The Perfect Sounding Room
by Phil on Nov.11, 2009, under Blog
Let me ask you a question. What do you think of the sound of your room? What I want to know is how you think it sounds when you turn off the sound system. Have you heard an acoustic piano or drum kit played in the room while you sit in the seats and just listen? How about the voices of a choir, sans amplification? I’m guessing very few of you would say it sounds very good. Walk into any church and there’s a better than 50% chance you’ll find some kind of acoustic treatment on the walls, in the ceiling, under the stage, etc. If you’ve added these at your church, let us know if you noticed a big difference or not. I tend to find these treatments as band-aids, not resolutions.
Room design is so much bigger than just putting up padded panels on the walls. Don’t get me wrong. I do understand that if your room is going to be a gymnasium, concert hall, banquet facility AND a sanctuary, then it makes sense to use a rectangle room made up of concrete and drywall.
The problem occurs when you pump a mediocre mix into a bad-sounding room. Then, the bad sounds seem to get amplified. Also, a rectangle room can sound very uneven, so even if your mix sounds great while you’re sitting at the board way back in the corner, elevated in the enclosed booth listening through a 2-foot window, that doesn’t mean it sound great to everyone else.
Let me give you some thoughts to keep in mind about how your room sounds. A good sounding room is symmetrical, but has no parallel surfaces. I’m guessing making that change is not in the cards for you to make by this Sunday.
Just know that the corners of your building are going to sound boomy. Have you ever stood close to the back wall while the band is playing? You tend to feel the low end a lot more. Those low waves are hitting you, bouncing off the wall and hitting you again a millisecond later, so, you are feeling it twice.
If you’re thinking you need to carpet the walls, stuff fiberglass in the ceiling and get fluffier pews and throw up some panels, remember this. Absorption is not the answer. It may be part of the solution, but it’s not the goal. Diffusing the sound gives a more natural sound and can be used along with absorption.
Hollow surfaces, like your 2×4 and plywood stage, will resonate low end. If you sound booth is elevated the same way, you’ll probably create a thinner mix, because you’re feeling much more low end than the congregation is hearing.
Always remember to mix for the people. Get out and listen to how your mix sounds where they are. If you aren’t moving away from the sound board every couple of minutes, you have room to improve.
November 12th, 2009 on 9:45 pm
So, given that a sanctuary redesign is out of the question (because it was just built), and acoustical treatment is only a band-aid, then what do you suggest? Our super-echoey sanctuary is killing me, and it’s going to take some effort to convince the Pastor that those ugly panels are worth the money and effort.
December 14th, 2009 on 12:21 pm
“So, given that a sanctuary redesign is out of the question (because it was just built), and acoustical treatment is only a band-aid, then what do you suggest?”
Find the people who approved the sanctuary design and left acoustical treatment out of the budget and give them a smack on the head.
Our church went through this exact issue. Our “sanctuary” is a giant square that ultimately is going to be our dining hall. The original plans had acoustic panels along all the walls and up in the choir loft. In order to squeeze the budget, some bright person(s) decided to drop the acoustical treatments. The room sounded HORRIBLE!!! A few weeks later at great expense, panels were put on the back walls and in the choir loft.
Also, there are active measures you can take. I don’t have a link at the moment, but there are companies that sell room treatment sound systems – the speakers generate “negative sound” to cancel out all the echos, etc. You can actually tune the room to how you want it to sound.
When you have a cut, you need a band-aid. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than bleeding to death.
November 13th, 2009 on 2:47 pm
Try re-aiming the FOH speakers so the sound is directed at the congregation and floor and not the back and side walls. This is when vertical linear speaker arrays come in handy. If you are using stage monitor speakers, re-aim them also so they are not bouncing sound off the wall at the rear of the platform and into the auditorium. The delay in this bouncing sound will cause an echo for the congregation. Eliminating the stage monitor speakers will help in reducing echo and lowering stage volume.
November 30th, 2009 on 10:49 pm
I think it’s great that you addressed room acoustics as one of your first posts. So many churches overlook this when they are building a new worship space. I’m sure that many people have witnessed a less than great system that sounds amazing in a well designed room. At the same time, some incredibly advanced systems sound like trash when put in a poor environment. The real key is to find the balance between form, function and budget. You also need to look at the various activities that will take place in the room. A highly reverberant room is great when you have a choir or organ music but can destroy speech intelligibility. Also, a dead room will work well with contemporary (loud) music but everything else may sound lifeless. If your church is getting ready to build, do yourself a favor and hire an A/V consultant to work with you and your architect. A little planning on the front end will save you lots of money and headaches later on.
I’m sure that all of the room in heaven will have perfect acoustics! Until then, we’ll have to work with what we’ve got.