🎯 Learning objectives

• Ring out a system methodically without killing tone
• Run a fault tree for silence, hum, distortion, and dropouts
• Communicate calmly with musicians under pressure
• Maintain backups, labels, and post-service notes

🔁 Feedback without fear

1. Reduce gain / fader / monitor send — stop the scream first.
2. Identify likely mic and speaker path.
3. Notch narrow EQ on the guilty channel or bus — small cuts.
4. Fix placement and stage volume so you are not EQ-fighting physics forever.

Pros prevent feedback with mic choice, placement, monitor discipline, and gain — not 15 deep cuts that destroy tone.

🧭 Fault tree (memorize this)

💼 Habits that make you employable

• Show up early; leave the console better labeled than you found it.
• Document changes. “Tribal knowledge” is not a backup strategy.
• Talk to worship leaders in solutions, not blame.
• Protect hearing — yours and the congregation’s.
• Keep learning: record streams weekly and critique one thing.
• Ethics: the mix serves the message and the people — not your ego.

🧪 Lab — emergency drills

• Simulate “pastor mic dies” and recover in under 60 seconds (spare cable/mic path).
• Simulate “stream silent” and recover using your fault tree.
• Write a post-service log template: what broke, what you fixed, what to buy/fix.

🎬 Video tutorials

Curated watch-list. If an embed is unavailable, use the YouTube link — then come back and do the lab. Watching without the lab is only half-training.

📝 Prove it