Hi @audiospringmusic,

I hope you are well today and thank you for your questions.

how can we remove the black bars above and below the slider on mobile? Desktop view is ok, they only show up on mobile.

You can edit the slider and make it responsive on mobile as described on the below pages.

https://support.stylemixthemes.com/revolution-slider-responsive-settings

https://www.themepunch.com/slider-revolution/responsive-settings/

https://www.liontreegroup.com/responsive-web-design/how-to-make-revolution-slider-look-better-on-mobile-devices/

how could we remove the featured image from the top of the blog post but keep it on the post previews?

You can remove it by adding the following CSS code in the Custom CSS code option of your theme on the below path.

Admin Area -> Appearance -> Theme Settings -> Custom Code -> CSS Code

.single-post article .post-meta-thumb {
    display: none;
}

Best regards,
Shufflehound team