{"id":2022,"date":"2012-06-10T17:02:12","date_gmt":"2012-06-10T22:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=2022"},"modified":"2012-06-10T17:02:12","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T22:02:12","slug":"making-a-sound-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/06\/making-a-sound-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Sound Investment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/06\/soundsystem.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[2022]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2025\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/06\/soundsystem-300x232.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/06\/soundsystem-300x232.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/06\/soundsystem-1024x793.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/06\/soundsystem.jpg 1300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><em>Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.northpark.edu\/\">North Park University<\/a>\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/em>One of the most common questions that arises in discussions of our churches music and worship ministry is the matter of sound systems. I noticed a couple more conversations are under way in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/eccworship\/\">Better Together Facebook group<\/a> this week, and thought maybe it would be useful to write a few basic notes about the use of sound technology in our ministries. Please forgive me if this level of discussion is too basic, or if you have another philosophy in approaching the use of sound systems. Feel free to comment or criticize below.<\/p>\n<p>There are at least three different ways of using sound technology in a live context. These might be described as follows.<\/p>\n<p>1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Transparent system<\/p>\n<p>2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Balancing system<\/p>\n<p>3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Production system<\/p>\n<p>Confusion between these uses, and the misunderstanding or misuse of one trying to make it do something else, are often the cause of disputes between us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Transparent system<\/strong> is really there because people can\u2019t hear. Sometimes called sound enhancement, it\u2019s designed to make sure that whatever speaking or music is being presented, it\u2019s represented as faithfully as possible further away. Obviously you want microphones and speakers that are accurate \u2013 not \u2018coloring\u2019 the sound in a way that makes it noticeably amplified \u2013 and therefore good quality elements are necessary.<\/p>\n<p>A subset of this found in some older churches is the <strong>\u201cSpeech-quality\u201d system<\/strong>, which is a set of mics and speakers that focus on the characteristics of the spoken word. Some people try to use this kind of system for music but the results are always horrible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Balancing system<\/strong> is the solution when you have a loud instrument (organ, or drum set, for instance) and you need to get the other contributors to a similar volume. It\u2019s only supposed to set things right, not to add effects. Use this to get a really cool \u201cunplugged\u201d texture to your music.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Production system<\/strong> is the kind of system that becomes an \u2018instrument\u2019 in its own right. This is what many people want when they are trying to emulate the sound of popular recorded music; it can add effects and change the sound of instruments and voices. In the right hands, a production system is a wonderful thing, but you really have to know what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the equipment that\u2019s readily available in local stores these days is designed for use in a Production system, and it carries implications and values that are hidden but powerful. It\u2019s designed to make you look and feel like a Rock Star rather than a lead worshipper.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A little reference material.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Microphones<\/strong> are the way sound gets into a system. I like to think of them like light bulbs or flashlights. The kind that\u2019s like a light bulb is often used (in pairs) for a choir; wherever the light would shine, the sound is picked up.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, some mics are like a flashlight \u2013 you use them close, and where the beam would be brightest, the voice or instrument is picked up most efficiently..<\/p>\n<p><strong>Feedback<\/strong> occurs when the microphone can hear the sound coming out of the speakers. The squealing is produced by that sound going through the system repeatedly. Turn the speaker volume down, or (move or) point the mics away from the speakers to cure this problem.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Foldback<\/strong> is a system (separate from the sound system facing the listeners) that is set up to allow the musicians and singers to hear how they sound.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amplifiers<\/strong> receive the signal from microphones and make the sound louder. They generally send their signal to <strong>speakers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>mixer<\/strong> is necessary to take various signals from microphones and instruments, adjust them to sound musically balanced and send the result to the amplifier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=2022&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0North Park University\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship. One of the most common questions that arises in discussions of our churches music and worship ministry is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical-arts","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Making a Sound Investment - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/06\/making-a-sound-investment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making a Sound Investment - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0North Park University\u00a0in Chicago. 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