There are tens of thousands of churches in America and a very large percentage of them utilize the service of volunteers for their sound tech teams. People kind enough to give their time and energy for the greater good but most of which have no professional training whatsoever. It is super important that the leadership of the house of worship or church understands how important it is to deliver quality training to these folks. If the sound team has minimal training the expectation of the quality of audio should be minimal as well. One of the most important aspects of getting consistently good audio quality from inexperienced sound techs is a great sound check. Running sound for worship music production can be stressful and a great sound check can help reduce that stress.

Do the sound check the same way every single time.

I've seen it so many times where the same sound tech will never do the sound check the same way, ever. Here is a guide that should be followed for new and inexperienced sound techs in order to develope habits and an expectation from the worship team. Always start with the drum kit. The drum kit takes the longest to get right and can set the stage for the rest of the sound check. If you had a room of 50 sound engineers you'd get 50 different variations of how do to a sound check. However for the inexperience tech heres how to do it, and be sure to do it this way every single time and in the same order.

Kick drum, snare drum, rack tom, rack tom, floor tom, hi hat, overheads.

Once the kit is good to go then ask the drummer and the bass player to play one of the songs that are going to be played during that weeks service. Make sure that they play a good 3-5 minutes together with only drum and bass so you can have enough time to set levels and work out any eq problems between the bass guitar and the kick drum. Next ask the electric guitar to start playing. Have them play again for 3-5 minutes together without stopping so you can get a good balance in volume for the guitar and do any eq tweaking that might be needed. If you're running a stereo sound system it would be a good idea to move the pan left or right a bit depending on what side of the stage the guitar player is standing on. If there are two electric guitar players add in the other electric guitar and repeat the same process as with the first electric guitar. Then add in the acoustic guitar. Same thing. Have them play for 3-5 minutes with the acoustic and make sure you set the volume of the acoustic accordingly. Acoustics for the most part are not lead instruments and should be used as texture and foundation not lead so ensure they don't get too loud in the mix. Then add in the keyboard or piano player. Again if you have a stereo sound system pan the keyboard hard left and right to get some space in the mix.

After the band has been checked and you have good levels set for the instruments then have the worship leader start the song from the beginning and get the volume levels for the vocals. Make sure if you have any background vocals that they are in fact mixed as background vocals.

The last suggestion that I'm going to make in this sound for music production guide is the slight usage of reverb. Reverb is an excellent way to help add some depth to your mix as well as smooth out pitchy vocals. I'd put a touch on the snare drum, rack and floor toms, a slight touch on the overheads, a bit on the acoustic guitar, piano/keyboard, as well as the vocals. Be careful not to "wash it out". You only need enough to add some depth. Listen to the "s" and "t" sounds. They will expose the depth of the reverb.

Hopefully this has been helpful in outlining a basic step by step approach to building a habit in the way you do your sound checks. If you don't get it right in the sound check, there is a great chance that it's not going to be right during the actual performance. You only get once chance in a live sound situation. Be sure to take full advantage of the sound check and above all else, make sure that the band is awake and playing like it's for real. You don't want them playing like it's a sound check. You want them playing like they are in front of 10,000 people.