Sound Sanctuary

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.

Since I have been writing Sound Sanctuary, I have spent a lot of time in houses of worship, mixing live sound, installing sound systems, tuning up systems and interacting with the people that operate and volunteer at worship houses. The one theme that seems to be common among the different houses that I have visited is the lack of volunteer training.

Over the last two months, we have spent time exploring the variety of microphones and the importance of having your ears as sharp as possible. This month, I would like to talk about basic stage setups and EQ scenarios.  I know a lot of you have a basic idea of how to make your pastor, choir or worship band sound good. However, some of you don't, and we can always use a little tune-up, especially me. So, here we go.

I realize the title of this month’s piece is not all that witty. In fact, it simply states what I will be discussing. I don’t need to tell you the importance of our ears. Without them we can’t do our jobs as house-of-worship techs, or any sound mixing job for that matter. Nonetheless, the question that comes to mind to me, and hopefully to you, is where can we go to get good ear training? I have no idea. So, this month I will tell you my beliefs and experiences in training ears. 

I know it may seem a little over the top to spend an entire article on microphones, but these are probably the most important tools you have, especially in a house-of-worship setting. We will be covering the three popular types of pickup or polar patterns and dynamic microphones versus condenser microphones.

I will not be discussing brands and models of mics, as there are just too many to touch on. If you are a hired gun, meaning you do not belong to a particular congregation but you work as a mixer, you should have a selection of mics with you every time you mix. If you are part of the church membership and are either paid for your services or you volunteer your skills, you probably use the mics that are already at your house of worship. Unless your particular house has a vast selection of microphones, I would encourage you to pick up some of your own. Good mics are always a valuable commodity in any sound reinforcement setting.