Find your step

Level 1: Essentials

Your step: Step 1, Watch

Ask whoever mixes if you can sit beside them this Sunday.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• 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

In the guide: Chapters 1 and 2. In the training: Level 1, lessons 1 and 2 (The desk is a place of worship; Follow the signal).

• Free: Before this Sunday, seven things to do before your first Sunday at the desk
• Free: try lesson 2, Follow the signal, with no sign-up
• How the training works

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Level 1: Essentials

Your step: Step 2, Help

Help set up, and learn the line check one job at a time.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without 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

In the guide: Chapters 2, 3, 9 and 12. In the training: Level 1, lessons 2, 3 and 8 (Follow the signal; Mics, DIs and wireless; Line check, and a backup for everything).

• Free: Before this Sunday, seven things to do before your first Sunday at the desk
• Free: try lesson 2, Follow the signal, with no sign-up
• How the training works

Start again

Level 1: Essentials

Your step: Step 3, Learn the channel (for speech)

Set gain on the speech mics at a rehearsal, with your mentor beside you.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• Sets gain to a healthy level
• High-passes and makes useful EQ cuts
• Uses gentle compression on speech without squashing it

In the guide: Chapters 4 to 6. In the training: Level 1, lessons 4, 5 and 6 (Gain, the most important knob; EQ without fear; Speech that stays steady).

• Free: Before this Sunday, seven things to do before your first Sunday at the desk
• Free: try lesson 6, Speech that stays steady, with no sign-up
• How the training works

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Level 1: Essentials

Your step: Level 1 service

You're ready for the Level 1 service: your first Sunday, a spoken-word service with your mentor close by.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• 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 (analogue: updates the desk photo if anything changed on purpose) and writes a handover note

In the guide: Chapters 9, 10, 12 and 13. In the training: Level 1, lessons 7, 9 and 10 (Feedback, stopped before it starts; How loud is right?; Your first spoken-word service).

• Free: Before this Sunday, seven things to do before your first Sunday at the desk
• How the training works

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Level 2: The Full Band

Your step: Step 3, Learn the channel (for the band)

Set the gain and EQ on the band's channels at a rehearsal, with your mentor beside you.

In the training, nobody skips Level 1, but someone who mixes already works through it quickly: take the Level 1 quiz first, and a leader who has seen you do each item can tick it straight away.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• 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 (analogue: with the effects return fader down for speech)

In the guide: Chapters 3 to 6. In the training: Level 2, lessons 2, 3, 5 and 6 (Mic the drums, check the phase; Kick, bass and making space; Gates and the drum group; Effects that serve the words).

• How the training works

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Level 2: The Full Band

Your step: Step 4, Mix with a mentor

Mix a rehearsal with your mentor, then part of a service.

In the training, nobody skips Level 1, but someone who mixes already works through it quickly: take the Level 1 quiz first, and a leader who has seen you do each item can tick it straight away.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• 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

In the guide: Chapters 7, 8 and 10. In the training: Level 2, lessons 1, 4, 8 and 11 (Build the band mix; Vocals that lead; In-ear mixes musicians love; Soundcheck and the band Sunday).

• How the training works

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Level 3: Lead the Team

Your step: Step 5, Run a Sunday: the stream

You're ready for Level 3, starting at Step 5, Run a Sunday: the stream.

In the training, nobody skips Levels 1 and 2, but someone who mixes already works through them quickly: take each level's quiz first, and a leader who has seen you do each item can tick it straight away.

Your leader signs this step off once they've seen you do each of these without help:

• 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

In the guide: Chapters 11 and 14. In the training: Level 3, lessons 3 and 4 (The stream mix; Stream levels, loudness and lip sync).

• How the training works

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