New to the desk
Start with the Essentials in each chapter and you'll be ready for Sunday. No jargon without an explanation, and a glossary of 125 terms at the back.
A practical guide for church sound teams
Great worship sound for every church, whatever your gear
Sanctuary Mix takes your team from the first cable to the last amen: gain, EQ, in-ears, mixing a modern band, volume and the livestream. Plain language, practical steps, and printables for the desk.
Get Sanctuary Mix, about $29R499
New to the desk? Start with Sanctuary Mix Essentials, about $14R249
Secure checkout with PayFast. Charged in rand: PayFast shows the amount in your currency before you pay.Secure checkout with PayFast: card, instant EFT and more.
Instant PDF download. A4, prints well on any home or church printer.
Personal copy about $29R499 · Team licence for your whole church, with the training, about $79R1 399
Kind words from teams Rikus has served alongside
“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!”
“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.”
A big church's standards, without a big church's budget
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. It doesn't have to be that way.
Mixing for a while
Go deeper with Next step and Pro tip sections: DCAs for every move, stereo for modern worship, phase, cardioid subs, stream loudness and the habits of engineers at top worship churches.
Pastors and worship leaders
Understand what your team needs, how to talk about volume and budget, and how to build a sound team that lasts.
What's inside
Fourteen chapters, each built in layers so you read at your level today and grow into the next one. Look for the signal meter: the more bars are filled, the deeper it goes.
- Essentials. What everyone needs. New? Read these first.
- Next step. Deeper understanding, when the essentials feel familiar.
- Pro tip. The habits of engineers at top worship churches.
- Stewardship. A short reflection on why this work matters.
- 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.
Every chapter ends with a "This Sunday" checklist, so each one changes something on your very next service.
31 printables for the desk
One-page sheets made for a black-and-white church photocopier. Laminate them, keep them at the desk, and share them with your whole team.
5
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; and drum miking and mixing.
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.
15
Worksheets
Channel list, output patch, stage plot, in-ear mixes, an in-ear guide for the band, cue sheet, backup plan, problem log, volume log, a Sunday review scorecard, your own desk guide, handover note, team rota, budget plan and volunteer pathway.
Bonus
An editable planning spreadsheet with seven tabs: budget plan, rota, handover log, input patch, output patch, problem log and volume log.
Choose your licence
The same guide, the same 31 printables and the same spreadsheet. The only difference is who may keep a copy.
Just me
Personal copy
$29Approximate. You pay R499.R499
- The full guide as an A4 PDF, 141 pages
- All 31 printables and the planning spreadsheet
- Licensed to one person, with your name on every page
- Print the printables as often as your church needs
Best for churches
Our whole team
Team licence
$79Approximate. You pay R1 399.R1 399
- Everything in the personal copy
- One local church's sound, worship and ministry team
- Each of them may keep a copy
- Share the PDF and the spreadsheet with everyone who serves, with your church's name on every page
- Sanctuary Mix Training for your whole team: three levels, a sign-off at your church and certificates (more)
Secure checkout with PayFast. Charged in rand: PayFast shows the amount in your currency before you pay.Secure checkout with PayFast: card, instant EFT and more.
Instant download. If it doesn't help your team, email us within 30 days for a full refund. Licence details
Give a copy
Equip a church plant's whole sound team
Many church plants in Africa run Sunday on a borrowed desk and a volunteer who has never been trained. For about $29R499 you give one of them the full guide and every printable, with a team licence for everyone who serves. We hand each copy to a church we know through the missions networks we serve with.
Sanctuary Mix Training
Train your whole team, one Sunday at a time
The book's volunteer pathway, online. Short lessons on a phone with hands-on practice, a task to try at church after each one, a quiz, and a sign-off by your own leader. Then that level's certificate.
Comes with the team licence. When you buy it, we set your church up on the training and email you a leader link. Your team joins with a code from you.
Level 1, Essentials. Run a spoken-word service safely: line check, gain, feedback and volume.
Level 2, The Full Band. Mix a full band with in-ears and tracks: a clear lead vocal, a solid low end, clean transitions and musicians who can hear.
Level 3, Lead the Team. Know the room and the system, run the stream mix, stay calm when things go wrong, and train the next person.
About the author
Rikus Jonck isn't a touring engineer. He's a worship leader and youth pastor who became "the sound guy" because someone had to be.
For fourteen years he has led worship, served as a youth pastor and cared for the sound in young churches, helping low-budget church plants in the Western Cape and Gauteng set up their first systems and train their first volunteers. Some of the teenagers he taught to mix now run sound for churches and weddings of their own. Today he and his wife Lené serve full-time with Fire & Fragrance South Africa in Potchefstroom.
Listen: All In, a song his team wrote for the All In youth camp in George, with Rikus leading.
Start smaller, or start free
about $14R249
Sanctuary Mix Essentials
New to the desk? Gain, EQ and dynamics, the three skills that change every Sunday, with the cheat sheets.
Free one-page PDF
How loud is too loud?
Starting volume ranges for modern worship, the WHO's safe listening limit and how to measure. Made to send to your pastor.
Free three-minute quiz
Are you Sunday ready?
Ten real Sunday situations, from the line check to the livestream. See how you'd do, and why.
Free one-page handout
In-ears: the band's guide
Fill in your set-up once, then give every musician the same page: their mix number, the hand signals and ten house rules.
Questions
What do I get?
The full guide as an A4 PDF, plus the editable planning spreadsheet. The pages print well on A4 or US Letter paper (choose "fit to page" when printing on Letter).
Will it work for our desk?
Yes. The guide teaches what every desk does and where to find it, so it works whether you mix on a large digital console, a small digital mixer or an analogue desk, with any speakers and any budget.
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. It was written for churches of about 50 to 1,000 people, and most of it is about using the gear you already have well.
Can I share it with my team?
The personal copy (about $29R499) is for one person. The team licence (about $79R1 399) covers one local church's sound, worship and ministry team, and each of them may keep a copy. With either licence, print the printables as often as your church needs for its own services. Please don't resell it or post it publicly.
Why is my name on every page?
At checkout we ask who will use the copy and the name it's licensed to, and print that name small at the foot of every page (your church's name too, on a team licence). Nothing is locked: read it on any device and print it as often as your church needs. It just shows whose copy it is, which keeps the price fair for every church that buys the team licence.
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.
How do I get it?
Your download link arrives by email straight after payment. It works for 7 days, and you can ask for a fresh one any time on the thank-you page.
Can we pay from outside South Africa?
Yes. Checkout is with PayFast, which takes Visa and Mastercard from anywhere. Prices are set in rand, and PayFast shows the amount in US dollars, euros, pounds or Australian dollars before you pay, so the dollar prices on this page are approximate, and your bank may add a foreign-transaction fee. South African buyers can also pay by instant EFT and other local methods.
Can I buy a copy for another church?
Yes. Choose Give a copy next to the licences, or after your purchase on the thank-you page. Each gift is a team licence, given to a church plant in Africa that can't afford one, through the missions networks we serve with.
What about the online training?
Sanctuary Mix Training comes with the team licence. When you buy it, we set your church up on the training and email you a leader link; your volunteers then join with a code from you. It follows the book's volunteer pathway in three levels, with a sign-off at your own church. A personal copy doesn't include the training: your church's team licence covers everyone who serves.
What if it's not for us?
If it doesn't help your team, email us within 30 days of buying for a full refund. No questions asked. See the refund policy.
Is there an Afrikaans edition?
Yes, an Afrikaans edition is on the way.
Start this Sunday
Pick one chapter, print one checklist, and your next service will sound different.
Or get the team licence for about $79R1 399
Secure checkout with PayFast. Charged in rand: PayFast shows the amount in your currency before you pay.Secure checkout with PayFast: card, instant EFT and more.