| "But if the sound system is
seen, God will surely strike us dead!" Yep, I've heard
it all. From "but it's so ugly" to "we're not
that big of a church to need the controls in the sanctuary."
This is similar to having your television in the living room
and the channel control in the basement. You walk down to the
basement to change the channel (to see what's on), and then
walk to the living room only to find it's not a program you
want to watch. So you walk down to the basement again, change
the channel, and walk back up to the living room--this channel
has a bad picture. So you walk down to the basement again…
You get the picture (no pun intended).
Just as the TV is a whole lot more easy to operate when the
channel controls are in the same room, a church sound reinforcement
system is a whole lot more easy to operate when the controls
are in the same room. Not only does it make it easier, but more
useful and in most cases, the sound system is actually less
noticeable! Yes, you read correctly--less noticeable! How can
this be? Simple; if the controls are in the same room as the
microphones and speakers, changes can be made and the results
of the changes can be heard by the "operator" in real
time (right away), thus he or she knows how much to make the
change in question. For example, say someone is reading the
scripture for the day but you can't hear what's being said because
they're talking too softly. If the controls are in another room,
I'm sure no one will go and turn up the volume on that microphone.
If the controls are in the sanctuary, an "operator"
can quickly and easily make the needed change without anyone
even realizing there was a problem! Now, I know for a fact that
every church with a sound system struggles with this problem
(too loud / too soft) regardless if there are many different
people who speak or if there's only one person that speaks every
single week. Yes, even if the same person speaks week after
week, the volume of their voice will change based on how tired
they may be or if they're sick or excited about what they're
talking about.
If you plan on playing tapes or CD's or recording the service
on tape you'll have even a more difficult time! How can you
make adjustments to the sound if you can't hear what you're
changing? You can't! Oh, and I don't care if there's a small
speaker/monitor by the sound controls--you still can't judge
volume.
So where should the controls be located in the sanctuary? From
the location of the controls, the "operator" should
be able to both see and hear exactly what everyone else in the
sanctuary sees and hears. With that said, the sound controls
should not be in a closed off box at the rear of the sanctuary,
they shouldn't be in the balcony if the speaker system doesn't
cover the balcony the same way it covers the main floor. The
controls should be housed in a desk which matches the pews and
interior of the sanctuary. It should blend in like a piece of
fine furniture.
Only when the controls are in the same room as the microphones
and speaker system will you have the ability to properly control
the sound system.
Oh--the "operator" can be anyone that's capable of
making the proper adjustments (a trained sound tech or even
an usher)! |
