Designing and Installing a High Quality Sound System

A Creative Worship Audio Project that

Transformed Music and Ministry at Faith Baptist Church​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

Welcome to the first post of the Creative Worship Audio blog and thank you so much for your continued support of my work, it means the world to me. I’m excited to share with you highlights from my journey blending passion and expertise as an audio engineer and some of the projects I get to work on. I also hope to feature tips for enhancing your sound systems and to explore how quality sound can elevate worship and ministry.

 

The Need for an Upgrade: Why Faith Baptist Church Needed a New System ​

Shortly before Christmas, I got a call from Pastor Matt at Faith Baptist Church in Decatur, TX. A common contact had highly recommended me to help his church with a major problem. Their antiquated sound system was finally falling apart and was unintelligible to congregants during services. During worship, the singers were better off acapella than adjusting to the system sound. As a result of a power surge, the board was damaged beyond repair. Their AV technician, Bill, was able to rig up their old, previously broken mixer to get them by.  They needed a new system so they could  get back to clear and beautiful worship and easy listening during services.
The pastor also made it known to me that he was unhappy with the current inputs all being on flush-mounted plates on the floor of the stage, causing them to fill with dirt and become easily broken. All the inputs being at the back of the stage was also inconvenient. 

On top of that, in previous iterations of the system design, the speakers had never been properly mounted and remained on speaker stands in the corners of the room with the plugs for the speakers halfway up and in the middle of the walls, which was both unsightly to the pastor and congregation and caused poor speaker placement. 
In addition to the problems they were having, the church is getting ready to turn over an exciting new leaf. Faith Baptist prides themselves on their dedication “to strengthening one another and reaching their community and world with the Gospel of Christ.” In accordance with this mission, in addition to stepping up their online presence, they are planning to start a new local radio station that broadcasts their services. For that, they need to be able to record quality sound and easily mix and format it for online and radio. Their existing slides computer was barely up to the task of changing slides, and would not be adequate for recording. In need of a complete overhaul, we discussed which options would be the best fit for their congregation.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

Choosing the Right Solutions: Designing the Best Sound System for the Space

Upon consideration of their existing setup, I would have initially recommended sticking  with a smaller analogue console, due to the church’s low channel count and basic needs. However, upon learning about their aspirations for their online presence and future radio station, we decided to go with a more robust digital mixer, as well as a dedicated recording computer.

With their discussed needs in mind, I did my homework researching equipment for best fit and met with Bill and Pastor Matt  in person to see the space and experience for myself the problems they were having. 
While new speakers weren’t an initial concern, upon testing it was determined that the speakers were a significant detriment to the intelligibility, quality and overall worship ability of the church. Old speakers are not necessarily bad, and it is very much my philosophy to only fix what is broken. But these were clearly broken. 
Determining that the existing cabling would be sufficient for the upgrade, we decided to install a new digital mixer, two computers, one for recording and one for slides and video, new speakers, new stage pocket inputs, and to refresh and organize the sound booth with new matching monitors and a new rack to house the new and existing equipment. 

When it comes to system integration, it’s not about having the nicest pieces of equipment possible, but rather having appropriate equipment that all works together harmoniously. Being conscious of stewarding allocated funds appropriately while engineering a new system, I was able to balance the quality of all system components for the best possible sound. After careful consideration of the church’s needs, the budget, and ease of use for volunteers, I presented them a package of the  following equipment and services:

-For the mixer, a Yamaha TF3 digital console, as through prior experience I knew this would be reliable, intuitive to use, and have the most useful features for their needs without distracting extras. Out of the TF lineup, the TF3 was best because of its intermediate size and onboard channels, giving the church room to grow without further upgrades.
-For speakers, a brand proven for long-term reliability and high-fidelity audio, while still remaining budget-conscious. The RCF ART 912-A powered speakers made a transition from the previous passive speakers to active speakers to improve simplicity and ease of use.

-For the computer system, I specified two Mac Minis, one to handle dedicated multi-track recording using LogicPro from the mixer, and the other for video and slides, handling their presentation software as well as the ATEM video switcher.

-For stage organization, I planned to cut in 2 new floor pockets to support the additional channels, run cables more neatly, and protect the input jacks.

-The speakers were to be hung using wall-mounted speaker stands, as flying the speakers was not feasible due to the building construction. The cables were run through the wall with a plate for the cleanest possible aesthetic.

-Extras I recommended included matching computer monitors mounted on arms for a clean and consistent look throughout the sound booth and to keep the counter free of clutter and increase space, and a 12-space equipment rack to neatly and safely house the computers as well as their existing FOH equipment.

I also measured and selected appropriate length cables for all the booth equipment including USB cables for mouses and keyboards, HDMI cables for the monitors, as well as all other necessary cables to ensure all could be run neatly to the ideal location without excessive slack or being pulled too tightly.

The church agreed that this equipment was best for their needs.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

The Installation Process: Bringing the Vision to Life

I planned to minimize disruption to the church’s normal operations as much as possible, so after discussing with Pastor Matt, we planned for me to begin working on Monday morning, anticipating me being in the sanctuary Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and being able to do an initial trial run for their Wednesday night service.

 

The comfort and cleanliness of the booth space being important to me, I wanted to fit all the equipment in a single rack. Because of the counter height, this meant that the equipment rack could only have 12 spaces. Taking into account the current and new equipment, I mapped out the most user-friendly layout for the equipment in the rack.
We wanted to hang the speakers, but due to the architecture of the ceiling, suspending them wasn’t practical for the scope of this project. We decided to mount them on the wall, which would definitely be a better solution than having them on stands. The problem remained that they would need to be positioned behind the stage, which isn’t ideal. However, thanks to the help of MAPP 3D acoustical modeling software, I was able to deduce the best speaker position to both mitigate feedback and promote the most even dispersion of sound throughout the room. 

 

The first task at hand when I arrived on Monday was to clean out the sound booth. When I arrived Pastor Matt had already begun clearing out some of the unused older equipment that had stacked up over the years in excited anticipation. I continued by completely removing everything from the booth, sorting out the equipment between that which would be reused and that which wouldn’t be reused and throwing away any trash. The church planned to donate unused equipment to a new church plant. With 20 years of use without a makeover, it was satisfying to clean out the dust and dirt from the booth and give it a shiny new start. Placing the first pieces of equipment into the freshly cleaned booth was exciting and getting the equipment laid out as planned went quickly. After that, getting all the wiring run neatly was a challenge.  Integrating the new and existing equipment, everything needed to be neatly organized out of sight, but remain serviceable. Persevering through a mess of wires, I was able to achieve an extremely clean install, including the new mixer, computers, monitors, and all existing equipment.

 

After this, I moved on to mounting the speakers, as this would be a quick task to accomplish within the same day. Ensuring that the speaker brackets were securely anchored, I prioritized a clean appearance, installing a pass-through plate directly behind the speakers to run the wires through the wall and ceiling to the stage rack.

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

A Challenge and a Solution: Overcoming Installation Obstacles 

Next, I cut the stage pockets for the new inputs, which was straightforward in of itself, but led to the main challenge of this install, which was fishing all the wires up through the stage pockets. The analogue snake was coming out of the back wall and the stage pockets were in the front of the stage. There wasn’t easy access under the stage, so it was a puzzle to fish the correct inputs through the appropriate pocket using fish rods. Part of the scope of work was that the existing inputs were flush-mounted across the back of the stage, causing the XLR ports to either fill with dust and debris or break from being stepped on. I removed the jack plates and replaced them with blank plates, which was straightforward in of itself, but when cutting the wire from the jack, it fell under the stage, where it needed to be fished from to the correct location, which proved to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. Fortunately, I discovered that all the wires were long enough to be brought through the small stage access hole that existed, in order to be identified, bundled, and then passed back through the new, correct stage pocket in the front of the stage. After successfully routing the wires, all that was left was to triumphantly solder them into the stage pockets. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​

Final Setup and Testing

Verifying that all of the solder joints were strong, we were able to move on to final testing and setup. I double checked that all the equipment booted up and was functioning properly. Then I labeled, set up and line-checked all the inputs. I ensured that all inputs were going through the Mac Mini into the recording software. I verified the integrity of the acoustics by playing back tracks and pink noise to tune the room and ensure that all audience seating positions were getting consistent sound. Concluding the actual install, I proceeded to pack up my tools, clean up the trash, and prepare all the extra accessories that came with the equipment such as manuals and leftover cables to deliver neatly to Pastor Matt and ensure it was clean and orderly.

 

During the Wednesday night service, I stayed to provide training for the new equipment and to supervise the service to make sure everything went smoothly. Since Wednesday night was a smaller service, I volunteered to return for their Sunday service to make extra sure the volunteers understood how to use the equipment and that everything performed well for the duration of a full service.

 

A Sound Investment for the Future of Faith Baptist Church

When I think of a successful install, I think not of what brands were used, but whether the choices that were made were honoring to God. The money spent is not a number in the budget or even the church’s money, but God’s money. Factors that are important to me include the long-term impact on the church and congregation, facilitating a seamless worship experience, and instilling confidence in musicians and pastors with quality equipment that they know will carry their sound well, even if not necessarily prestigious.

 

The new system sounds amazing and should serve the church well for over a decade or more. The sound is clear and crisp, allowing an excited Bill to mix as he pleases and facilitate a wonderful worship experience. Congregants were overjoyed when they first heard the new sound system, with “ooh”s and “aahh”s filling the room. Pastor Matt noted that some congregants who had been using external devices to help hear the service were no longer using them. The quality of sound is excellent for recording and the church is already able to produce a much better Facebook live feed. Congregants noted that they are now able to focus on worship and on the service and are able to proudly invite others to church, knowing that the sound will no longer detract from the service but enhance it. They are excited to be able to reach out to the community through radio. Since they want the extra separate workspace, I am hoping to return soon to help them set up a studio room to do their radio production in, a simple extension to integrate with the main system.

Contact Lane for Sound System Consultations:

If you need help with your sound system, contact me at

creativeworshipaudio@gmail.com or (972)834-6557.