Sound for Churches

- Posted by Bruce Nelson on 12/17/2010

Bruce Nelson

There are numerous aspects or facets to successful implementation of sound in today’s church services. I will attempt to share my perspective on some of them. I realize that some may not agree with me at times; after is there are often more than one way to accomplish something and sound is, after all, subjective.

Purpose:

For many years, I have taught that it is the job of the church sound person to eliminate distractions. Of course, each of us is distracted by different things and at different levels. Obviously not all styles of music are pleasing to everyone. Though it is difficult to please everyone, in a fairly contemporary worship service most people are able to enter into worship if the music is clear but not too loud. Often when the music doesn’t sound good, many will think it’s too loud. The same volume level would be acceptable if the music just sounded better. Our goal is to create an atmosphere where people can worship God.

How do we accomplish this?

It’s not an easy task to make music sound less distracting. We will assume at this point that the singers and musicians are all excellent (though I realize this isn’t always the case.) We need a sound system that sounds good. A good quality mixing console is needed that is complex enough to give the engineer the tools that are needed but not so complex that that no one in the church can understand it. Of course this isn’t a “one size fits all” situation. In all situations, the speaker system should have fairly even coverage. It should sound similar in all seats. This requires careful selection and placement of speakers. Speakers should be directional and have good pattern control so that we can control volume and reverberaton. We need proper microphones for each application, as no single type of microphone can serve all purposes. Some microphones are great for vocals but don’t create an ideal sound for instruments (and vice-versa). Most rooms need some acoustical treatment, especially if a sound consultant wasn’t involved in the building design. Lastly, the sound engineer needs adequate training so that the available tools can best be utilized.