At my church, reaching out into the community is one of our biggest callings. The concept of outreach can range from visiting an elderly shut-in person to putting on a concert in the local park. Of course, if you plan on having a concert, or any outreach event that needs a sound system, the system you use will need to be easily portable as well.
Not Just for Outreach
Portable systems are not just for outreach gigs, however. They can be used anywhere or in any location outside of your main sanctuary. There are two ways you can go about getting your next portable sound system. You can buy it, or rent it.
For those with little or no experience in portable audio, I would recommend renting a system and an operator (hopefully a pro). That way you can check out the quality of a particular brand of audio gear. Also, by listening to and watching a pro work, you can get some valuable information about mixing portable live sound. And, of course, for the short term, at least, it’s always far less expensive to rent than it is to purchase audio gear.
Instead of focusing on buying vs. renting, however, this month’s Sound Sanctuary is about finding the right portable system for your church.
The Right System
To determine the right system to meet your needs, consider how often you will be using your portable sound system, and also factor in the number of people who will be listening to that system. Another set of considerations you should make is, what type of music will you be amplifying? If you have a house of worship that plans on one event per month and you will be offering rocked-out worship music at those events, it won’t take very long until you know your audience and your sound needs. My particular house puts on two rockin’ outreach events every year. The advantage that my church has is that I supply the audio for our events.
I supply really good audio gear for a really good price (free). The main reason the sound is good is that my church knows its audience and how we want to reach that audience — we have a good sense of the people in our community and how to appeal to them with music and the word. I supply a system that has two subs and two three-way tops.
Along with the mains, I put four floor wedges on stage and offer four separate monitor mixes. I use a small 20-channel analog Yamaha board and an assortment of outboard gear to make my audio sound as good as possible. And I mix from the side of stage. Not that I couldn’t use a snake and mix from front of house, but the side of stage set-up is faster and a bit easier.
I actually don’t mix any of my church’s outreach events. I have in the past, but we currently have a good team of competent sound techs in the congregation — another useful asset!
Now I imagine that many of you out there also know your audience and the people who live in your community. And with that know-ledge, you will need a sound system that properly serves your audience. Along with serving the needs of your community, you will also have to make your musicians equally happy. That means that, along with great sounding main speakers, you will want a quality monitoring system. Whether you use floor wedges or in-ears, you want your players to hear everything well and clearly.
Portable Needs Vary
As you get a clearer picture of what you want to accomplish with your portable sound system, you will begin to hone in on the system of your dreams. You may be a solo preacher with an acoustic guitar playing to a coffee shop crowd on a Tuesday night and preaching a little gospel between songs. On the other hand, you may have a rockin’ worship band with two electric guitars, a drum kit, a bass player and three vocals. The preacher in the coffee shop can do well with a small mixer, a couple of mics and two speakers on stands (sticks). The rock band will need enough speakers and horsepower (wattage) to make a real impression on their audience. This is all part of knowing and serving your audience.
So let’s say you have a crystal clear idea of what you want to do and who you want to reach with your portable sound system. This takes us back to the rent-or-buy question. My advice would be to rent different sound systems until you find one you love. You may find a speaker manufacturer that is great and a different mixer company that is fantastic and monitors made by another company. It is certainly okay to mix and match your gear. You just want to be certain that your main front of house speakers match. The rest is up to you.
Now I would like to touch on the reality of cost. Good gear can cost a good amount of money, and great gear can cost a great deal of money. Do keep in mind that if you want consistently good or great sound, you will have to pay for it. Of course you can always buy used gear to save money, but purchasing pre-owned audio gear is a science in itself. Maybe I will write an installment of Sound Sanctuary just on the various techniques for buying used audio gear. But that will have to wait for another day.
Back to portable sound systems. I have another piece of advice I would like to share with you. I use self-powered speakers for all of my portable gear. Plug and play gear takes less time to set-up, it is easier to operate and is a more efficient way to add the appropriate amount of power directly to the speakers and horn drivers. We could also devote another Sound Sanctuary column to self-powered speakers, but for now, enjoy finding that
perfect portable sound system.
