If the Band Wants It Loud but the Pastor Wants It Quiet… Who’s Right?

This happened to me not long ago:

I’m at FOH, service is about to start, and during soundcheck the worship leader is telling me, “Push the mix—make it big, make it feel alive. We want energy in the room.”

Five minutes later, the pastor walks up and says, “Hey, let’s keep it lower today. People have been saying it’s too loud.”

So there I am. One side says LOUD, the other says QUIET.

And guess who’s in the middle? Me.

And in that moment, I had to remind myself something:

The band hears stage energy—they want to feel it.
The pastor hears the congregation’s concerns—they want to protect them.
The sound tech has to take both, filter it, and decide what serves the room and the mission of the church.

Here's the hard truth... you can't make everybody happy :')

If you try, you’ll end up with a flat, lifeless mix that pleases no one.

What I did that Sunday was this: I leaned toward the pastor’s request, because at the end of the day, the pastor is responsible for shepherding the flock. But I also gave the band more of what they wanted in their monitors, so they still had the energy they needed on stage.

Was it perfect? No.

Did everybody get what they wanted? Definitely not.

Did it serve the church? Yeah, I think it did.

And that’s the tension we live in as church sound guys. We’re not just “mixing audio,” we’re managing expectations, emotions, and authority all at once.

💬 So I want to hear your take:When the band is begging for more and the pastor is telling you to pull it back… who do YOU listen to?

— Nate

Always the pastor lol

I hear everyone and stay in between opinions

I LISTEN TO NO ONE (only my decibel meter)

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