Between the preaching and hearing stands two elements which can make or break your service, the sound system and a sound person. The two have to work together to get the sound your pastor wants. Last month we dealt with qualifications of a good sound person, so this month we will deal with the sound system.

To understand if you have a good sound system you have to know good sound. What constitutes good sound. There are two constants needed for good sound.

Good sound is:

1. Transparent.

2. Comfortable.

So, what do mean by transparent. What is happening on stage must not take peoples eyes off Jesus. When you look through something that is transparent you can see through it and see what lies beyond. The worship must not impede the congregation from seeing Jesus. And as such sound should be at a comfortable level that everyone can enter into the spirit of the service with no distractions. I try and keep the level at 85 db at the sound console.

Sound must be both comfortable and transparent that you don't realize it is their, it becomes a part of the complete worship experience. With that we have to realize one important point, we as sound people are the ears of the congregation and if we are the ears we are responsible for the hearing of the congregation. For us to accomplish this we have to:

1. Keep the stage level to a minimum, so that we can control the house level. (we will deal with this in a future article)
2. Know your churches worship music so that you will know the mix needed. (feature of next months article How to Mix for Worship)
3. Work with your musicians to make them the most comfortable and great sounding so that they can perform at there best and you can control there sound in the house.

Remember, as sound persons, we are there to serve, working together with the pastorate to give the congregation the greatest worship experience ever and as such glorify God.