Building a Pyramid: How to Structure Your Team Sound

Let's talk about the structure of our team sound versus our individual sound.

You can have all the fancy gear and singers with exceptional voices, but if you use them incorrectly, you undermine the overall sound of your team. 

That's why it's important to know how individual instruments/voices fit within a larger framework. It's not enough to have the pieces gathered—they must be assembled the right way that highlights their strengths and maintain focus on their function within the group.

The tried and true framework of a solid group sound is the Pyramid. I first learned about this in concert band while in college, and it's been my go-to framework in everything I do—leading worship teams, arranging for artists, session work, and my own compositions. Here's the breakdown:

• Top: treble parts

• Middle: mid-range parts

• Bottom: bass parts, with low end

This assembly doesn't necessarily focus on the quantity of instruments or voices in the top, middle, and bottom sections. Rather, it focuses on the presence of melodies, countermelodies, harmonies, and bass lines and how they all balance together. 

The idea is that the lower in pitch an instrument lies, the greater its presence/volume must be in relation to the parts above it. Or, you can think of it as higher parts must slightly pull back in volume in relation to the parts below them.

Here's how I use the Pyramid for worship team instruments:

• Top: Electric Lead Guitar (lines doubled occasionally by Piano in upper register), Soprano & Tenor Voices, Snare, Crash Cymbals

• Middle: Acoustic/Electric Rhythm Guitar, Keys/Piano, Synth Pads, Alto & Baritone Voices, High/Middle Toms, Hi-Hat & Ride Cymbals

• Bottom: Bass Guitar, "left-hand" Keys/Piano & Synth, Kick Drum, Low Toms

The lead lines played in the Top of the Pyramid, when performed in the upper register of each instrument, will naturally carry over the rest of the band. Occasionally, you'll need to boost parts if they're countermelodies against what is being sung. 

In the middle, the rhythm parts cover the harmonies that fit under the melodies, with occasions to be featured in a more prominent role. (Scale your top parts back even further here, in volume and activity.) 

The Bottom parts provide the foundation for the middle harmonies and upper melodies to sit on, and these parts should permeate the mix without being overwhelming. 

The percussion parts are arranged similarly, based on how they cut (snare/crash), blend (upper toms/ride/hi-hat), and reinforce (kick/low toms). 

When it comes to voices, I organize them into High Male/Female in the Top section of the Pyramid and Low Male/Female in the Middle section.

If you implement this Pyramid structure in your initial set-up, then you have a solid structure to tweak with EQ and adjusted volume levels where needed, depending on the situation. There are other structures, too—this just happens to be one that I've used for years, and it's given me consistent, manageable top-quality results.

Be blessed 👊✌️