Trusted Mixes Pt.2

The last time I checked, there was no “safe mix” button on my console. After my pastor's compliment, I went back and made sure. Understanding how my pastor felt safe from an audio mix took me a while. I had to ask him for more information to get to the bottom of this. 

Every engineer should know a couple of principles, and I thought those were the possible attributes. I always strive for three things: feedback is not an option, thinking ahead and not missing cues, and showing up prepared. When my pastor emailed me back with his answers, none of them matched my personal goals of being professional. 

So why did he feel safe? He first told me I mixed for Sunday morning, not Friday night. What an incredible way of telling me I stayed in bounds. My TD gave me some speed bumps as a guideline, and he watches the SPL on Smaart occasionally, but he rarely pushes back when I exceed those speed bumps in a powerful moment of worship. At the heart of this statement, Pastor is telling me that I read the room. It’s subconscious to me at this point; I feel out the music. 

The next thing he told me was that I was “unnoffenable but secure in my experience.” I’ve been mixing in a compensated capacity since I was 17. He doesn’t know that. I’ve failed in my role in all the ways that each of us do as we learn this craft. The TD I serve under is younger than me; I’m the eldest of the production team. Yet when he tells me what he needs from me, I don't contest. I choose carefully what I say and to whom to respect the leadership structure, even if I know I’m right.

Pastor’s final point was that I ask people how it sounds. Perhaps you were hoping for the magic compressor setting or for me to explain the settings in reverb that no one can ever figure out. Perhaps those settings make a difference, but I'm serving myself if I’m not serving the audience/vision. At some level, I’m asked to serve in this role because of my musical subjectivity. Mixes that make your team feel safe allow for objectivity and collaboration that fulfill the vision of the leadership you serve. 

There is plenty of content available from people smarter than me on how to turn the knobs and push the faders. I’ve come to learn there is a psychological component to creating musicality. It begins with relationships and communication. 

Kevin Poole | @kevinrpoole