A little warning - this is going to be a tiny bit of a rant. You see, I was at the wedding of a dear friend yesterday in a Sydney church. It was a wonderful service. The songs were well chosen and the service superbly led. The preaching was clear and biblical. The decorations were beautiful. The crowd was happy to be there, and happy the rain had held off. A wonderful celebration, which nothing could have spoiled.
But during the vows, we did have to put up with some pretty woeful sound. "I Jack*...[feedback]...in the presence of God [squeal] take you Jill [static then squeal] to be my wife [low roar then shreak]...". In fact, it was so bad that the always good humoured groom mentioned it later in his speech (through a much better microphone) at the reception when he reflected on the "vows we made to each other through that dodgy microphone".
The poor sound guy was struggling the whole time to make it work without feeding back, but the system (cheap, underpowered, badly installed) was always against him. There was nothing we could do but laugh about it.
Can somebody explain to me why we have to have such terrible sound at so many of our churches? If church meetings about at least partly about hearing God's word, then it seems a little silly to skimp on the very equipment which makes things (like vows, or a bible reading, or the words of a song) audible to lots of people at the same time.
I don't think it's an isolated problem. There must be something going wrong in terms of process for so many churches (with apparently the resources to pay for carpets, hall redevelopments, rectory upgrades and central heating) to end up with sound systems which plainly are not up to the task. What is going wrong, time and time again?
- - Is it a problem of process? (Perhaps a well meaning but unqualified parishioner taking control of the system and not allowing outside help?)
- - Is it a problem of the right consultants or suppliers? (I hear too many stories of companies with excess stock of a particular device offloading it at way too high prices to gullible churches)
- - Is it a problem of the brief? (I worked on one project where the system designer wanted to spend most of the money on choir mics...for a church that didn't have a choir)
- - Is it a problem of values? (I heard one minister describe how it used to be a source of pride for his church that they had a bad sound system - because it proved just how focussed on the scriptures they were, not the flashy show!!!)
On the flipside, I wonder - has anybody's church managed to get decent sound for their gatherings without taking out a second mortgage on the rectory?
Over to you, blogosphere....
AJ
*- not his real name, of course.
Hey Andy, Good question. WHY?! I suspect it is partly equipment (Ministers, you value the Word, so please value the equipment that amplifies the word); and partly human error (Technical Directors, please train and support your volunteers). I share your
ReplyDeletefrustration when it comes to poor or inadequate sound at some churches
Andy, I was also at that wedding. Nice to see them marry! I also heard what you did. Having been involved in directing and "performing" church music for a while now at a few churches I honestly believe it is because the ministry staff have no idea about
ReplyDeletethe technical side. They focus on the two P's: pastoring and preaching, which is admirable and required from the Word, however I have never met a pastor who thinks of sound reinforcement as anything except an after thought; something which will work itself
out. Another point: I also have to say that it was my first time in that building where the wedding was held; for its reputation I would have thought the sound system was significantly better that what they had. I think the key is spreading awareness among
the people that make the decisions and hold the $$ - ministry staff, wardens, parish councils, elders, etc.
Hey Bren - I'd be interested to hear from you guys at SPCH on how you train your volunteers - I think it's probably a big part of the solution. And hey Mike - yep, I think we musicians and tech boffins have to communicate a solution in a way that helps
ReplyDeletethe decision makers make good decisions. (Also, yes, lovely wedding!!)
In my experience, the tech-boffins don't always make the best sound operators. Interestingly, it's been the musicians who are keen to help out in other areas who have learnt the quickest, who manage to mix foldbacks and FoH well, and who never get any
ReplyDeletefeedback. I'm also really keen to hear about how to train volunteers. I think most people at our church see the mixer and freak out about the size (even though it's not that big), so not many people volunteer to learn and serve.
I think you're right there Matt - it's much easier to teach a musician which knob does what than teach someone with purely technical expertise what music is meant to sound like (that said, there are lots of tech heads who are also great at music!)
ReplyDeleteAs the unofficial sound leader for my church I will add a couple of things. In terms of people training can be an issue, but the biggest issue I face is time. Many volunteers are time poor and can't commit to practice time yet alone formal training time.
ReplyDeleteJust like any musician a sound operator needs to practice, and while I have found basic training (either internally or by going to something such as Twist Away) can be good, nothing beats sitting behind a desk and just "playing" to see what happens. This requires
a time commitment many can't, are are not willing, to make. On the equipment side it will always be a struggle for many churches as good equipment, good contractors and good acoustic design is expensive. I have tended to find that one or all three of these
is often neglected to cut costs and you end up in the situations you read about in "Why Churches Buy Three Sound Systems". Just for an example a small fellowship hall system recently cost us ~$5000 (just for the audio parts) and its really isn't really designed
to support much.
We make it compulsory at our church for all musicians to operate sound desk. If you want to play up the front, you have to learn sound desk and be on the roster. Being an up-the-front servant also means being a behind-the-scenes servant. It's been great.
ReplyDeleteIt also means that there is no awkward separation - sound desk operators should be part of the music team, not a separate group creating rivalry. One thing that has surprised me (to my own shame), is that some of our best sound desk people are girls, and even
girl singers! Oh me of little faith. It shows that sound desk is about people with a good ear, humble, servant-hearted, able to take direction/instruction, communicative. I quite prefer teaching a receptive rookie the concepts of sound mixing rather than (stereotype
warning) a dude who used to DJ a bit and has his preconceptions. In regards to the system budgeting stuff - I guess there needs to be a view that yes it's an expensive one-off cost, but a good system should last a good 10-15 years. So does that work out to
be $1000 a year? A good investment, any warden would agree.
Huw, that's a great idea about muso's also being on the sound desk roster. Perhaps the element I'll take from that to get us started is that all muso's should be trained in how to run sound, so that in the event of the rostered on sound person not turning
ReplyDeleteup for practise, anyone of the muso's can step in.
Huw - I love that idea of making the musos serve behind the scenes as well as in front. Brilliant. (As it happens, I really enjoy being on sound desk and NOT playing piano for a change, so I'd be cool with that!)
ReplyDeleteIt's not just audio equipment that Christians will skimp on. Have you ever seen one of us pay over $40 for a one night Christian concert? Secular artists are charging a minimum $80 for a show at the hordern or the Enmore while we refuse to support those
ReplyDeletethat need it most. (rant ahead) It drives me nuts, I cannot understand why both church's and christians in general have such a stingy mentality when it comes to money. Most won't even tithe the recommended (correct me if i'm wrong) 10%! We'll happily give
the government their 30-50% for income tax and then a minimum 10% of what we buy (gst+other individual product related taxes) yet we refuse to give our creator the minuscule amount he asks for. TITHE PEOPLE TITHE!!! /rant I wholeheartedly agree more than anyone
else here, that buying a quality PA system is a good investment. However how can a church possibly finance this when we fail to provide them with the funds required? Training is required. This i believe should be done professionally. Working with a professional
will teach someone far more than they could possibly learn on their own, or from a fellow member of the church. There's plenty of good (and bad) books about operating audio out there, find one that works. Personally i would suggest taking snippets from Yamaha's
"The Sound Reinforcement Handbook". This will tell you everything you'd learn with a certificate 4 in live audio. "Many volunteers are time poor and can't commit to practice time yet alone formal training time." -Chris People can make time to do what's important
to them. The simple fact is people don't care enough about God or the church to make time for Him. There's 168 hours in a week and you're telling me those volunteers couldn't possibly give another 3-4 hours to a band practice on top of their volunteer work
on a sunday? I know what is like to be poor on time, I work 80-120 hour weeks most weeks, those rare times I work a 40 hour week I have so much spare time on my hands it concerns me! The moral of the story: You make time and money for what is important to
you. Christians no longer fear God and thus do not give him the time or money He deserves, thus the Church cannot put money into it's PA system. On the other hand... Church's use companies that are forced to sell a certain quota of each brand they stock. They
will then offload a second rate product to their customers without any regard for the client's best interest. I walk into churches and see them being duped time and time again. They simply don't know any better and yet they refuse to listen to anyone that
does.
I think a large problem for this cause is that many church wardens and ministers I know simply do not understand the need for a pa system. Many wardens are long standing and faithful members of the congregation with the churches best interests at heart,
ReplyDeletehowever when many of them were growing up in the church, attending youth congregations, growing new services ect... a pa system was simply not needed and that is because they simply were not invented. When Elton John first toured Australia he played through
a stack of fender twin guitar amplifiers because the country literally had no suitable pa systems, most of the men and women who invented the live audio industry are only in their 50's and 60's now, it has not been around that long. When a business is considering
purchasing a new pa system a business case is normally put forward outlining the benefits of this purchase and how it will recover costs. I think a church should do exactly the same, sure we are not talking about monies coming back in a church, but we are
talking about benefits, A good installed pa system is realistically the same cost as employing another worker for a year, and as musicians we need to prove to the money men and women that that is a good investment, Without good cause for a good pa system we
are just kids wanting flashy toys. E.g I believe if you want to grow a thriving youth ministry it is imperative to have a music minister and good quality production, Kids these days are used to things sounding good, they are used to polished music on their
iPods, if the music at church sounds bad, there is a likelihood that they may not return to youth group. We want ministry to be engaging to young people and this is one of the many things that will aid in this. We need all of these ancillary things to be backing
up one thing, the word of god. And as simple as it sounds we need that to sound good and clear, I know if a sermon has ringing or feedback, or is too quiet or the radio mic had bad reception, I find myself drifting off and not paying as much attention as I
normally would. If you are thinking of installing a good pa system maybe think of other uses for it. I know of a very well geographically positioned church that installed an amazing sound system, they use it for all services on Sundays, they also have band
nights on Fridays and Saturday's and also have movie nights during the week, if you charge a small admission fee to these events then you are moving closer towards covering the cost of a pa system and maintenance. Think about it, who spends $20000 on something
to turn it on only 8hrs per week?
Next I would echo something josh said, get some advice from a professional, (I mean a full time audio engineer professional) There are many people out there who are willing to take your money and not listen to you. Maybe look
ReplyDeletea little closer to home first, there are sooo many Christian audio professionals, in all likelihood there is one in your congregation, if not, ask a full time musician, they will probably know one, failing all that post back on the blog and I'll point you
to some. I work as a full time audio engineer at one of the most famous places in the world, working for some of the most famous performers in the world. A church I was attending once asked me for some advice on an audio system, they promptly ignored my advice
stating that I was not a "church audio consultant" and I had grown up in the church, they then took the advice of someone with little experience or knowledge but a nice business card that said "church audio consultant" and purchased cheap audio equipment that
proceeded to break 2 months after the warranty expired. Vancouver is building a new concert hall and emailing me for advice about the pa system they should install, and yet my own church won't listen to me? I told that story not to toot my own horn but to
raise a point, almost every pro audio engineer I know does not serve on sound at church and almost all of them have a similar story to this as a major reason why, you may need to seek them out to get their advice. This raises another question. What would you
like to see in church audio workshops? I have been running quite a few audio workshops for church and started talking less and less about the technical aspects and more and more about the artistic aspects, what it means to mix a band, how to go about it, importance
of listening to a wide variety of music ect... And more and more I have been talking about the strange phenomenon of the church sound person ego and how we need to get rid of it. We are here to serve the congregation and aid the musicians and minister as they
aim to serve the congregation. Any other suggestions? Finally, a friend of mine was called up by his church one day and asked for his advice on microphones to purchase, he told them about some old faithfuls (sm57, sm58) cost effective at about $120 each but
really reliable, they thought this was a bit steep and asked his advice on a 3 pack of mic's they were looking at for $75. He replied, that's $25 per mic! I could go down to the Doncaster hotel with $25 and buy a really nice steak, I might even afford a beer
if I'm lucky, and honestly to me, that is a better investment than a $25 mic. Moral is, if your audio and musical equipment is the same price as a nice counter meal then you are aiming too low.
I have already responded before but I though I would add a few things First it is great to see all the passionate sound engineers and musos respondining to this. Josh - on my previous comment re: can't commit the time, maybe I should have used won't commit
ReplyDeletethe time. I agree that many in our churches don't want to commit adequate time or money (eg tithing) and this is definately something that needs to be addressed from the front. On engineering costs for new PA I would love churches to look at PA as a lifecycle
cost rather than one off captial expenses. For example I have estimated a half decent (but not spectacular) sound system for my church's main room would cost ~$50k if we did it all at once. As a one off this is scary, especially for those treasurers/parish
councils entrenched in an annual budgetting cycle. However if we break it down over the ~10 years it will be there we can break it dowbn to $5k per annum or $96 per week. For our 400 member church that is ~25 cents per person per week. In my day job as a process
systems engineer lifecycle costing is considered to be good practice. I wonder if churches really should be looking at this not only for PAs, but other large regular capital expenditures
Great point Chris. I totally agree. $50000 is a huge one off expense Especially to a church
ReplyDeleteWow - some really great thoughts here. I love hearing passionate sound engineers in full flight. Thanks guys!
ReplyDelete