This post was inspired by several recent events from my personal experience, from online articles and forums plus the recent announcement regarding the Apple Watch app that provides alerts regarding sound levels. In addition I’ve been thinking about some of the articles I read regarding the crowd response to the recent Spice Girls concert in Dublin.
I have been reading a lot of articles about church techs justifying the db levels they run at and how they disregard level concerns brought to them by congregation members. Also there has been a lot of mention about the new watch app coming from Apple. Now I will say there can be justification for disregarding some of concerns church techs receive. Having been at the receiving end myself I can understand the frustration, and so, the Apple app has me interested in seeing how people respond.
Two of my recent personal experiences I had provided the spark that led to this post. My wife and I recently attended two worship concerts at two different venues. We have experienced other worship concerts in the past at both venues. Where and who actually don’t factor into what happened at the two most recent concerts.
Now keep in mind, I did use my iPhone app for personal references and not actual calibration or certification of levels. It is roughly calibrated to the SPL meter I use at work.
At the first concert we were going to see a group that we hadn’t seen in town before but had seen them in concert in a different city; so we had a solid idea of what to expect from both the group and venue. Well, what we got and what we had expected were very different! When the concert started it was not a pleasant mix or good sound quality. The level wasn’t that loud – it was peaking at about 95db, so its was nothing I would normally be alarmed at. The vocals were almost non existent and muddy. The kick drum was mixed and processed so poorly the Sub’s sounded like they were being choked for air as if the ports were plugged solid. The only other instrument that you really could hear was the bass and it was as bad as the kick drum. My wife mentioned to me how loud it was, to which I replied that it actually wasn’t that loud but how poor the mix was. They were trying to get us to worship but we couldn’t hear the words. It was painful! After about an hour we finally had enough and left feeling very fatigued and disappointed.
The second worship concert we recently attended was at a different venue with a different group and we had a totally different experience. I should mention we were about the same distance away from the sound system in both venues. Again we had a good idea of what to expect both from the group and having seen other concerts at the same venue. The mix was well balanced and peeking at about 95db so nothing to be concerned about. We really enjoyed the whole concert and after almost 3 hours we left very uplifted and relaxed and overall enjoyed the experience. The vocals were present and clear, the Sub’s were set properly so you could hear and feel both the kick and bass clearly and just a slight pressure on your chest.
Keep in mind we have been to both venues in the past to other worship concerts and have had very enjoyable experiences.
I have found in the past from my personal experience, that more often than not, the “It’s too loud” complaint is comes from a bad mix more than anything else.
These recent personal experiences reminded me why having a good mix is so vital. I have read in forums that many techs deal with the “It’s too loud” complaint, by just blowing it off, ignoring it or referring to their SPL meter to say,” it’s only …db.” I would suggest that when you get a complaint take the person aside when you have time and ask them what exactly was wrong; even use some leading questions like, “Was (an instrument) too loud?” “Could you hear the vocals?” etc. Detailed feedback makes it possible to address the issue. Now if they don’t or refuse to give details, there is not much you can do about that. I remind people that it’s hard to fix something when you don’t know what is wrong with it.
I am reminded of the scripture “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” 1 Corinthians 14:7,8
Not only is listening to a good mix less fatiguing, it insures your message is heard clearly. That is what we should be striving for all the time.
It seams like sound quality is recently taking a back stage. Sound quality should be the number one priority particularly in the church environment. If you read my previous post I examined how we are created to be auditory communicators. So I find responses like in this article about the poor sound quality at the Spice Girls concert in Dublin very disappointing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48446798
Here is an excerpt:
Sound quality may not have been the top priority for the Spice Girls, says Robb Allan, a veteran sound engineer who mixes concerts for bands like Massive Attack and Radiohead.
“With a huge pop band, quite often the most important thing is the set, it’s the lights, it’s the video, it’s the choreography,” he says.
“So even though we design speaker systems by computer – if we can’t put our speakers in the right place because of video screens, or because of walkways, or the stage, it makes it harder.”
Allan, who’s also a live sound specialist for technology company AVID, points out that the Spice Girls have a particular problem because they spend a large proportion of the show on walkways in the middle of the crowd – putting them in front of the speakers.
“And what happens if you have a microphone in front of a speaker? It feeds back. That’s just basic physics.
“So that’s the challenge in a show like that – the girls are in front of the speakers, they’re dancing, they’re not giving all of their attention to the singing.
“But it’s an old roadie cliché: At the end of the day, nobody goes home humming the lights.”
If we want to get the message out there we need to do everything we can that it can be heard clearly.
Thanks for reading – I hope this post gave you something to think about. Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions you may have or if you have anything you might like me to explore in a future post.
Wide Q 