Mike's Space

My response to an interesting debate I came across on a Hannah's blog...

Firstly a bit of background about myself so you can see where I'm coming from...

Played trumpet for 19 years
Grade 8 Trumpet (and grade 5 music theory)
Have played in classical orchestras, big bands, jazz bands, worship groups, covers bands etc
Currently play with One Nation (http://www.onenationlive.com/)

but also...

Over 10 years experience in PA and live sound engineering - both in churches and secular scene
PA operator at all churches I have ever attended!
In charge of PA/technical whilst at Warwick CU
In charge of PA at previous church
Co-founder of AM-Sound (www.AMSound.co.uk)

The issue of volume and musical styles during worship (and indeed in the secular live-music scene) is such a contentious issue and I think if we're realistic we're never going to please everyone... and in a way - does that matter? Why do churches offer different styles of service on a Sunday? - It is because a child-friendly, family service might not suit some, a quiet meditative communion service might not suit another... We are all very different people and have different personalities and I think should be able to worship (the same) God in different ways too. At Greenbelt last year, I noticed they were also offering services of Ska worship and even Goth worship!

Now firstly let's establish this: Worship is about far more than music - your whole life should be worship to God (some of you may have seen the Foundations21 discipleship course DVD where in the interview I very briefly talk about this idea). However - at the moment we're talking about using music as a form of worship... We also need to establish the fact that: (as Rick Warren puts it) “Worship is not for your benefit” - You see the real reason for "worship" is us giving something to God - our affirmation, praise etc - it is not about us getting something out of the worship time. Whilst we have (sometimes very) defined musical tastes and preferences - I don't think God has a favourite musical style – after all he invented it all - if we offer it to God - it is an act of worship. Our preference for one worship style over another is more about our personality, background and experience than it is about God. Indeed - is there such a thing as "Christian music"? - Sure, you can have Christians playing music, but is it not the words that convey the Christian message?

Now I'd say I have pretty eclectic music tastes, but I'm not that into thrash metal - so I would not go to a thrash metal night at a club. However that's not to say that thrash metal night shouldn't happen - there are others who do like that music and will attend and enjoy it. I can't say that thrash metal is "wrong" because that's just my opinion.

Why did that club put on a thrash metal night? Presumably because there was a call for it from the customers. As a church it's not that different - the leadership team and worship leaders are there to help the congregation to worship God. The way in which this is decided is mostly determined by the sorts of people in that congregation. (sweeping generalisation alert!)… A church full of old people is mostly likely to prefer more traditional hymns with an organ and choir, whereas a church made up of mostly younger people are more likely to want guitar, or worship band-led music. Where this becomes difficult is when the church contains a broad cross-section of society and ages (as is often the case). Leaders then have the delicate (indeed, impossible) task of trying to please everyone, and the only solution is to offer variety so that most of the congregation will find something that helps them in their worship. There is also obviously a right time for quiet, reflective, prayerful songs and loud songs of praise. But it is the responsibility of the worship leader to lead the congregation through their time of worship and pick music that is suitable. If you are not happy with the direction or style of the worship in your church, then the first thing you should do is talk it through with a church leader or worship leader - otherwise how will they know that people are or are not happy? I don't think there's anything wrong with using new technologies to help us to worship God, but as soon as that technology gets in the way of our worship it's not right. Ultimately if you're still finding the direction your church is moving in a problem, and no compromise is possible, you may be happier (and more importantly - be able to continue to grow in your relationship with God) at a different church.

Onto the issue of volume... why do we need to have a PA system at all? The answer is to allow all the congregation to hear everything clearly. In a small group meeting, we are all close enough together that our voices don't need any amplification, however, as the size of the room and the number of people needing to hear increases, we start to need some sort of sound reinforcement. Jesus, when the crowds he was speaking to got too big, would often get into a boat on the water and position it a small distance from the crowd on the shore. Experts have suggested that he did this because open water is a natural amplifier of sound (not strictly true, but like a large stone cathedral, the water surface does allow the sound to travel further and thus be heard by more people).

The acoustics of a traditional church building are designed to allow the sound to reverberate around the building and be heard by all without additional amplification - however this does result in a very mushy sound lacking in intelligibility... hence the reason most of traditional services was chanted by the priest or choir... the words were often the same week to week so it didn't really matter if you couldn't make out what they were always saying. These days the service style has changed - sermons are often interactive, in-depth bible studies requiring everyone to be able to hear everything - intelligibility is the key - and a large reverberant space is now less useful! Some sort of sound reinforcement is required - not necessarily to increase volume, but to get an even distribution of the sound - however, to achieve this greater intelligibility, you'd have to get the sound coming from the speakers louder than the reverberant sound bouncing around the building - hence a slight increase in volume is often required.

I should point out that a well designed PA system should deliver an evenly distributed level of sound to all the congregation. If there are areas in the building that are significantly louder than others (you often hear stories of those in the front rows finding the volume uncomfortably loud whilst those at the back are struggling to hear) then your PA system has not been specified, installed and/or set-up correctly.

When we come to more modern music styles we have human voices, acoustic instruments, electronic instruments and drum kits(!) in a band and needing to be balanced to achieve a musical mix, as you would expect to hear on a CD for example. Again, primarily we are only intending to reinforce the sound - however, the vocalists will probably require more reinforcement than the drum kit - but you can see that the base volume we can work with is the loudest thing in the band (often the drum kit) - the minimum we can do is bring everything else up to the same volume to achieve a balanced sound - if the resulting volume is too loud, we need to take other steps to reduce the volume at the source (eg. lighter drum sticks, acoustic drum screens, electronic drum kits etc).

However, in my experience excessive volumes are not often a real problem in churches - you try doing sound for over enthusiastic rock bands in small pub gigs and then come and talk to me about excessive volumes (105dBC @ FOH from an acoustic drum kit anyone?!) The more usual problem in churches is poorly distributed sound as discussed earlier and also poor-quality sound at medium volumes - this is something that Al and I have proved a number of times now by taking something decent like our main Martin Audio PA rig into a church or venue that is used to a couple of small wall-bracket mounted speakers. Whilst the Martin rig might not be the most compact PA solution around(!) we've usually managed to convert even the most sceptical of organisers by providing a proper full-range sound without even a hint of the sound being strained or harsh. What you often find with cheaper speakers and other PA components is that they'll sound acceptable at moderate volumes, but as soon as you start to push them, the frequency response and sound quality just falls apart. That's what gives you that horrible harsh, sound you often find in clubs and bars where the DJ is red-lining their mixer and ragging the venue's poorly-set up and spec-ed PA system - and that's what leaves your ears ringing when you get home. It is actually quite possible to listen to very high sound pressure levels without damaging your ears - one of the reasons you get so much bass at gigs these days - bass doesn't hurt your ears, so you can be louder without hurting people.

As I've already discussed, getting the volume levels right in church is a tricky one - the Church and Place of Worship PA forums are full of questions like "How many dB should I be getting during the worship time?" At a secular gig, the punters are there to hear the band and you'd be surprised how much PA volume is needed to ensure the band can still be heard clearly with people screaming, shouting and singing along. A conference on the other hand just needs the presenter's voice to be intelligible in all areas of the room. Churches are difficult because you have to ensure the preacher can be heard clearly when speaking normally over the sound of the odd baby crying or children talking without their voice becoming too overbearing. When it comes to the worship time it's even more difficult. Not only are you trying to get all instruments and vocalists balanced, there is a very fine balance for the sound guy between giving enough volume to give the congregation the confidence to sing up and giving too much so that the worship becomes a performance. This is an issue I've spoken to a few pro sound guys about - one in particular often runs the FOH desk at the main worship events in the Big Top at Minehead's Spring Harvest. He told me that he was always slightly wary of simply giving them a bit more volume because you ran the risk of the worship time becoming more of a performance. As you've found out, music can be very effective in controlling/changing people's emotions. It's a tough one to call, but at the end of the day, we have to make a judgement as to whether we are helping the people to worship effectively and sincerely, or basically making people feel excited/touched and turning the time into a performance by the music group - such as the euphoria that is felt at a concert or gig. We must be careful to guard against manipulation of the congregation.

Now what you will find is that unlike any other live music event, the congregation at church is made up an extraordinary cross-section of the community and age range. You'll have some there on Sunday morning that only the night before were standing next to a massive speaker stack at a Drum & Bass club and others who rarely even have background music playing at home. Obviously each person will have their own opinions as to how loud something is - Additionally, everyones' ears are different so our perception of how something sounds will also differ. There are interesting graphs (eg The 1937 Fletcher – Munson Equal Loudness curves and the 1956 Robinson - Dadson Equal Loudness Curves) around that show how the average human ear differs in sensitivity over the audible frequency range. Obviously the sensitivity drops away below about 120Hz and above about 12kHz, but there is typically a peak around 3 to 4kHz frequencies – nb. this is the frequency range that sounds nasty, harsh and hurt your ears in that nasty club/pub system - however it is also approximately the frequency range the consonant sounds of the human voice have a lot of energy in (vowels typically cover slightly lower frequencies) - and so this 3 to 4kHz range peak is actually quite important for the purposes of intelligibility and clarity - another balancing act for you!

Traditional churches were designed before PA systems, so their acoustics are designed to allow the un-amplified speaking or singing voice to be carried through the building. Unfortunately this is almost exactly opposite to what is required for modern worship styles with amplified voices and instruments so we have a bit of a fight on our hands. Proper acoustical analysis, system installation, optimisation and control systems are things that I'm yet to have read enough about and get practical experience in apart from to realise that there's a lot more to think about than EQ. However, often the acoustics of the building are beyond our control and the system's already in place with no budget available to make significant changes so we have to do our best to get the most pleasing sound we can. My experience has been that you need to get the volume up to a level that allows people to sing confidently so they can concentrate on worshiping rather than having to think about singing or struggling to keep in time or tune etc. Think about the instruments you have in the music group and each of their frequency ranges. Rather than having everything fighting for the same chunk of aural space, a technique that is sometimes used in recording studios and also live, is to, if you can imagine, almost tessellate the sounds so they are not fighting each other. For example your guitar and piano might occupy a similar range of frequencies, and so you may find that by turning both up, you just end up with a mush of indistinguishable noise. It may be that a slight notch around 5kHz in the piano and a corresponding boost on the guitar is just enough to allow each to be clearly heard together. When you think about it, this actually happens naturally in a well put together band anyway - the instruments are chosen to give a full frequency range sound - or consider the classic SATB 4-part choir - each part doing their thing, but because they're not all fighting for the same space in the frequency range, you get well balanced distinguishable music. That's the fun thing about PA - the more you get into it, the more you realise there is more to learn!