I’m sure that this will be the first of many posts on this topic, it is probably the one thing that we are most passionate about! Mixing musically to me is quite simply about viewing audio through the lens of music. Every technical decision I make must filter through the lens of music. Ok, so this is all great but now it’s time for some practical advice. In order to better focus on the music, sometimes you need to focus on the technical stuff more. I know, it seems counter intuitive at first but hear me out.

I think that by focusing on being technically proficient, it frees you up to focus on the music when it counts. It’s kind of like when you were first learning how to drive a car and it took all of your attention to just start off smoothly and not hit anything. Once you became proficient at the basic skills of driving, your attention was freed up to focus on cooler things like talking to a buddy or finding a good radio station. Then, one day you had to learn to drive a manual transmission and suddenly your focus was back on driving skills again. With a little luck, you eventually mastered that too. I think that mixing works much the same way at times.

Remember that first time you used a sound board? Remember just trying to figure out how to use the gain knob and push up the faders without making any strange noises? Once you figured that out, you could shift your attention to the music. That is until you realized that you needed to learn how to use an EQ because the vocal sounded funny. Eventually you started to figure that out and your attention was freed up again.

This really is a never-ending process, I hope that you never stop learning. The key is to be intentional about sharpening your skills at the right time and then leaving margin for focusing on the music. Try to spend time before Sunday learning and practicing new technical skills so that when Sunday comes, you can focus more on the music. Eventually you will be able to spend more and more time focusing on the music during rehearsal as the technical realm becomes second nature.

Be very focused on learning new technical skills at strategic times so that you can free up you mind to focus on the music when it counts.

-Dustin

I think most people intuitively understand the concept of “mixing musically.” Because it is a broad philosophy, I’d like to offer a practical step to aid in your journey toward musical mixes.

My goal in any mix is to create emotion from the music. Emotion is the currency of music, and the intangible factor (in tandem with the Holy Spirit) that compels a person to make life-changing decisions. As Dustin mentioned, you have to build off some technical knowledge before you can free the emotion from the mix. The journey toward finding the emotion is a process…like in marriage, it is not immediately or romantically achieved. Let me explain…

Wednesday night band rehearsals are challenging for our audio volunteers. At Buckhead Church, we eat at 6pm, soundcheck at 6:40pm, and begin playing songs by 7:10pm. On a good night, with several well-known worship songs, we may only need to run the songs once before we record them. (We record songs for the band to review, and for production volunteers to prepare for Sunday.) The consequence of this tight schedule is that the audio volunteers rarely have time to get all of the instruments in the mix, and they definitely don’t have time to learn the arrangements, and mix them in exquisite detail before we record them.

However….after rehearsal, our audio volunteers comb through the rehearsal tracks to discover what’s happening in the music in any given moment. One way to achieve emotion in your mixes is to study.

By Sunday morning, they know the music as well as I do. Their reward is a mix abundant with life, because most every second of time represents a fader moving to promote or demote a part entering or leaving the music. Their attention to detail amplifies dynamics; the lifting and lowering of the human spirit. And, the payoff is emotion.

Emotion is the currency of music. With it, we can leverage music to lead our church attendees to make decisions for life-change, or simply warm them up to hear the Word. But, it takes work. Consider committing to a process of studying.

-Chris

My nature is to constantly refine what I do in search of a better mix. I try new mics, new mic placements, a new way to EQ something or maybe even start my mix with a different instrument. One of the reasons that I love mixing is the excitement of pursuing a better mix. I love the excitement of discovering new and better ways of doing things and even the let downs when something doesn’t work. There is however one fail safe way that I have found to improve a mix. Serving.

At the heart of most great mixers that I know is the heart of a servant. There is something powerful about serving those around us. For me personally, this is a characteristic of Jesus that I find myself focusing on often. It seems to bring out the best in people when you serve them. It takes the focus off of you and lets people know that you’re about something bigger than yourself. It creates a sense of team and this is where your mix begins to improve. When a guitarist knows that you’re on the same team, they will not only listen to your input on tone, they might actually ask for it. When you serve a musician by giving them the perfect monitor mix, it allows them to hear how their instrument is interacting with the other instruments. Suddenly musicians stop playing all over each other and the house mix cleans up!

-Dustin

Dustin is speaking of an intangible quality of great mixers that is often over-looked, perhaps by accident. I remember walking onto the Buckhead Church stage as a wet-behind-the-ears audio volunteer in early 2004. As a musician, I empathized with the pressures our musicians were facing being forced to relinquish control of their in-ear monitors to someone they hardly knew. Knowing very little at the time about mixing monitors, I quickly grasped for what strengths I could offer the band members on-stage. I couldn’t yet tweak a great mix, but I could serve them with all I had. I could give every effort ensuring each musician’s requests were met, that their mixes were as close to amazing as possible, and that no need/want went unfulfilled.

I found myself hurrying to fetch cables, fielding “petty” requests for small mix changes (with a gracious smile), passing out bottles of water in-between songs, and bending over backwards not only to meet their needs, but satisfy their wants. My goal as a volunteer was to take every potential distraction away from the band being able to lead people well. I knew that if their mixes were great, and they felt cared for, that would be reflected in how they played and led our church attendees. I saw fruit from that quickly. Even for my own development, I had even more opportunities to mix, because musicians began to request me, specifically, to mix their monitors. And in turn, they returned that grace to me as I (slowly) learned how to mix better.

As audio volunteers and staff, we have an opportunity to lead the bands before they ever lead our church attendees. My level of service may directly correlate to their quality of performance. Are we taking this seriously?

-Chris

There are a million things going on in the mix at any given second during a song. It’s easy to get tunnel vision, you focus on one instrument, then the next, then there’s a strange noise, this song is ending, who’s next, did I change those batteries? It never seems to end and if it does, you just want to zone out and enjoy the moment. It’s very easy to focus on the urgent issues when mixing, and I want to challenge you to focus on what is important to the music. The things that give the music life, character and depth.

What is the most important thing happening in the mix right now? This has become the creed among our volunteers. If you find yourself thinking “this mix is just boring” or “it just sounds like noise,” it’s time to start digging for what is important. Look for ways to breathe life into the mix by looking for things that are interesting. Be wary of the perfectly-balanced mix where everything is the same level. In many songs, there is one instrument that really makes the song shine. Figure out what it is and let it stand out. You will find that the song suddenly has a new life by making a few small mix changes.

Oh, and if you’re having a hard time deciding what is the most important thing in the mix or finding something interesting, it’s a great opportunity to talk to your Music Director!

-Dustin

As a Music Director, I can tell you that our team of musicians works very hard to craft a polished set list each week. Some of our efforts are focused on picking engaging arrangements of songs; and, ample time is spent piecing the music together on-stage at rehearsal. It’s important for each musician to know his/her role in the music, and to know when and when not to play. When music is performed strategically… said another way… each part is played completely on-purpose, there should be room left for one interesting musical element to shine in any given moment.

In modern worship music, the “most important” element is often the lead vocal. It also can be the melody line on electric guitar, an interesting bass riff after a vocal phrase, a piano melody soaring over the bridge, a background vocal repeat of the lead vocal, or a memorable drum fill. It’s rarely rhythm electric guitar, acoustic guitar strumming, or quarter note chording on piano. (In most cases, I consider these elements “textures.”) If you’re mixing or playing, and there is nothing interesting happening, this may be a warning sign that something in the music needs to change. (If you need help discerning this, these are the moments when everything sounds like mush.)

On the other hand, if each band member is riffing on top of one another, someone needs to organize the chaos. It’s crucial. If you need answers for how to play songs, reference the recorded versions of music. They are often produced and played very well. Copy them note-for-note. There’s no shame in borrowing great production.

If you get the music arranged well, then there is still one important step: communication between the Music and Audio teams. Chat about what’s happening in the music, who’s singing what/when, where the interesting parts are in the arrangements. Make sure your mixer knows the arrangements as well as you do. It’s a law of good music: there is always something that is most important. Find it, amplify it, and sense your worship environment come to life.

-Chris