues that need addressed and sometimes, the simplicity of the mix can make problems even more noticeable.

The Elms Last Show

I spent 8 years on the road with these guys. Sad to see it end, but when 1 thing ends, new exciting things can begin.

You might think this post is secretly sponsored by some pharmaceutical company. It’s not. Keeping the stage clean looking and the cables organized has much less to do with obsessive compulsive disorder, and much more to do with professionalism.

Does you stage stay set up week to week? Is it a pain if your church has a wedding and you need to strike the stage and set it back up before Sunday? Perhaps you meet in a gym or another site that requires you bring in and set up your entire system each week.

Do you ever feel like the volume of the band on stage is louder than the house? On my first tour 8+ years ago,  we were in a very shallow room, and before I had even the first mic turned on, the band was already jammin’ on stage. I quickly got all in a huff, pulled out my dB meter, and started lecturing them as the meter was passing 105dB and I started wondering how I was ever going to get the sound system above this. I wasn’t prepared for the reaction I got, and it taught me quickly some important aspects of stage volume.