Worship

Mixing & Audio Mastery

Getting Great Source Sound

Fix it at the source, not at the board. Why a well-tuned, well-chosen instrument beats any amount of EQ — and trumps even a better mic.

Duration · 4:27

The single biggest favor you can do your sound engineer is to send them a great signal in the first place — so they don’t have to make something crappy sound good. The instinct, when something sounds off, is to reach for EQ. Pump the brakes. Get it as close as possible from the source first.

Fix it at the source

If an acoustic guitar comes across too bassy, don’t grab the EQ — talk to the player: “Where are your bass and treble controls? Let’s turn the bass down.” Electric too bright and thin? Ask them to warm up their tone. You don’t want their EQ set weird and then spend your night compensating for it at the board.

Use good instruments and good mics

  • Buy decent instruments and decent mics. Don’t expect a $9 mic off Amazon to sound good. On a budget? Do the best with what you have and budget for upgrades over the coming year.
  • Tune everything. Tune your drums (use a drum-tuning app — link below the video), and make sure guitars are in tune. The console cannot fix an out-of-tune instrument.

Source sound trumps a better mic

This is the key point. A nicer microphone will not fix a badly tuned tom. Brian would rather have a correctly tuned tom on a mediocre mic than a poorly tuned one on an expensive mic — and you’d be surprised how good a tuned drum sounds even on a so-so mic. Get it correct first.

Your assignment this week

Go through every single instrument on your stage and make it sound the best it possibly can before it ever hits the system:

  • Tune the drums really well and be happy with how the kit sounds acoustically.
  • Audition your piano/keys patches and pick your favorites (e.g. Sunday Keys); roll off frequencies you don’t like.
  • Dial in great electric tones (e.g. a Helix with a solid worship patch).

Make each source excellent on its own and your mix improves instantly — and your engineer’s job gets way easier.

Application

  • Pick one instrument this week and get it sounding its best at the source before touching the console.
  • Find and install a drum-tuning app, and tune the kit before next rehearsal.
  • Audition your keys/electric patches and lock in favorites the team can recall.