Sound Sanctuary

No, I won’t be presenting any clever parodies of Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” But I don’t have to tell you that we will soon be celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Whether you live, work and play in the worship world or the secular world, Dec. 25 is the biggest day of the year for most of us and a busy time for sound crews. This season always causes me to reflect a little more on my life and the world than at any other time of year. Do you ever wonder what was going on at Joseph and Mary’s house during those first birthdays? Historically we know that they traveled to Egypt, but did they have a birthday party at year one, two, three and on? Was everyone invited? I am sure if there was cake there was certainly enough to go around. I am just throwing out a few different things to think about in between working events during this holiday season.

We all take monitors pretty much for granted. Whether you use in-ears or floor wedges at your church, they are as common as your main front of house speakers. But did you know that, in the early-mid 1960’s, many bands hit the road without the benefit of monitors of any type. Before floor wedge monitors became popular and commonplace, speakers were simply placed on either side of the stage and turned toward the performers.

As a worship sound pro, the top three questions asked of me are, first, How can I make my system sound better? Second, How can I make my worship band sound better? And third, How can I make my choir sound better? This month, my friends, we will investigate some suggestions on question three.

Self-powered speakers have been around a lot longer than most people think. JBL was building self-powered studio monitors back in the 1960’s. In the early 1990’s, John Meyer (of Meyer Sound Laboratories) devoted his manufacturing, research and development solely to active (self-powered) speakers. As a matter of fact, Meyer once hired an ad agency to research how people felt about powered speakers for sound reinforcement. After a survey, they came back saying “nobody wanted them.” That said, Meyer released the MSL-4 in 1994. This was the first powered loudspeaker intended for concert touring. Meyer obviously made a success of it, and the company hasn’t looked back since.

It has been my general experience that many — though certainly not all — houses of worship will wait until their house sound systems are completely falling apart before they consider investing in a new one. Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to wait that long to upgrade (or completely replace) your church system. For that matter, you simply have to use your ears and check the worship house bank account and you will know whether it’s time. That said, you sometimes only have to upgrade a single piece of gear or two to make a huge improvement in the sound of your system.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by politics. Especially the all-encompassing presidential elections that seemed to dominate the TV of the day. When I think back to president Jimmy Carter’s inaugural address, I remember he spoke at a podium into two microphones. I really wasn’t a Carter fan, but that really doesn’t matter for this article. What does matter is that president Carter was speaking into two microphones. It seemed like a rather obvious move now. One mic goes down, and you still have another one on-line. However the big question in my mind was what manufacturer supplied those two microphones for the inauguration? I didn’t get the answer to that question until much later in my life. In the meantime, Ronald Reagan was elected president and was inaugurated. At his big speech he used three microphones. I figured this guy had to be more cautious than Carter, or he just wanted to make certain that every word he spoke was heard.

As the title suggests, this month’s column is all about miking of your instruments, vocalists and/or choir to enhance the overall message delivered to the congregants at your house of worship. I am not concerned with what make or model of microphones you’re using. I do have a list of manufacturers I like and use myself, but this month’s column is not about those companies. I am more interested in where you place your mics and how you use them.

My first introduction to personal monitors was about 20 years ago. I was playing an acoustic guitar and singing worship music in front of a Galaxy Hot Spot monitor mounted on a mic-stand. The thing was turned up so loud I almost lost a filling, but in a few minutes after adjusting the EQ and volume, I had my own personal monitor mix. That experience really has very little to do with the in-ear personal monitor systems that I use today, but we all have to start somewhere. By the way, Galaxy is still alive and still making very potent small Hot Spot monitors.

A few years ago, I installed a really nice sound system in a church located in the South Bay area of Southern California. The church had been damaged by a fire 12 months earlier and they were having Wednesday and Sunday services in a large tent that had been set up in the church parking lot. A local audio company supplied the sound and lighting for the services. You may be wondering where I am going with this story, but read on. Anyway, the audio company was charging the church $2,000 a week to rent and operate the sound and lighting system.

Not every house of worship has the luxury of selecting from multiple locations for its front of house speakers. Some of you have but one place to position or mount your speakers. However, it goes without saying that the placement of your speakers — their location and where they are aimed — is of monumental importance in how your system performs in your sanctuary.

One of the greatest things about being the head of the audio department at a large or medium sized church is that there are usually a lot of people from the congregation who want to volunteer their services in the audio department. One of the worst things about being the head of the audio department at a large or medium size church is that there are a lot of people in the congregation who want to volunteer their services in the audio department.

A correct audio mix in a house of worship usually means keeping a tight rein on the overall decibel level, the SPL (sound pressure level), volume or just plain loudness of a service. But have you ever asked yourself how loud is loud?