Best Practices for Church Musicians Using Personal Mixers

My Vision as a Monitor Engineer

As a monitor engineer and audio team member, my mission is to empower the worship team to deliver impactful, engaging performances that connect the stage with the congregation. My role is to craft monitor mixes that eliminate technical distractions, allowing vocalists and musicians to lead worship with confidence and focus. By fostering unity between the production and worship teams, we align on two shared goals:

1. To worship God wholeheartedly.

2. To inspire and engage the congregation to do the same.

A great monitor mix ensures the worship team can immerse themselves in the moment, free from fighting their sound. My goal is to create a seamless, powerful worship experience where both the platform and the audience feel connected.

The Role of Personal Mixers in Small to Medium-Sized Churches

Personal mixers are a common solution in smaller churches, empowering musicians to craft their own in-ear monitor (IEM) mixes. While they alleviate some workload from the monitor or front-of-house (FOH) engineer, they come with limitations:

• Mid-Performance Adjustments: Musicians must divert attention from playing to tweak their mix, which can be challenging during complex songs.

• Limited Channels and Processing: Most personal mixers have restricted channel counts and lack advanced processing capabilities, especially in budget models (e.g., Behringer).

• Headphone Amp Quality: Cheaper mixers often have low-quality headphone amplifiers, compromising sound clarity.

The ideal setup involves a dedicated monitor engineer crafting individual mixes for each team member, making live adjustments to enhance lead elements and balance the blend—similar to FOH mixing. However, this is often impractical for smaller churches with limited resources. The following guide outlines best practices for using personal mixers effectively, balancing musician control with engineer oversight.

Typical Personal Mixer Setup

Below is my standard setup for personal mixers, designed to optimize sound quality and flexibility. Processed groups are controlled by the monitor engineer, ensuring live adjustments are reflected across all mixes, while direct signals allow musicians to tailor their preferences.

• Drums (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed drum bus with compression and reverb, panned according to stage perspective. Slight adjustments based on drummer preference.

• Bass Guitar (Mono, Pre-Fade): Direct signal from stagebox, no processing.

• Electric Guitars (Stereo, Pre-Fade): Direct signal from stagebox, no processing.

• Acoustic Guitars (Mono, Pre-Fade): Processed signal with high-pass filter (HPF), EQ, light compression, and reverb based on player preference.

• Keys (Stereo, Pre-Fade): Direct signal from stagebox, no processing.

• Organ (Stereo, Pre-Fade Group): Lightly processed bus with HPF, low-pass filter (LPF), and EQ. Uses two top mics and one low mic.

• Percussion (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed percussion bus with compression and reverb, panned based on stage perspective. Adjusted per percussionist preference.

• Vocals (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed vocal bus (lead and background vocals) with compression and reverb. Heavily panned based on stage perspective, with leads centered.

• Audience Response (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed bus with compression and reverb, boosted during low moments to enhance congregational presence.

• MC (Mono, Post-Fader Group): Processed bus with compression, adjusted minimally for clarity.

• Talkbacks (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed bus with compression and hard panning for intelligibility and separation from musical elements.

• Click (Mono, Pre-Fade): Direct signal, no processing.

• Guide (Mono, Pre-Fade): Direct signal, no processing.

• Tracks (Stereo, Pre-Fade): Bus summing all track inputs, no processing. Allows musicians to adjust for volume or tonality issues.

• Playback (Stereo, Post-Fader Group): Processed bus with EQ, enabling the band to hear transitions clearly.

  
  

Best Practices for Personal Mixer Use

1. Set Your Instrument at Unity or Slightly Below

• Start by setting your instrument’s volume at unity (where input equals output) or slightly below (80-90% of maximum). Adjust the master volume to a comfortable level in your ears. I'm going to repeat this for the people in the back.... Get yourself slightly below the maximum level for that channel, then set the master level of your personal mixer to whatever is comfortable for you. Now go to step 2. :)

• This establishes a clear foundation, leaving headroom for dynamic adjustments without pushing the mixer to its limit.

2. Create a Balanced Mix

A balanced mix ensures you hear yourself clearly while staying aware of the full team, preventing clashing frequencies or rhythms. Follow these steps:

• Prioritize Vocals: In worship, vocals carry the message. Ensure they’re prominent in your mix, especially for vocalists and rhythm section players.

• Position Your Instrument: Set your instrument slightly above other elements to maintain clarity and dynamics, but not so loud that it drowns out the team.

• Add Instruments Thoughtfully: Tailor your mix to your role. Drummers may need more bass and keys for rhythm, while vocalists might reduce percussion to avoid distraction.

• Never Mute Others: Muting a teammate’s instrument risks clashing unknowingly or missing their contribution. If someone’s playing disrupts the mix, involve the Music Director to address skill-level or arrangement issues.

3. Skip Onboard Processing

Avoid using EQ, compression, limiters, or reverb built into personal mixers. Here’s why:

• Poor Quality: Most personal mixers’ processing is low-quality and can degrade the mix.

• Distorted Perception: Master processing (e.g., EQ on the entire mix) can mask clashing frequencies or dynamics, skewing how you hear the band.

• Raw Dynamics: Unprocessed audio reveals the natural tonality of each instrument, making it easier to adjust your playing to resolve issues like an overpowering bass or harsh guitar.

• Ideal Setup: Patch signals directly from the stagebox preamp or use a direct out post-preamp for a clean feed.

4. Let the Engineer Process Key Elements

Certain elements sound better when handled by the monitor engineer:

• Drums and Percussion: Polished sounds help lock in rhythm without constant tweaking.

• Vocals: Processed vocals ensure clarity and balance with reverb for depth.

• MC and Audience Mics: Careful shaping enhances spoken clarity and congregational response.

• Playback and Talkbacks: Active mixing ensures transitions and communication are seamless.

• Why It Helps: Offloading complex adjustments to the engineer ensures consistency and lets musicians focus on worship.

5. Leverage Panning

Panning is critical for creating separation in a stereo IEM mix, preventing a cluttered center channel. Use these techniques:

• Pan by Stage Position: Pan instruments based on their physical location relative to you (e.g., acoustic guitar to the right if the player is on your right).

• Balance the Stereo Field: After positioning, adjust panning to even out the left and right channels for a cohesive mix.

• Hard-Pan Talkbacks: Hard panning talkbacks enhances intelligibility and separates them from musical elements.

  
  

Goal for Your In-Ear Mix

The ideal IEM mix is a FOH or studio-style blend with your instrument slightly prominent, incorporating utility elements (talkbacks, click, guide) for functionality. This achieves:

• Comfort: A comfortable mix boosts confidence and performance.

• Clarity: Prominent elements in your IEMs often reflect what’s noticeable in FOH or broadcast, helping you address issues proactively.

• Focus: Less tweaking means more time worshipping and playing.

  
  

Training and Scalability

To maximize the effectiveness of personal mixers:

• Musician Training: Conduct brief workshops to teach these best practices, focusing on unity settings, panning, and avoiding onboard processing. Provide role-specific preset templates (e.g., for drummers, vocalists) to streamline setup.

• Equipment Upgrades: For churches with budgets, consider mid-tier personal mixers (e.g., Aviom A360, Allen & Heath ME-1, and LiveMix). For church not on a budget, get a monitor console with trained operators and using KLANG for an immersive mixing experience.

• Volunteer Development: Train backup volunteers to assist with monitor engineering during high-demand services, ensuring consistency even in resource-constrained environments.

  
  

Why This Matters for Worship

This approach is both technical and spiritual:

• Clarity: Unprocessed signals and balanced mixes reflect the true sound, avoiding altered perceptions.

• Flexibility: Headroom and thoughtful panning accommodate Spirit-led moments common in worship.

• Unity: Aligning production and worship teams on shared goals fosters collaboration and a worship-focused atmosphere.

By implementing these practices, your worship team can focus on leading with confidence, creating powerful moments of connection between the stage and the congregation.