The missing part of your sound system                                                                   To Home Page

Too many people are focused on the name brands of equipment and the price when it comes to purchasing a sound system. That includes buyers and salespeople. This is understandable because these are the elements that most people can see and touch.

When a person walks into a church and looks at a sound system all they tend to see are the speakers, microphones, amplifiers, mixers, and the other hardware. They immediately see Electrovoice, JBL, products for example, hear the system, think it sounds good, and then asks the owner what they paid. The assumption is that if they buy exactly what is in this church it will sound good in their church. Not so! I have been designing and installing sound systems for years and have NEVER installed the same one! NEVER.

The reason is 90% of a successful sound system is what you can't see. That is the art of sound system design. It is the art of masterfully integrating your sanctuary acoustics, the needs or your ministries, the available equipment on the current market, and the available budget to come up with a design that will perform the way you are going to expect. This process is completely different for every church. There is NO one sound system to fit all. There is NO one name brand that works the best. There is NO means of getting a $30,000 sound for $15,000. There is NO means of putting a band aid on a bad designed system to make it pickup the choir better or the drama.

The following chart shows what goes on in the mind of our system designers during a design and quoting process. Miss or short change anyone of these steps and your sound system quality is directly affected. On the right hand side is a reference to what is usually left out by other contractors as evidenced by installations that we have redone. We always ask was this or that done by the previous contractor just to make sure we didn't miss anything, so we know these observations are accurate.

When you get a quote on a Cathedral Sound System you can be assured that it will sound great. We don't miss anything. We design for performance and results.

 

Here is a complete list of what we consider to be parts of a valid sound system quotation

Component Key points Considered important by:
(evidenced by comments
from our customers)

Your ministries as a group		   Cathedral Sound

Other "system designers"
  1. Sound tracks
  2. Instruments
  3. Soloists
  4. Persons speaking
  5. Choirs - adult, youth, children
  6. Drama or special productions
  7. Radio - TV
  8. Tape outreach
  9. Guest music groups
 All of your varied ministries place different levels of demands on sound system performance. The easiest is tracked music and the most difficult is drama and children's ministries. Your goals of your ministries must be thoroughly explored before any meaningful sound system design can begin Yes  
 
The talent of your ministries Picking up the strong voice of a well spoken pastor will be easy compared to picking up the timid voices of a volunteer drama team. The talent directly affects the quality required of your sound system. Yes  
       
The ears of your music director, choir members and musicians These are trained ears and they expect to hear quality. This is a crucial point when the music director wants a certain sound. It's extremely important for these gifted members to feel confident during a musical performance. How they hear will determine how they want the sound system adjusted, hence what the audience will hear. If they know they don't sound good, it's hard for them to keep an optimistic spirit during the performance or worship service. And it shows. Yes  
       
The microphones Every ministry requires a different type of microphone specifically designed for that application. You can't use a vocal mic to pick up the choir! You have to know what mic works the best in any given application Yes

Yes
       
Connections from the platform to the sound mixing location Length of cabling and routing is important for minimal noise and interference Yes  
       
Placement of mixing location
  1. Height of mixer
  2. Space required
  3. Noise from air conditioning returns nearby
  4. Road noises
  5. Electrical noises
  6. Isolation from audience
  7. Annoyances from audience onlookers
  8. The acoustics of the sound booth itself
 Mixing sound is a serious art. The mixer must be located in such a way to minimize annoyances from onlookers and audible noises that can interfere with sound mixing Yes

Yes

Physical location only with no consideration for mixing of sound
       
The ears of the sound tech The sound system will sound no better than the ability of the sound tech to hear not only sound in general, but specifically how to mix music. A sound system should be designed with as much latitude as possible to allow for a variety of trained and untrained ears in this department. This is often the weakest link in the success of any sound system. Yes  
       
The electronics The choice of amplifiers and control electronics though important is not as critical for the average sound system as it once was. It's more important to know how the units are connected and set up. Tuning a sound system is an art form done by someone with years of developing highly critical and tuned ears. Instrumentation though helpful in roughing in a tuning, it's still up to the art of the sound to get it sounding good. Yes



Yes

 
       
The main speaker systems The main speaker systems is the key element in a successful installation. They MUST be chosen perfectly to match your sanctuary acoustics for the best sound and coverage of your seating. The speakers must also be able to handle any dynamic music reproduction or sound effects. Yes

considered only in broad terms, will often point to a "software design" package that purports to specify the correct design
       
The room acoustics It is impossible to begin selecting the speaker systems until a detailed study of the sanctuary acoustics is completed. We must know how the sound is going to behave in the room before the correct or best fit speaker systems can be employed. Often acoustical treatment is required to fix room problems that can affect sound quality. The acoustics determines which brand or type of speaker will work the best. It's NOT the other way around. Yes  
       
Speaker placement - where they are needed vs. where they look the best according to the architect or building and grounds Speakers are chosen to be placed where they will sound the best. Sometimes that's not where other people think they look the best. You must make a decision if you want sound quality or the best looks if there's no way to build in the speaker systems otherwise. The physics of sound have no clue about room decor. Speakers located in the wrong acoustic place will change the sound of the system and will lower the quality of the sound. Yes  
       
Who is doing the listening? This is definitely a grossly overlooked part of a lot of sound systems. People with good hearing automatically assume that everyone in the building hears as well as them or either figure those that don't are a minority and don't count. Everyone that attends should be able to hear clearly. Otherwise, what's the point! A system design must cover every seat with easy to understand distinct sound, especially for the hearing impaired. This is extremely important for choir, drama, and children's ministries. Yes  
       
The person writing up your sound system quote Yes, the person writing up your quote is definitely part of your sound system, because this person is going to directly affect every level of quality throughout the system. Are you getting what you really need? Are you getting too much? Are you being sold what they think you can be sold instead of what you need? Do they really understand what is needed in church ministry? Do they have a full scope of the available products on the market? Have they ever actually set behind a mixing console and mixed for a production? Do they have a trained set of ears? And the list goes on. Yes  
       
The budget The budget directly affects the sound quality and flexibility of your system. If what you truly need costs $30,000 and you can only afford $20,000, something has to go. You'll have to decide if picking up the children's choir or drama is a luxury or a necessity. Keep in mind you can find people that can beat a price on anything. But, you always give up quality. You don't go to McDonald's looking for a steak. I can't tell you how many times we've lost jobs because the guy down the street was cheaper only to get a call 3 years later to come redo the system. However, we believe in being realistic when it comes to your available budget and what we think you need to further your ministries. It may be possible to install your system incrementally by installing the core components first, then adding options as your budget allows. However, if what we feel you really need is just beyond any means for us to install it within your budget, we will pass up your installation. We refuse to sell something we know won't work even if it would pad our banking account. It's just not good business.  More about the true cost of owning a sound system for ministry. Yes  
       
The buyer or committee This is also a real part of your sound system. What usually happens is several contractors are asked to quote on a system. The level of experience in sound system design ranges from the local band member, the local electronics wiz, the "we'll beat anybody's price" dealer, the local music store, and on up to the seasoned professional. All quotes are miles apart with all types of suggested ways of installing it and with reasons why this or that is the best way. The buyer is faced with the chore of sorting out the best quote without knowing anything about sound system engineering, plus there's no real way to evaluate any of the proposals since you can't hear anything until the system is completed. It's essentially a little more than a shot in the dark. Even with references of the prospective contractors 3 feet long there's still no guarantee that YOUR system is going to sound good. There is a way if you click here. But, realize that the choice the buyer or committee makes by traditional means will mean success or failure. Yes  
       
The tuning As previously mentioned, designing and tuning a sound system is an art form. It's not about a list of equipment. An $85,000 Steinway grand piano is worthless without proper tuning and someone that can play it despite all of the best machining in the world at the factory that built it. The person that tunes the system and trains your operators to get the most out of it is another extremely important part of your sound system. Yes  
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