I was listening to some classic music today. I don’t mean classical music, but some stuff from the 60′s. I was admiring the sound of the drums, and it got me thinking about most of the drums I see and hear at churches. Drums seem to be the enemy of a lot of church audio volunteers. They try to tame the drums by confining them to cages, putting tape all over the heads, and telling the drummer to use small sticks and play ‘jazz’ style. Let me offer a different approach to the drums.

This weekend I’m out doing a couple shows in Indiana. Last night we were in an old theater (as in movie theater- see the screen behind the stage?) in a college town, and I just want to tell you about the audio set up, what I liked/ didn’t like about it, and what could have been improved. It’s not my intent to insult anyone here. In fact, the theater took good care of us. The local radio station was there in support. And, the crowd seemed to have a good time. I, on the other hand, wasn’t the happiest camper.

One problem I encounter in churches, is the sound engineer never moving out from behind the board. It should not be a surprise that most churches (and a lot of clubs I’ve run sound in too, unfortunately) have horrible ‘sound booth’ placement. So, if you’re under a balcony, in the back corner of the room, and inside a closet, and the sound is PERFECT from where you sit, you must have done a great job compensating for the bad acoustical enviornment where you are, but what about the rest of the room? Is the congregation being subjected to bad audio and holding your responsible?