Church Audio Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Church Audio Why can’t we be friends?

Today’s post is about ‘sibling rivalry’, at least of a sort…

Everywhere I’ve gone I have noticed the chasm that exists between two worlds.  For the sake of brevity and alliteration I’ll call them ‘tech’ and ‘talent’.  If you’ve spent any time at all in any kind of performance endeavor, you know what I’m talking about.  Now I’d love to be able to say that things are different in a church setting.  But reality, and humanity, have a way of intruding on those kinds of ideals.  Petty resentments, jealousies, and other less than Godly emotions can find their way into our church’s worship teams very easily.  So, in the interest of trying to bridge this gap, I give you…

10 things your tech won’t tell you…  but wishes you knew…

1. We don’t want to be on stage.

   Some of us are quite talented musically and otherwise, but we aren’t doing tech work because we couldn’t cut it on stage.  We genuinely love what we do.

2. We are on your side.

   When we suggest things to you like different mic techniques, or how loud your amp should be, we aren’t doing that to be difficult.  We want your artistry to translate to the audience, otherwise, it’s just a waste of your very hard work.

3. We are very smart.

   Some of the most intelligent people I have ever met are techs and I mean crazy Einstein kinda smart, so we know things.

4. We love it when you thank us personally.

   Truth is we work very hard and we don’t want the limelight.  But a thank you from you means someone noticed our work and that means a lot to us.

5. We hate it when you thank us from the stage.

   We don’t want attention [see no. 1],  if we did, we’d be on stage ourselves.

6. We are not miracle workers.

   All of us, and especially us sound techs, are in a constant battle with the laws of physics.  So when you want us to do something that violates those laws, we unfortunately have to say no.  We’re not being difficult,  we’re just unable to bend time and space.

7. We crave your kindness and respect.

   Truth is, every tech has been a victim of condescending or downright abusive ‘talent’ at some point.  We don’t like it any more than you would.

8. We know you’re gonna be a little anxious and nervous before a performance.

   It’s all good.  frankly, if you don’t act a little flighty and weird, we wonder what’s up with you.

9. We will be more attentive to your needs when you’re nice to us [see no. 7].

   I’d love to say that we were always altruistic, but we’re human too.  Treat us well, and we’ll be super attentive and make you sound/look great.  Be dismissive or difficult and we’ll still do our jobs, but nothing more.

10. We want/need you to trust us.

    Truth is, you really have no choice.  You can’t possibly know what you sound/look like when you’re on stage, that’s why asking for light/sound changes from the stage [other than for your personal comfort,  that’s legit, although we can’t always honor those requests.  see no. 6] tend to make us cringe.  It may be difficult, but you need to trust us, this is what we do.

I’ve got lots more secrets to share.  but that will do for now.  In my next post…

10 things your talent won’t tell you…  but wish you knew…

Until then…

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