Sound Sanctuary

Today's worship sound has potentially never been better. What I mean is that the equipment and technology is the best it has ever been. That could be said about all live sound, but we are specifically talking about houses of worship. Not only is there a potential for high-quality sound, but also for some very loud services. You may mix in a loud church or in a quiet church. The point is, you should know the needs and desires of your congregation and find a decibel level that will satisfy all of them to the best of your ability.

Every month, I try to write something that will be useful to all of you out there, whether you volunteer your services at your house of worship or you mix and install worship sound systems as a part or all of your income. This month I would also like to include those of you who work with live sound, but not necessarily in the house of worship sound arena.

I sat down to write this month's installment when I realized that we have not only entered a New Year but we are now in the second decade of the new millennium. Whatever happened to that first decade, I ask myself.

It was Benjamin Franklin who coined that phrase. Not a bad bit of advice for the folks who started this country and for people today. Especially for house of worship sound mixer types (I know there weren't any back in Bens' day) during the holiday season. But maybe he should have said; "God helps those who ask for help."

Last month we talked about knowing your sound system, understanding the signal flow and how the system components interact with each other. Once you have wrapped your head (and ears) around how sound travels through your system, you will find that troubleshooting the various components of that system becomes a relatively easy endeavor.

    Many of you walk into your church just before the service begins; you turn on the system and wait for the congregation to show up. You do your mixing job, turn off the system and go home. This approach to mixing is not a problem unless some piece of gear or cable fails, then you’re stuck, and so is the congregation.

As I start this month’s installment of Sound Sanctuary, I need to remind you that this is actually part 2 of “The Sound of Your Worship Room.” So of you haven’t read part 1, please pull out the June edition of FOH or go online and read it at www.fohonline.com in the Current Issue section. If you don’t, the information in part 2 won’t be quite as useful.

The great thing about mixing in the same house of worship week after week is that you become very familiar with the sound of your room. The not-very-good thing about mixing in the same house of worship week after week is that you soon accept the sound of your room as being correct when it may not be. Understanding the physical attributes of sound and how it reacts in your house will allow you to improve the sound in that house.

If you are a regular reader of this column you know that I pretty much direct its contents to those of you who volunteer as sound technicians. However, I don’t volunteer my sound services very often.  It’s not that I am a hypocrite, it’s just that installing and mixing sound is what I do for a living. That brings me to this month’s installment of Sound Sanctuary. I want to talk to those of you who operate in the live worship sound industry for financial gain, or would like to, full or part time.

In previous issues of FOH, we’ve looked at compressors. Now it’s time to at some of the other outboard gear you have, or should be using, in your house of worship. In this month’s column, let’s take a look at “noise gates.”

I have spent the last few months going over the basics of HOW sound systems. All of you have varied levels of proficiency with regard to your sound technician skills; however, going over basic principles is a good thing. Do you ever ask why your priest, pastor, rabbi, etc., has gone over some of the basic tenants of your particular religion more than once? Their purpose is to build a strong foundation for your faith. Well, it’s the same in worship sound. Obviously, not as lofty, but we can agree that a solid foundation to our work (volunteer or not) is a good thing.

Before I get into the subject this month, I would like to acknowledge all of you who volunteer to mix sound at your house of worship. For the most part in this country, you are the backbone of worship sound. Considering how important your job is, I have noticed that you guys and gals out there seem to have the least training. So, now you know my motivation for the last few months' worth of subjects. This month, we are going to look into monitors.