I want to start this post with a excerpt from my book, in Chapter 10:

“Serving in the technical ministry requires you to have a certain ability to balance both science and art. This doesn’t mean you have to hold a microscope in the left hand and a painting in the right. It means that you have to find your own little niche in the booth, and figure out when the right time to use each process is. Let’s look together at an outline of when to use science, and when to use art. Since I’m not there, how about you just look at it by yourself, and then let me know what you read.

I refer to “science” because understanding how to mix first begins with it. You can’t paint a beautiful priceless painting until you know how to mix colors, how the paint reacts to the surface, and how everything flows together. The same is true with technology. You can’t design a lighting plot for a play until you know how the colors react to the set pieces, where the shadows fall, and how the technology works to make the end result possible. In audio, you can’t mix a band together until you know how the equipment works, how the songs flow, and what instruments are featured. You use the science to master the concept of technology, from the basics of how a microphone works to the everyday sound check. The science comes into play when it’s time to get the band (or vocalists, or whatever) checked. Get the monitors set, figure out when certain instruments are soloed, etc. In lighting, figure out where lights need to be focused and colored, and then use those fixtures, and figure out when to fade in and out. You will find that the science is a long a tedious process that should never really end. If you find yourself not using the science as often, that says that you already know it all, and have nothing left to figure out. If this is the case, please come teach me everything you know! Again, without giving the proper attention to the science aspect of technology, you can bring you final product down from a Picasso event to a Barney Fife event.

The art aspect of technology is definitely not something that comes perfectly the first time, yet it is something that takes time after time of practice to refine. Art in technology is taking all of the things you learned with the science, and applying them to your task. For the audiophiles, it is masterfully creating a work of art with the sounds and nuances of the music that you learned during sound check. You are a band member, and the sound console is your instrument. For you lighting guys, it is craftily mixing your lighting to create moods that send your audience exactly to where you want them; whether it is a feeling, mood, or even place. Using the art does not, and should not mean you live by a “set it and forget it” mentality. Especially is audio mixing, you cannot expect to set your levels and not touch them……”

So many times, I think the problem with the local “tech guy” is that they are really good at one aspect, but have insufficient knowledge in the other. I believe this is why so many churches have a 2nd rate technical ministry, and in turn, have a second rate music ministry. When people don’t give 110% of themselves, and give the attention to detail that the job requires, it shows, and it shows bad.

I guess this blog is written mostly to the sound tech, and the person that manages them. If you find yourself leaning more towards science than art, or vice versa, I encourage you and challenge you to step back, analyze what you are doing, and consider doing it differently. Change CAN be a good thing, and when you try new things and they work out well, people will notice. And because perception is the prelude to expectation, if someone comes into your church, and the environment is set for a 110% performance, they are going to expect good things to happen- and that’s when God shows up….when you are giving your absolute best for Him.