I want to talk about a commonly overused piece of gear- the compressor. The basic concept of a compressor is to turn the volume down when the signal gets too loud. A lot of inexperienced engineers think they can put a compressor on almost every channel and then sit back like they’re on auto-pilot. It’s not quite that simple, and using these too often goes against my entire approach of keeping it simple. Just because you read in a magazine that the bass was compressed, doesn’t mean you automatically need to compress yours. Too many compressors, and all of the sudden your mix has no life, no air, and no dynamics. To tell if your compressor is working well or not, there is 1 sure-fire way to find out.

You’re too old? You’re too close to the speakers? You’re too picky?? I see a lot of churches that have SPL limits for their services. In the touring world, we call this a speed limit. What is safe? What is too loud? What do the numbers mean? There are so many factors to consider before enforcing a speed limit at your church.

The most common complaint any audio engineer hears is, “It’s too loud.” When I hear that, I don’t reach for the master fader, I start asking questions. How close are you to the stage? Why is it too loud? It’s amazing that some people will try to meet a friend at a show, stand up close to the stage, then say it’s too loud because they can’t have a conversation while a rock band plays 20 feet in front of them.

In a church setting though, “It’s too loud” usually always means the exact same thing…

Have you ever tried to set up your sound system around how a CD sounds? Setting the system overall EQ this way is fine. But, if you put in a CD (or iPod if you’re under 30), then turn up the faders til the meters hit zero; now turn up the amp so that the music fills up the room until it’s just a little too loud (you’ll want to have a little bit of headroom), then wait for the band to start playing… the band seems so much quieter! Why?