"Working with Ministries to Sound Their Best"
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Eagle Sound and Acoustics
"Working with Ministries to Sound Their Best" |
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EAGLE NOTE 103
ELIMINATING THE TOP THREE PROBLEMS IN YOUR CHURCH "It's too loud!" "It's too hot!" "It's too cold!" "It's so hard to find a parking space!" Too many times, these are the words pastors, board members and sound technicians hear service after service. It is a story that is being repeated in churches nationwide. In fact, after an extensive survey of over 500 churches, the top three areas which received the most complaints were sound, heating and cooling, and parking. What does this mean to you? If you are planning to build a new facility, these items should be high on your list. First, let's look at sound. If you are constructing a new facility, there are several elements to consider in minimizing or eliminating sound problems. Three of the easiest considerations to address are room shape, room noise and construction materials. Once these details are taken care of, you will be well on your way to a better sounding church. Keep in mind no amount of money spent on sound equipment can fix poor room acoustics, but good room acoustics can make a budget system sound great. The first step in dealing with the acoustics of a room is the shape. Each room shape will have different acoustic qualities. Shapes to avoid are square, round or oval rooms. The other major consideration is the materials used in construction. The best room shape coupled with the wrong construction materials will still equal bad acoustics. All great sounding churches have a balanced mix of hard and soft surfaces. Where these surfaces are matters tremendously. Each surface must to be planned for a specific response-such as reflecting or absorbing sound-in the worship space. This is very similar to designing an instrument. Remember: begin with an acoustic design and construct the facility with acoustics as a primary objective. The only reason acoustics would ever cost extra is because they were added after the architect completed the initial work: The second most common complaint in most churches concerns the heating and air conditioning (HVAC). It seems like it's either too hot or too cold and too noisy. Why is it the heating and air conditioning in a church is always such a problem? It is because a churches heating and cooling needs are unique. Look at a typical 500 seat church with an average attendance of 350 people. On a typical Sunday morning, the church sanctuary will go from having virtually no one in it to being occupied by 350 people-all in less than fifteen minutes. What a shock to the heating and cooling system! When these people start singing, large amounts of humidity and hot air are added to the mix. As the singing progresses the room begins to get hot and the humidity increases. This causes the air conditioner to begin cooling the room. When the singing is over and everyone is seated for the sermon, the heating and cooling system tries in vain to catch up. Most systems cannot, and the room continues to get warmer. Even in winter climate areas, churches are often cooling their worship spaces in mid service. What other building has this problem? The reality is, a properly sized and designed HVAC system for a church is really a low cost item to operate. One note is the HVAC system should never introduce noise into the room. Basically if you can hear the system so can the microphones. A microphone amplifies any noise it hears. Making the system quiet only requires better planning and engineering. Finally, the parking lot always seems to be too small. Why is that? There are two factors which can cause this problem. These factors are underestimation of needed space, and cost overruns in other construction areas. In the past, families came to church together in one car. Not so today! Now families drive two or more vehicles to any given service effectively doubling or even tripling the space required for parking. Careful planning is also essential in making sure the parking lot is not a "corner which gets cut" when the construction budget gets tight. If folks cannot find a place to park, they will not be coming through your doors. In the end, you must keep in mind:
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14643 Big Sandy Valley Rd • Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 Phone 205.758.7314 • Fax 1.866.529.4747 |