THE ROLE OF A CONSULTANT. An acoustic/sound system
consultant is an expert who you hire to design
your church’s acoustics and sound system. Some
consultants specialize in acoustics, while others
specialize in sound system design. Some firms have
people who do both. A consultant needs a good
technical education in this field, and a lot of
experience in designing sound systems for churches and
performance spaces. Most have earned degrees in
acoustics, physics, or engineering. The sound system
consultant needs a solid understanding of both
acoustics and electronics, as well as ongoing
education to keep up with advances in the field.
The acoustic consultant will help your architect
develop the shape and layout of your worship space. He
or she will help choose the room finishes for the
ceiling, walls, floors, to provide the room acoustics,
which are best for your congregation’s style of
worship. Which (if any) floors should be carpeted?
Should there be pew cushions? Where should the choir
be located? The praise band? The organ? The altar? The
sound control desk? The acoustic consultant will also
work with the architect to make sure the church is
quiet (air conditioning systems, elevator motors, door
latches, and the like are of the key concerns). One of
the most important things a good consultant will have
to do is help you make hard decisions during both the
design and budget process. And they must help you
choose between different brands of equipment, and
choose the best sound contractor in your area to sell
and install your system. Put simply, you need expert,
impartial advice. You need to be confident that he or
she is technically correct, and is advising you in
your best interests, not their own. It really is much
better to do it right the first time. And a lot less
costly, in the long run, when you realize that most,
if not all, of the money spent on the first two
systems is wasted!
Here are 17 points a good consultant will do when a
church (or a new sound system for an existing space)
is being designed:
1.
Send a questionnaire to be filled in by the pastor and
by members of the technical and praise and worship
teams. This does two things. It helps the consultant
understand the congregation’s unique needs, and it
gets the team leaders thinking about them in a more
thoughtful way.
2.
Once the questionnaires have been returned, meet with
the respondents and other key members to work through
all the important planning decisions, which can affect
acoustics and audio.
3.
If a new system is to be installed in an existing
space, make acoustic measurements in the space to be
used at the design stage.
4.
Prepare a written report summarizing all of the
decisions reached during the meeting, describing all
of the uses, which will be made of the worship space,
and the functions, which the sound system should
provide, and provide a rough budget for the sound
system.
5.
Work with the architect to get the acoustics right for
the intended uses, and to prevent noise from both
inside (air conditioning systems, motors,
transformers, door latches, footsteps in the hall,
etc.) and outside the building (highways, airplanes)
from intruding into the worship space.
6.
Work with the electrical engineer for the project to
get clean technical power and grounding, so
that
everyday operation of the system is not troubled by
hums and buzzes, and conduit for sound system wiring.
7.
Work with the mechanical engineer for the project to
make sure that air conditioning systems are quiet.
8.
Work with the architect to find good ways to conceal
loudspeakers, either by building them into ceilings
and walls, or by turning them into architectural
elements which don’t look like loudspeakers.
9.
Work with the architect and the congregation on both
shaping and layout of the worship space, so that, for
example, choirs are in a location where they can be
miked without feedback, and that the relationship
between the choir, praise band, organ, and
congregation allows the choir to be heard, without
being overpowered by the praise band or the organ.
10. Design a sound system which provides both good
intelligibility for the spoken Word and clean dynamic
sound for the musical elements of praise and worship,
and which is well balanced throughout the
congregation.
11. Design system elements which provide good sound to
those on the platform.
12. Review architectural, electrical, and mechanical
drawings before they go out to bid to make sure that
things worked out at the design stage actually show up
satisfactorily on the drawings.
13. Help the congregation work through budget issues.
Sound systems nearly always cost more than the
congregation expects or is prepared to pay. Some parts
of the system can usually be deferred and purchased
later, but it’s usually necessary to dedicate more
money to the sound system than was originally planned.
These are sometimes hard decisions, and it’s important
to be working with someone you trust in working
through them.
14. Document the system thoroughly with drawings, a
specification and a make/model specific equipment
list so that it can be competitively purchased from a
good local contractor.
15. Help you find a good contractor to install the
system, and help you either bid or negotiate the
purchase with that contractor.
16. Coordinate with the contractor during the
installation process to make sure things are done
right, and work through the conflicts with other
building elements which inevitably develop in any
major construction project.
17. Once the system is installed and tested, come in
to work with the sound contractor to tune and balance
the system to the worship space, and to verify that
the contractor did his work well.
FINDING A GOOD CONSULTANT.
How
does a church find a good consultant? There is no list
available anywhere. Even if there was a list, the
truth is that our leaders are yet to appreciate the
value of acoustic and sound system consultants in
church building design and sound system acquisition.
There are professional societies, which include many
who specialize in completely unrelated areas of
acoustics/audio engineering. A useful approach is to
go in search of churches with good acoustics and/or
good quality sound systems (provided you are able to
recognize one). The problem with this approach is that
in most churches, the people who were around during
the design and acquisition process and who worked with
the consultant have generally moved on to other
churches by now, and either don’t know who the
consultant was or don’t know enough about how things
went to offer a meaningful opinion. (For example, if
things went badly, is it because the consultant gave
bad advice, or because the consultant’s advice wasn’t
followed?). Finally, interview prospective consultants
to find out how they work. Will they do the things
outlined in this article? Will you be able to make
them understand your needs? Will they be willing to
help you make hard decisions (like spending more money
or changing the room shape), or will they take the
path of least resistance and tell you what you want to
hear? Are they wedded to only a single approach to
things, or are they capable of "thinking outside the
box?" Will they slow down to communicate technical
concepts to you in plain language, or will all of
their explanations fly over your head?
Those in charge of church building projects in Nigeria
are unfamiliar with this terrain of sound system
consultancy. They accept the use of Consultants for
structural, electrical, civil and mechanical
engineering aspects of their church building probably
because they are bound by law to do so. Functionally,
the building to be constructed has everything to do
with sound and acoustics. If every member of the
congregation (irrespective of where they seat in the
auditorium) cannot get the message from the pulpit or
the ministration of the choir clearly and
distinctly, then the purpose for which the
building was constructed has failed.
Without the services of Acoustic Engineers and Sound
System Consultants, it becomes very difficult (if not
impossible) to achieve this desired objective. These
professionals (acousticians and sound system
engineers) must be involved in the church auditorium
project right from inception. They must be
incorporated into the Project Consulting Team along
with other professional colleagues like electrical,
structural, mechanical engineers and architects.
Even the Bible recognizes the excellent relationship
between salvation, preaching, believing, faith,
hearing, the word of God and good SOUND (Romans
10:13-14, 17-18).
To
get it absolutely right, the process for the
acquisition of a sound system for your church must
begin at the same time as the design of the building
itself: NOT a few days before dedication and opening
ceremonies.
(concluded)
