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On Sunday, the words get lost under the band. The vocal fader goes up. The room gets louder, but the words are still hard to make out.
The fix usually starts by turning something down, not by turning it up.
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Why the words get lost
The Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook, page 15, explains that most of a voice's power is low. Almost all consonants, the sounds that make words clear, sit up high.
Most of the power is low. Most of the meaning is high.
Hearing research from 1924 found that a loud low sound covers higher sounds far more easily than the other way around.
That's masking, when one sound covers another so we can't hear it clearly.
Every mic on stage picks up some low end. It piles up and buries the words.
The fix: the high-pass filter
The high-pass filter turns down everything below the point you set and lets everything above it through. Some boards label it low cut.
Think of it as the bouncer at the door: low rumble doesn't get in.
Slide it up until the voice or instrument sounds thin. Then back it off a little. That's your setting.
Use it on channels that don't need low end: singers, the pastor's mic, and an acoustic guitar playing with a full band.
Don't high-pass the bass guitar like a vocal. In a full band, the bass guitar is the bass.
Then listen with the band playing at service volume, not alone. If the words are easier to understand, it's working.
We get more by taking some away.
This Sunday
Pick one channel this Sunday. Take a phone photo of its EQ, the tone controls for that channel.
High-pass it. Then take another photo. Post both in the community with one sentence about what you heard change.
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The rest of today's lesson
This morning our team taught the whole lesson live: the order to EQ every channel, plus starting points for voices, guitars, bass, drums and keys.
The written notes are in our Sunday Mix community. PREMIUM members also get the full recording.
The community is where volunteers post their board and get help from our team. Our next live call is in about two weeks.
Words worth knowing
High-pass filter (low cut): A filter that lets sound above a chosen point through and turns down everything below it.
Masking: When one sound covers up another so you can't hear it clearly. Low sounds mask higher sounds far more easily than the reverse.
Consonants: The short, sharp sounds in speech, like t, s, k and p, that make words understandable.
— Madison
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