We put in dedicated room mics for the live stream. Before that we were using a shotgun mic, and it wasn't doing what I needed.
Room mics are what make a stream sound like a room full of people instead of a dry recording of a band. But they're easy to get wrong.
Loud enough to matter. Not so loud it turns muddy.
That's the whole game, and you get there with EQ more than with the fader.
In the video I solo the room mic so you can hear it on its own, first with the EQ and then without.
Turn the low cut off and it goes muddy immediately. That low end is room rumble, HVAC, and stage noise that adds nothing and eats up space your vocals need.
If you take one thing from this: keep the low cut on.
With the EQ set right, you hear the room. People singing, the space having some life to it. And your main sources stay clear on top of it.
Wrong, and it just sounds like everything got a blanket thrown over it.
The mix sounded great in my headphones and different on a TV. That gap catches a lot of people.
Your stream gets watched on phone speakers, laptops, and TVs. Almost never on good headphones. Check it on the things people actually use before you decide you're done.
I spent a few weeks tuning this. The goal wasn't the perfect mix, it was a setting the room mic could just sit at.
That's what matters for a volunteer team. Something that needs adjusting every week will eventually get adjusted wrong by somebody in a hurry. Find the spot where it holds, then stop touching it.
We put out free templates, checklists, and training for church media teams. Grab the free resources here.
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