This week I had the privilege to help out a small church with some audio and video needs and I was reminded of something important.
What do you need your sound system to accomplish?
I’ve been in churches where things would have sounded much better if they had just turned off the sound system. I’m talking about small churches where speaking, singing and instruments can be easily heard by anyone in the room. But some churches have a sound system simply because that’s what churches are expected to do. “Now wait a minute,” I hear you say, “aren’t you a sound guy?” Yes, but I’m also a pragmatist. If you don’t need a sound system, you don’t need a sound system!
This small church installed a simple system to play back recorded music before and after the service, to help everyone hear the sound for video presentations and to feed hearing assistance and nursery speakers. That’s it. They didn’t need re-enforcement for the Pastor, song leader or instruments in the auditorium.
It’s easy to over-complicate. Keep it simple and ask the question “What do I need this sound system to accomplish?”