The “Thousand Foot View” of SO.A.P
Man, I can’t believe how long I have been apart of the internship here at The Church Next Door. Every day I feel like I am learning something new and a way to work around difficult obstacles. In just 13 weeks I have lost count of how many problems I have fixed and sorted out to try and make it beneficial for the church. But without problems, there is not much room to gain anything out of something you enjoy doing.
But now that I have 2 weeks or so left with my internship, I want to think about what’s next in life and how this has helped mold my future careers. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to still be apart of the live industry during COVID-19 because it got completely wiped out and is slowly coming back. Here at the church I have been running sound through streaming platforms every Saturday night and have been running sound for outdoor events every Sunday. The outdoor event has been the closest I have to live sound with a congregation. For me, running sound isn’t as enjoyable without hearing the crowd’s reaction. You want to hear people cheer, clap, and enjoy what you are putting through the speakers.
The biggest things I have learned is patience, good cable management, routing, and that some equipment is not meant for outdoors. I am usually a patient guy, but there have been times I have had to wait for answers and last minute details. With all of this in mind, I believe it helps me know what to expect in a live aspect. Just because you run sound in a church doesn’t mean that everything is perfect and there won’t be any problems, it is the opposite of that. Problems and issues happen no matter where you are.
For my next experience, I want to learn the other side of the live industry. How to mix a safe but loud environment, better micing techniques, and how to use different brands of boards. If I learn the basics of all the industry standard sound boards, most places look for that kind of flexibility. Even some industry professionals have told me that is the biggest thing places look for in someone-flexibility. My goal is to be flexible, patient, have an ear for every genre and for every environment so that no matter who I mix, it will be enjoyable for everyone.
The biggest differences that I will experience in my next step will be how people react and work with each other. Most people here at the church are soft spoken and enjoyable to work for, while outside some people can be short tempered or not as understandable. But that is how the world can be too, so it is something good to cope with. I can’t wait to work with different people, sound boards, PA Systems, and for what’s in store for me next! Whatever it is, I have a good feeling that it’ll help me extraordinarily in the industry! I hope you guys enjoyed reading my blog, let me know what you think in the comments! :)