Sound Levels

Hi,
In the last week we have had a number of complaints of the sound levels being too high in the worship part of the service, making it hard for people to hear themselves singing.
I have asked Gary to see if we can get the drum levels down which would allow us to bring down the levels of the entire band.

After thinking about it for a bit I've come up with a few guidelines.
- Use the sound level meter, keep the peak level to 86db A weighted slow or 90db C weighted slow. (for more info on how to use the meter, talk to me when your on on Sunday).

The following does not apply to all songs, use it where you can.
- Try not to drown out the singing, in other words aim to make your mix at the level where you can hear the band and the people singing. This is very important on hymms, but may also work on other songs.
-Blend voices on choruses, use reverb (or more reverb) just on the chorus.
-Vary the amount of bottom end energy (amount in subs), adding more to louder songs
-Turn off all mics on the drums other than the kick on louder songs and turn off any unused mics.
-Cut (gently) the 2-4k frequency on louder vocals, electric guitar, snare, brass on a loud song as this is the ears most sensitive range, you can do this easily by changing the EQ on the sub group.

However when the band does a "special", in other words the worship leader asks the audience to sit down, you can give a little more level as people are not trying to sing with that song.

If you have other thoughts about this please comment,
Thanks,
Keith