My Church Gig

Chris Pedro was hired as my audio assistant when we built our building 5 years ago. I was still doubling as webmaster and that hat grew by gallons after we moved in. Nowadays Chris is the secret glue that holds this joint together. He masters audio, manages the podcast, mixes weddings and funerals, bails out ministries with tech problems, replaces house lights, sets the stage… the list goes on. And over the years he’s become a darn fine engineer.

Now, Chris is reading this and probably feeling a little queasy about public praise so I’ll take it easy on the guy. What I wanted to share is the secret of any success I’ve had as a church FOH guy: sharing FOH and other responsibilities with someone I trust.

I believe that if it’s at all possible, especially in a church environment, you need a Pedro.

(Hi, my name is Sam and) I’m a recovering know-it-all.  I have pretty strong ideas about the way things should sound too. Please tell me I’m not the only one.  I learned early on that bouncing things off Chris was invaluable, especially when he was learning the ropes. He’s always had a great ear but his education in audio engineering happened here at Cornerstone.

Here are three things I’ve learned:

Humility takes honesty.

The mix isn’t mine; it’s the church’s. It’s open to discussion and input. I’ll stand my ground on certain issues but having another engineer whose mix the congregation really enjoys keeps a guy honest. Humility takes exercise and I get plenty.

It takes (at least) two to balance.

The perfect mix lies somewhere between Chris’s style and mine. Chris’s mixes lean refined and mine tip aggressive. Sometimes when I’m mixing and it feels a little off I ask myself, WWCD? That usually pulls me back to the center.  I’ve heard him shift in my direction a few times too.

By the way, Laurence, our FOH engineer at the Brentwood campus mixes right between Chris and me with his own flair. He’s absolutely brilliant. You need an L-Dawg too but that’s for another post.  I am blessed to work with guys that are as good and better than I.

The best ideas come through filters.

I’ve been around the block a few more times than Chris but you know, that can really work against you sometimes. When it comes to things like equipment purchases, installing small systems, mic selection, processes, and stuff like that, listening to (and hearing) another perspective has been invaluable. I run everything by Chris. He doesn’t have to agree on everything but I’ve learned that if I move forward on something we disagree on, I should be very sure about it.

At the end of the day, I’m paid to be the lead FOH engineer and I’m ultimately responsible for the mix. What I’ve learned is that doesn’t mean always mixing myself and doing everything my way.

So I recommend to every church FOH guy and gal, get another engineer in the mix if you can. At least find an assistant that you ask honest questions of and get honest answers. If you disagree on a bunch of stuff then, hey, even better. It keeps the internal dialogue about quality alive in your own head.

I’m pretty sure good leadership trumps personal skill and generally delivers the best results.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.