Go To Your Room!
Posted on July 19, 2007
I recently became involved in helping out with sound/video/lighting at my church. It’s really an exciting time at my church because we have only just begun when it comes to this type of ministry. It is not uncommon for the music to be too loud, according to various complaints we get, and this is not a new issue, apparently. So, as I have actually started running sound, my goal has been to not get those complaints. That in itself is a challenge because I like loud music!
Our sound booth is along the back wall of the room and raised. One night, a couple of weeks ago, I was playing around with things and put a CD in, and then I stepped out and walked around the room. We have 6 mains, one row right above the stage and one row about halfway back. I was blown away, literally! What seemed to be a reasonable, non-loud level from the sound booth was LOUD in certain parts of the room.
I went and pulled it back to a level that seemed too quiet and walked around and it was tolerable. Of course, things are different with people in the room and a live band, but I certainly got an education.Â
My approach to sound is fairly simple
- Listen to the band – 2 way communication during setup and warm-up
- Walk around the room – I know the hot spots and the dead spots and do my best to strike a balance.
Over time, I will learn the right levels, but at this point, I spend as much time walking around during warm-up as I spend mixing. Loud is fun but the reality is that too loud can distract people from truly worshipping.
Has anyone else stepped out of the sound booth and gotten an education?
What are some things that will absolutely help me take the mix to the next level?
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8 Responses to “Go To Your Room!”
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Sound level (dB) meter.
Hey Jim!
Cograts for getting on your feet and moving around a bit! The differences across a room are pretty staggering sometimes.
As for the next step… I’d suggest you try to get the booth off the back wall. You need at least ten feet of clearance from the wall to minimize reflections that are going to affect your ability to hear your own mix. Walls and reflections are not your friend.
kdl
I know exactly what you mean. I’ve started doing sound at my church and was trying really hard to follow some advice I read at University that a good mix means that the congregations aren’t aware of the sound system but can still hear everything that’s going on.
After several songs of careful tweaking I thought I had it right until I went to the front of the church and realised how loud it really was.
More practice for me I think, as if I didn’t have enough else to do now that I’ve finally got a notebook for OpenSong
Tim
Jim. Welcome to my world! A couple of my observations:
There will always be complaints. Said slightly tongue in cheek, but if criticism bothers you a lot, find something else to do besides run sound. The arts, especially music, touch people deep inside. They know what they personally like and dislike. And you will rarely peak everyone’s like-o-meter at the same time.
You are smart to go out into the room. Sound booths are hardly ever in an optimum place. The great seats are for the congretation, space-consuming sounds booths go elsewhere. But you can calibrate yourself by walking the room and getting used to how it has to sound in the booth to make it sound right in the room. And it’s good to know hot and cold spots. You can make seating suggestions to frequent complainers based on this knowledge.
Improving your mix? A few suggestions: pay absolutely 100% attention while you are mixing. Never be afraid to tweak. Try things (especially during rehearsal). When you have the mix dialed in, worship with it – can you hear lead instruments, rhythm, vocals? Can YOU worship with that mix? Also, study. I have found a few blogs that are helpful. I can forward to you if interested. But mostly, be faithful, serve with all you’ve got. Most of it comes with experience.
- Wayne
As far as your hot/cold spots…. with 6 mains I assume you have several amps driving them. Try to ID which speakers are hitting the areas of the house that have too loud/soft levels. Then ID which amps drive which speakers and experiment with varying the volume settings (be sure to note/mark where they initially are set before you begin) until you have a more even SLP (Sound Pressure Level – volume) accross the Sanctuary. You may also need to experiment with re-assigning speakers to different amps to group speakers that need similar changes in volume setting.
This process may not give you enough flexibility. There are units that will allow you the needed flexibilty to “tune” the room.
Good luck!
Our sound engineer/Technical Director, Josh Isenhart, has the ability to use his laptop to remote control our digital sound board with computer attached, so he can walk around the sanctuary and make live adjustments to the mix as needed. We have the same problem with our sanctuary though; it’s so old it’s designed for un-amplified voice and maybe piano. Before we expanded the back some recently, you could stand in the back on one side and whisper, and someone could hear you on the other back corner! Josh has done a lot to help the acoustics in the room, but he’s got the same issues to deal with and he’s got 20 years of sound experience!
Not my area by a long shot but I do understand a little bit.
Absolutely… I wasn’t in a box like you were, but we had the same issue, speakers that had a hot zone about 8 rows from the front and somewhat substantial dropoff around the rest of the space.
I tend to spend a lot of time setting up the foldback (or monitor) levels during setup/practice so that the band and singers are happy. After that, I play with the front of house setup so that I have a reasonable level.
My thinking is that I won’t be able to communicate with the band or singers once the service has started so I make sure they’re happy and well set up. I can always play with the front of house mix because I can hear that mix from my desk whereas I can’t for the foldback mix.
The other thing I did, which is easier in a smaller church, is take a walk around once the service (or event) has started. That way, you can gauge sound levels when you’ve got warm bodies in there absorbing some of the sound energy.
Story time: I was running sound one day at church, an older guy came in to the church and said on his way past “you’d better not have that too loud”… I ran my normal mix and levels, at the end, this guy was complaining because he thought it was too soft!
In check with a few of these comments…
It is not likely that you will be able to move the sound board, to many cables run to it. My suggestion is to one if possible build an open closet behind it, or two if thats not reasonable invest in sound absorption material. Install it on the wall behind you. This will cut the echoes down.
Familiarize yourself with every instrument on stage and every persons voice that sings regularly. My old church when they remodeled installed a second board on stage. It was my job to control all of the monitors. If your sound is too loud be sure and check your monitor levels…how much of your sound bleeds out from them? Does your worship leader like the music louder? The sound from them can bounce back off of the stage wall and into your congregation.
Investing in a sound Db meter is a good choice. I would suggest one with a spectrum analysis. That way you can check the levels on different freq. Get ahold of sound checks…20 htz, 30, 50, 100, etc…find out what bands need to be adjusted when you walk around the room with your meter.
Im sure you have a set of headphones at your booth…USE them…they will help you learn what the raw sound sounds like. If you know what your speakers are putting out then with practice you will learn what your room sounds like with people…when you rehearse your room is empty. It is good practice to get a feel for your levels then…(in case someone after you comes back and moves them…not good)…but remember to raise them slightly with people in the room. they absorb a ton of sound.
Get to know your room…where do the echoes occur? Is it on the highs? Or the lows? Do you have feedback? What quality are your cables in? There are so many questions to ask…I would gladly let you bounce some off of me…email me any that you have…
James
p.s. hope this helps