SOUND SYSTEMS

MY SOUND SYSTEM NEEDS HELP!

AKA...what can I do on a shoestring budget to make it better?

(Or how to know if your sound system needs help!)

Many time people might complain about the sound of a system, not being able to hear the vocals, the drums are too loud or the bass is overwhelming.

A lot of these issues can be fixed very easily and with little to no cost.

One church I guested at spent $15,000 on a new sound system and yet the sound was horrible and they received complaints all the time about the quality of the sound.

Turns out the Sub Woofer was placed on the stage which was 2 feet off the ground, facing directly into the audience. This meant the bass was overwhelming to anyone sitting in the first 5 rows in the middle of the sanctuary.

A simple move of the speakers fixed the issue.

You might need to have an expert come and analyze your system. Caution: While the intent is good, a “professional sound company” makes their money from the diagnosis and sale of their services and equipment. In my experience, many times the professional sound engineers look at a sanctuary as a puzzle. How to eliminate dead spots in the room, how to maximize space and minimize reflections. All that is great, but at the end of the day you need a sound system that fills the needs of your room, the band, the choir and any other people you may have on a Sunday and most smaller churches can’t afford the large budget sound companies charge for their services.

That is not to say you should not use them. But you should never meet with a sound engineer without a musician or reliable worship leader/pastor there with you unless you have that background.

Besides the worship leader (And maybe a good drummer) you really need to come along side sound techs and make sure they get training to do sound. Many churches have great sound men who would love to come train your team for a few bucks.

If your room holds 500 people, and you regularly have 300-400+ people attending yet you are running all your sound through a single speaker you are bound to have sound issues.

A good mixing board, good speakers/monitors and microphones are usually plenty good enough but all these things are useless if you don’t have good sound people to run sound on a Sunday it can be a waste of money no matter how much you spend.

t.