Is Your Church Sound System Performing As Intended?

I once attended a church where a host of percussive, electronic and wind instruments were shoved through a loudspeaker system designed for speech-only. The result was never pleasant, and often downright painful.

Posted 05/04/2010

I once attended a church that had only recently begun offering a blended service. Most of the music was traditional hymns with piano accompaniment, but a few songs had a praise "orchestra" complete with horns, strings, drums, guitar and bass guitar. Audience members sitting close to the stage heard mostly the direct sound from the instruments, which wasn't too bad. Those farther back in the room had the displeasure of hearing a host of percussive, electronic and wind instruments shoved through a loudspeaker system designed for speech-only. The result was never pleasant, and often downright painful.

Similarly, in this issue, you have an opportunity to read about St Matthew United Methodist Church in Belleville, Ill. (page 54). For 15 years this church struggled with horrific sound. In fact, it was a source of complaints from the day the system was installed. But the congregation had made substantial investment in technology back then, only to be burned by an ill-conceived system design. "It's hard to replace a brand new system because you just spent a lot of money on it," says Phil Mahder, lead consultant on the redesign. Despite the poor sound, a successfully launched contemporary service resulted the church making a substantial investment, not just in new equipment, but in empowering a set of new, younger leaders in the church who were entrusted to do the right thing, even if it meant a major changes.

I'd also like to direct your attention to our feature on Houston's Second Baptist Church (page 60). Hurricane Ike nearly destroyed portions of their campus in 2008, but the church used the opportunity to renew, restore and make major improvements to their auditorium. Based on the stunning image on this month's cover, I think you'll agree the results are stunning.

Enjoy,

Brian Blackmore
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

"Church Production Magazine"
"Worship Facilities Magazine"

Brian Blackmore is President and Editor-in-Chief at Production Media, Inc., publishers of Worship Facilities Magazine and Church Production Magazine. See http://www.worshipfacilities.com.

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