“Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord!” Psalm 100:1. 

Dearly Beloved, 

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” Psalm 100:1. 

One of the portfolios that I am privileged to give oversight and leadership to is our Sunday Services including all things worship, sound, media, and livestream. Today I want to give focus to the ‘sound’ component of our Sunday gatherings. My hope is to share some information that will serve you and our shared Sunday experience together. Sound good? (See what I did there? ‘Sound’ good??) We will do this in question and response format. Any time you see a  there will be a helpful hint or tip. This is a longer read today, but hopefully it’s worth your time.

Q: What are some common sound issues found in Church auditoriums? 

R: There are many! And they are not unique to our auditorium. Because of the shape of many church auditoriums like ours, there are often issues with: (not an exhaustive list)

1. Reverberation / Echos - Sound bounces of every hard surface and can cause problems like blurring of talking, muddling of music, etc.

2.  Uneven Sound coverage - have you ever noticed that moving around to different parts of our auditorium you can have an entirely different experience than in another spot? That’s because speaker placement and angling, the shape of the room, etc can cause loud zones, dead zones, feedback from mics and even something called ‘bass loops’. 

3.  Unpredictable circumstances and conditions - Did you know that even the temperature of a room can actually cause microphone or other sound issues?! Another wild and wonderful one is that things like cell phones searching for wifi signals, hearing aids, wifi signals themselves, and even lighting can cause signal interference, feedback and other unpredictable issues. Crazy but true! 

Lastly and perhaps the most nuanced:

4.  Individual preferences and needs - Having a preference for volume level or mix isn’t a problem in and of itself (I certainly have my own too!). Between our two services on Sunday mornings we are averaging more than 400 people in attendance in person. Each and every person has their own preferences and unique ear drums, canals, etc that create their very own custom EQ. The way we each process sounds varies vastly and this contributes to our experience in concerts, church services, etc. And that’s just with our natural ears! Add in hearing aids for those who need assistance in amplifying sound and the challenges grow. Hearing devices can be both helpful and a hindrance to those who use them. Each set of hearing aids has their own settings that are often defaulted to amplifying speech, though I recently learned that many hearing aids can end up amplifying all the frequencies which can lead to agitating feedback, muddled, distorted or tinny sounds. Shifts in volume and even air pressure (crazy right?!) can cause sudden and painful feedback that can be jarring for the user and also those around them. 

We are so blessed at CPC with an amazing group of skilled volunteers that make up our sound team. They arrive with me on Sunday mornings at 7:30am and often are some of the last people to leave after the second service. They are a part of the worship team just as much as anyone on stage and are responsible not only for mixing worship, but also mixing our livestream levels, muting and unmuting mics, instruments, troubleshooting issues, etc, often all at the same time. I am impressed with their skill but most importantly their love for you, the congregation, and desire to fulfill their role with the best interest of our collective group in mind for the glory of the Lord. You can imagine how complicated it is to create the most optimized experience for as many people as possible while factoring in all of the potential problems plus 400 different people and their unique ears, preferences and needs..not to mention the hundreds of eyeballs that instantly turn to look at you as soon as something goes wonky! (Like the time I unmuted a guitar and it made such an awful sound during pastor Lorne’s prayer and made us all jump. Sorry about that! ha.) Talk about pressure hey! 

Q: What are things that you can do to help create a better experience both for yourself and for our collective group?

R:

1. Try moving to a different spot if the volume is too loud, or too quiet, or bass heavy. Even moving over or up a few seats can drastically change the volume or sound. The back row of the main level has a terribly loud bass loop even when the actual bass isn’t turned up loud. Our front lobby greeters also have complimentary ear-plugs should you need them. 

2. If you use hearing aids, there may be times when you need to take them out during a service. This is different for everyone because the worship time and preaching time create different frequency volumes and each hearing aid has its own settings. One important note on this: If you need to take out your hearing aid during any part of the service, please turn the power off or volume all the way down on each unit. When left on it creates a very loud and high-pitch feedback that can be heard throughout the whole auditorium. 

3. Did you know that during our sound check on Sunday morning we run our volume much louder than in service? This is in order to simulate any potential problems and feedback before the service begins so that we can troubleshoot them ahead of time and avoid distractions during the service. This is common practice for sound technicians. If you are early enough for church on a Sunday morning and it’s unusually loud while we rehearse, that’s why :)

4. Please do not bring concerns or complaints to our volunteers. If you do have an issue, observation or comment please find me after a service or during the week. While juggling so many different things in real-time, having someone come up to the sound person at any time can be very challenging, distracting, and even discouraging. It’s not the time and they aren’t the right person. We truly care about your concerns, and bringing them to me not only honours and protects our volunteers but it also helps to ensure that proper time and attention can be given to addressing those things and solutions can then be properly communicated to the whole team. 

My role as the leader and pastor of our Sunday morning gatherings is to serve you and our teams of volunteers. It is our goal and desire to ensure that each person has the opportunity to experience Jesus in a real and new way in our gatherings. I deeply value you and each volunteer giving their time and talents to serve the Body in our gatherings. We are committed to learning and growing, and developing as technicians and worshippers. I am hear for you. ;) It is my responsibility (and delight!) to listen and care for you, factor in your needs and everyone else’s along with all of the other components, unpredictable circumstances, etc in order to lead our worship teams with vision and direction and clear communication. 

I thank you for your grace and your patience as we continue to grow and sometimes make mistakes and sometimes take a minute to figure out what might be going wrong in an instant. And I hope that some of these tips will help you too. If you need anything just ask!

We have a beautifully diverse congregation with a united desire to worship and adore our King Jesus. Don’t you just love the sound of ‘one voice’ declaring the majesty of Jesus in song together? Perhaps this is what the ‘joyful noise’ unto the Lord really is; beholding His beauty and majesty in wonder and awe, together. At the end of the day, this is all that matters. And I know that if one Sunday the power went out or the sound system blew, we would have no problem at all lifting up His name in worship and praise together because you, CPC, are passionate worshippers and HE is most worthy!

In Jesus’ name, (or Gsus if you’re a musician looking for yet another powerful worship pun )

Pastor Laura