Small Church Sound

This last Friday findingBethel was at Quincy Christian School for a chapel service. While we were there a couple of us had the chance to tour the church building. This however was no regular church building it was an old Catholic Cathedral. Grandview Church in Quincy had just bought the entire campus which includes the church, school, and a house. They have been taking this old cathedral and remodeling it to have a more contemporary worship service. Of course you can see the awesomeness of God as you look at how they have redone the sanctuary. The columns, stainglass windows, and woodwork are detailed and enormous. Sounds like God right? Anyway, soon our discussion moved to how complicated the sound was going to be in that room. Trust me, you could snap at one end and hear it echo through the sanctuary, even with the floor already being carpeted. My mind immediately went to one of the first questions that was asked to me when I opened this site. Are you going to put subwoofers in here? If there was ever a place where subwoofers wouldn’t be a great choice this would be it, but subwoofers are going in.

Grandview 'Cathedral' – Simply Awesome

An ongoing discussion is when should subwoofers be put in a church. Is it dependent on the size of room? Does it depend on the worship team, or style of worship? Does it depend on who complains? Or does it depend on room acoustics? There are definitely a number of things to consider and issues to solve. Regardless of the issues it is my opinion that you can and should use subwoofers in any church setting. Let’s look at the arguements.

1. We worship in a small room, won’t the subwoofers be over-powering? My answer to this is, yeah they can be but they don’t have to be. Here’s what I mean, one of the great advantages to using subwoofer is that it gives the ability to hear the full range of frequencies being produced by the worship team. This supports the dynamics and flow of the music in worship by enhancing the sound being produced. Just because you have subwoofers doesn’t mean you have to break the glass in the entry way with them. Make them support and match the rest of the sound spectrum. This can be done regardless of room size. An additional argument here is that the actual cabinets are too big and bulky for a small room. Well, technology has developed some nice compact subwoofers that are physically small with good sound.

2. Does it depend on the style of worship? Ok, so the real answer is probably yes. If you don’t use bass, drums, or electric guitar you can probably hear everything without subwoofers. But, most engineers reading this are looking to improve their sound and one of the best ways to put a little more life in the worship music and shine on the overall sound is to have a little bit of air moving from the subwoofers.

3. What about people in the congregation who complain? Oh yeah, this one is difficult. The way to solve this problem is a lot of conversation, patience, and understanding. Researching information and listening are key in persuading people to try new things. But if you choose an appropriate size subwoofer and try not to make the first worship service a rock concert with it, people will get use to it. The may even end up liking it.

4. What about when our sanctuary is already pretty boomy and echoes a lot? Acoutsic room treatment. While this is a whole other discussion, room treatments will help tone the room down and make not just subwoofers usable, but the whole sound system sound tighter. This does cost a little bit more due to materials for the treatment but still improves the system.

When thinking about subwoofers the thing to remember is that a solid, tight bass response is what a sound engineer is looking for. Its not just about volume, its about the richness and clarity of the sound. However, they can help us worship God just a little louder.

For the last couple of days I have thought about some of my high school days. I can’t really tell you why, maybe just reconnecting with old friends through the massive internet. Anyway, my thoughts often end up centered around playing basketball for my high school, good times. Those days were a blast but one thing always got to me, my junior and senior years I hardly ever played. Even today I ask myself why did I play on the team? Why did I go to all those practices, work my tail off, and then sit at the end of the bench where no one could see me? At times it was easy to think that I wasn’t really part of the team or even needed.

LNE Varsity Basketball – State Champs '96

Running sound in church is much the same way. As a sound person I was usually required to be the first person there to turn everything on, set gear up, and troubleshoot any problems. Then the worship team would come in and lead the church in worship while I sat unnoticed unless there was major feedback, of course. It’s true the often sound people aren’t thanked for the hard work and commitment they give to the worship team. But, the time and effort is necessary to allow the worship team to do their part with excellence. Just like I had to realize that I was an important part of the basketball team, part of the secret of being a sound person is to recognize you are an important part of the worship team. We should be working towards the same goal as the people on stage, leading people in worshiping God.

That’s the conclusion I had when thinking about all the hard work I put into basketball. If I had not been faithful to practice as hard as I could, if I had not been committed to be a part of the team regardless of how much recognition or playing time I got, no matter how much sacrifice and serving I had to do, my goal was to help the team be better. How does that happen? Well, as a soundperson do whatever it takes to serve the worship team, if that means adjusting monitors or being a little early to change guitar strings then do it happily. If your not a soundperson then go out of your way to make the soundperson feel appreciated and part of the team. 

Just some thoughts from the ‘glory days’ of high school basketball……….thoughts?