The practice bandExample
Round 1: Song 1, from zero. This one is acoustic-led.
- 1 Song 1
- 2 Messy mix
- 3 Song 2
- 4 Mono
For sound and worship leaders
Train your sound team, one Sunday at a time
Learn one small step at a time on your phone, try it at church with someone beside you, and have your own leader sign off what you can do.
Lesson 2, Follow the signal, and lesson 6, Speech that stays steady. No sign-up.
Your first Sunday is a spoken-word service, with a mentor close by.
Start where you are
- Our sound is bad: help for this Sunday Sunday cards: four free cards for the desk, from Before this Sunday to When feedback happens.
- I'm new on the sound desk Find your step: six yes or no questions, then the one thing to do next.
- I'm a pastor or leader Grow a sound team, one step at a time: a free page to print.
- We're planting a church or buying gear Eleven gear plans, from R50 000 to R750 000, with dated shop prices.
The training
Online training for your whole team
It comes with the team licence: short lessons on a phone, a task to try at church after each one, and a sign-off by your own leader at each step of the ladder.
Learn
Short lessons with the book's diagrams, and practice tools that play real recordings and computer-made sound, and say which: set gain, find a boomy frequency and mix a practice band. The lessons are written, with no video yet.
At church
Each lesson ends with one task at a rehearsal or midweek meeting, beside a mentor.
Take the quiz
Twenty or more questions per level about what you'd do on a Sunday, with the reason for every answer.
Signed off at your church
Your leader, someone at your church with Level 3, or an experienced mixer your leader names, signs off what you can do on the day. Then that level's certificate is ready.
- 31
- lessons in three levels
- 120
- Check yourself questions, each with its reason
- 38
- things your own leader signs off at church
For leaders
- Invite your team with one message, and see where everyone is on the ladder.
- See who needs you this week: ready to sign off, stuck on a quiz, or gone quiet.
- Sign off what you've seen them do at church, on your phone or on the printed sheet.
- Print a one-page team report, or give your pastor a view-only place.
See it
What the training does
The Sunday ladder
From scared of the desk to mixing on Sunday
Most church sound is run by volunteers who were shown the power switch and wished good luck. They care, they turn up early, and they still get the blame when the vocal disappears or the chorus is too loud.
Three levels of small steps, with a Sunday at the end of each. Every step is signed off at your church, once you can do it without help, not just once.
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Level 1: Essentials
Your Sunday: the Level 1 certificate, trusted to run a spoken-word service at your church.
The four steps, and the 14 things your leader signs off
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Step 1, Watch
- Sat beside someone for a full service
- Can name the parts of the system, from mic to speaker
- Knows the team's hand signals and talkback words
3 items to sign off · Before this Sunday, free
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Step 2, Help
- Sets up the stage to the tape marks
- Runs, labels and coils cables properly
- Does a line check from the checklist
- Changes batteries and swaps a failed mic calmly
4 items to sign off · Sunday cards, free
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Step 3, Learn the channel (for speech)
- Sets gain to a healthy level
- High-passes and makes useful EQ cuts
- Uses gentle compression on speech without squashing it
3 items to sign off
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Level 1 service
Your first Sunday is a spoken-word service, with a mentor close by.
- Runs a spoken-word service with a mentor close by
- Knows what to do when a mic rings, and keeps spare mics muted
- Measures the level and writes it in the volume log
- Tears down in the right order, saves the show file and writes a handover note
4 items to sign off
Your Sunday: the Level 1 certificate, trusted to run a spoken-word service at your church.
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Level 2: The Full Band
Your Sunday: the Level 2 certificate, trusted to mix a full band, with in-ears, and with tracks if the church uses them, at your church.
The three steps, and the 13 things your leader signs off
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Step 3, Learn the channel (for the band)
- Mics a drum kit (or connects an electronic kit) and checks every mic for phase
- High-passes every band channel and makes room for the vocal with EQ, not volume
- Compresses the band without squashing it, and gates the toms only where it helps (or rides them)
- Sets up reverb and a tempo delay on post-fader sends, on their own DCA
4 items to sign off
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Step 4, Mix with a mentor
- Builds in-ear mixes with the musicians
- Mixes a rehearsal, then part of a service
- Keeps speech clear and transitions clean
- Keeps the level within the agreed ranges
4 items to sign off
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Level 2 service
- Runs soundcheck in order (instruments, vocals, then the in-ears before the house) and keeps it short
- Keeps talkback, and any click and cues, in the in-ears only
- Runs a full band service with a mentor close by (with tracks, if your church uses them)
5 items to sign off, 3 shown
Your Sunday: the Level 2 certificate, trusted to mix a full band, with in-ears, and with tracks if the church uses them, at your church.
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Level 3: Lead the Team
Your Sunday: the Level 3 certificate, trusted to lead the sound team, run the stream mix and stay calm under pressure at your church.
The three steps, and the 11 things your leader signs off
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Step 5, Run a Sunday: the stream
- Builds and checks the stream mix, with cues and talkback kept off it
- Sets stream levels, loudness and lip sync, and listens back after the service
2 items to sign off
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Under pressure
- Gets a performer onto the backup mic in under ten seconds at a drill, and practises the power changeover, timed
- Stays calm under pressure, and logs and debriefs every problem
- Agrees a written volume target with the leaders, and keeps the log against it
5 items to sign off, 3 shown
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Step 6, Train someone
- Has taken someone else through the first two steps
- Can explain the desk guide and backup plan
- Plans the rota a month ahead, with a backup for every role
- Leads the pre-service huddle and the debrief
4 items to sign off
Your Sunday: the Level 3 certificate, trusted to lead the sound team, run the stream mix and stay calm under pressure at your church.
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The guide, the training's textbook
A big church's standards, without a big church's budget
The guide is a PDF of fourteen chapters, each ending with a "This Sunday" checklist, with 36 printables (one-page sheets for the desk) and a planning spreadsheet.
Jargon is always explained, and there's a glossary of 168 terms at the back.
Every lesson names its pages
In the book: Chapter 2: The signal chain; Cables and connectors; Four signal levels; Label everything, front to back; When the signal goes missing; Clean power, quiet system.
From lesson 2, Follow the signal
- Essentials. What everyone needs. New? Read these first.
- Next step. Deeper understanding, when the essentials feel familiar.
- Pro tip. Small habits that lift a good mix, once the basics are second nature.
- Stewardship. A short reflection on why this work matters.
What each chapter covers
- 1. Why Sound Is Worship. Who comes first in the mix, and standards you can adopt this week.
- 2. Follow the Signal. Cables, signal levels, labelling and clean power.
- 3. Mics & Sources. Mic choice and technique, DI boxes, phase, miking a drum kit step by step, phantom power and wireless.
- 4. Gain Staging. Set every level right at the start, step by step.
- 5. EQ Without Fear. The frequency map, the high-pass filter, and cutting before you boost.
- 6. Dynamics & Effects. Compressors, gates, reverb and delay, set up step by step.
- 7. Mixing for Worship. Build order, DCAs, stereo, mixing the drums, and leaving room for the congregation to sing.
- 8. In-Ear Monitors First. In-ear setups for any budget, mixes musicians love, and moving your team off wedges.
- 9. Test Before Sunday. Stop feedback before it starts, line check, soundcheck and a backup for everything.
- 10. The Room & Volume. Speaker placement and settings, measuring level, and how loud is right for modern worship.
- 11. Livestream Audio. A separate stream mix, loudness and lip sync.
- 12. Your Sunday Workflow. From midweek prep to teardown, including stages that never pack down.
- 13. A Team That Serves. A path for new volunteers, handover, working with the worship leader and pastor, and budget.
- 14. The Tech Around the Desk. In-ear systems, band mixing from phones, modellers, tracks, presentation audio, streaming with OBS and a production computer.
Been mixing for a while? The Next step and Pro tip sections go deeper: DCAs for every move, stereo for modern worship, phase, cardioid subs and stream loudness. Pastors and worship leaders will find what their team needs, how to talk about volume and budget, and how to build a sound team that lasts.
See all 36 printables
2 sheets for your first Sundays: Before this Sunday and Sunday first aid, at the front of the guide.
6 cheat sheets: a frequency reference; EQ, compression and gate starting points for every common source, including kick in and out, bass DI, modellers, pads and tracks; drum miking and mixing; and a quick guide for analogue desks.
6 troubleshooting flowcharts: no sound, feedback, a muddy or harsh mix, a musician who can't hear their in-ears, in-ear or wireless dropouts, and a livestream that sounds wrong.
5 checklists: setup, line check, soundcheck, the monthly feedback and backup test, and service and teardown.
17 worksheets: a sign-off sheet for every step of the Sunday ladder, channel list, output patch, stage plot, in-ear mixes, an in-ear guide for the band, cue sheet, backup plan, problem log, volume log, build sheets for an absorbent panel and a drum screen, a Sunday review scorecard, your own desk guide, handover note, team rota and budget plan.
The guide also comes with a planning spreadsheet you can edit, with seven tabs: budget plan, rota, handover log, input patch, output patch, problem log and volume log.
Free for your team
Sheets, tools and guides for your church sound team. None of them needs an account.
Before this Sunday
For a new volunteer: seven steps to read before your first Sunday at the desk.
Sunday cards
Four cards for the desk: Before this Sunday, the line check, Sunday first aid and When feedback happens. Print them, or read them on your phone before the service.
PDF, 49 KB
Plan your stage
For whoever plans the stage: put your band, singers and speakers on it, and the channel list writes itself. Print it, or send it to your team as a PDF.
Who will use it?
Choose your copy
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For a new volunteer
Essentials
about US$15R249 in randR249
35-page PDF
Chapters 4 to 6: gain, EQ and dynamics. Printables: 11, in the guide and in a PDF of their own. What's in Sanctuary Mix Essentials
Orders open soon. Tell me when.
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For you
Personal copy
about US$30R499 in randR499
178-page PDF
All 14 chapters, all 36 printables (in the guide and in a PDF of their own) and the planning spreadsheet.
Orders open soon. Tell me when.
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Best for churches
For your church team
Team licence
about US$84R1 399 in randR1 399
The guide for everyone, plus the training. Paid once. Your whole team, one church.
- Online training for your team
- Three levels, each about ten weeks at a lesson a week, with a sign-off at your church.
- The guide
- All 14 chapters
- Printables
- All 36, one page each, in the guide and in a PDF of their own, for a black-and-white church photocopier
- Planning spreadsheet
- Yes, with seven tabs you can edit
- Who may keep a copy
- Your church's sound, worship and ministry team
Your church office paying? Send them For your church office (33 KB PDF): the prices, who we are and how to pay, on one page.
Orders open soon. Tell me when.
Charged in rand. Your bank converts it, so the amount may differ a little.
Try it for four Sundays. Not what you needed? Email us within 30 days of buying for a full refund. You don't have to give a reason. Licence details
Give a church plant the whole guide
For about US$30 (R499)R499, a church plant gets the full guide and every printable, with a team licence for everyone who serves there. We hand each gift over through the missions networks we serve with. You don't receive a copy yourself.
Kind words
“Before, our sound was very basic and under-tuned. Rikus helped us with things like proper EQ levels and gain settings. It's small changes, but it makes a big difference to the overall sound quality, especially for our in-ear setup.”
“Rikus did a fantastic job in our worship and sound teams by putting systems in place, upgrading our gear within budget and realistic timelines, and training volunteers, some of whom had very little experience. I loved his systematic and holistic approach to upgrading our audio experience. He really goes above and beyond. Highly recommended!”
Questions
Will it work for our desk?
Yes. The teaching chapters explain what every desk does, digital or analogue, so you can find it on yours. Chapter 14 then sets up band mixing from phones, desk by desk, for the Allen & Heath SQ, SQ+, Qu and CQ, the Behringer X32 and Midas M32, the Behringer Wing and the Soundcraft Ui.
An analogue desk? The teaching works on it too, and Chapter 14 ends with Mixing on an analogue desk: what the controls are called on five common desks, and what to do instead of scenes and DCAs. Its one-page quick guide is free: Analogue desk quick guide.
Where a real product makes something clearer, it's named as an example, never as an endorsement. Nobody paid to be mentioned.
Is it only for big churches?
No. Most of it is about using the gear you already have well, from a church plant with one volunteer and a small desk to a church of a thousand.
How do I get it?
It comes by email, a minute or two after you pay: a download link that works for 7 days. Lost it? Ask for a fresh one any time on the thank-you page.
The PDFs are A4 and print well on any home or church printer. On US Letter paper, choose "fit to page".
Will I get updates?
Yes. When we correct or improve the guide, your next download is the latest version, free, for this edition.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes, any time, and you pay only the difference: a personal copy to the team licence for about US$54 (R900)R900, or Essentials to the full guide for about US$15 (R250)R250. Go to sanctuarymix.com/upgrade and type the email you bought with.
Can we pay from outside South Africa?
Yes. You pay by card on Yoco's secure payment page: Visa, Mastercard or American Express. You're charged in South African rand, and your bank converts it at its daily exchange rate. So prices on this page in other currencies are approximate (converted from rand with the European Central Bank's rates of 26 October 2026), and your bank may add a foreign-transaction fee.
We have several campuses or churches. What do we buy?
One team licence for each congregation. Each campus or church in your network gets its own.
What if it's not for us?
Not what you needed? Email us within 30 days of buying for a full refund. You don't have to give a reason. See the refund policy.
Did you use AI?
Yes, as a writing and research assistant. The decisions, the stories and the final say on every page are mine.
Rikus
Can I ask for help?
Yes. Write to support@sanctuarymix.com. We reply within two working days (not counting Sundays).
Start this Sunday
Find your step on the Sunday ladder: six questions, then the one thing to do next.
Find your step