Finding the ideal music volume for a congregation can be hard, especially when you’re new to live audio production. On today’s podcast, Chris Huff and Brian Gowing talk about all of the facets of volume, in live church audio production, and their tricks to find that perfect volume. They cover sound meter usage, the importance of measuring sound throughout a room, volume complaints, and share their methods for finding that right volume no matter the type of church.
Chris and Brian start the show talking about things going on in their production world, including Shure rechargeable batteries, Alclair in-ear headphones, and a possible event on the horizon. Jump to the 7:35 mark if you want to skip it.
Resources:
- How to Find the Perfect Volume – The MASSIVE BLOG POST
- Alclair In Ear Monitors
- Shure Rechargeable Batteries
- Galaxy Audio CM140 SPL Meter
- Decibel Meter Pro (App)
- Dayton Audio iMM-6 Calibrated Measurement Microphone
Other Ways to Listen to the podcast:
Tom says
March 9, 2018 at 2:54 amJust a comment with regards to dB and percieved doubling of volume. 6 dB is a doubling of sound pressure, but you need closer to 10dB difference for a percieved doubling of volume.
Siamize says
March 9, 2018 at 1:31 amI’d just back up Brian’s comment about moving the volume (at about 48:45) to add dynamics to the songs. I use the master fader as it’s much more effective and easier to remember where you started from/your baseline. It is also amazingly surprising how this can affect the worship team including musician to play more dynamically. By careful movement you can pull a song down (even praise/up beat) song, it then give room to build the song back up again. It give the congregation time to ‘breath’ as such. I will mention that you really have to work with the team on stage and if they are consciously trying to build up a song, don’t work against them. However, if they aren’t really trying to add the dynamics consciously, they will all most 100% follow your lead. To be honest, the range I use can be up to – 10 dB to +6dB from my baseline. However, use sensitivity to the congregation level of engagement (ie. the section prior to 48:45). With regards to the normal dB level of a service, Brian’s comments about consciously watching the congregation’s level of engagement is the NUMBER ONE way to determine what level you should be at – be they youth concert style or oldies with hymns.
Another comment I would like to make is that typically the close to the stage/speakers is overall louder than away from the speakers. It seems like common sense however in many many situation (including secular concerts/show) the sound booth and sound engineer are further away from the stage/speakers than any of the congregations/audience. This affect two thing in a HUGE way: #1. the overall dB level & #2. the High/Low balance of perceive hearing due to the difference in sensitivity of our ears to High & Low frequency sounds. This second point is typically overlooked/unknown to most. I would strongly suggest getting out of the sound booth (at least during practice if not during the service/show) and checking out how it sound as you move towards the speakers. I’ve had ‘complainers’ come back the the sound booth, and when they’ve got there, they’re like, “Oh, it sounds alright here”. So just be aware that you aren’t mixing so it sound good in the sound booth (ie. for yourself) – you are there for the overall average of the congregation/audience.
David Keller says
March 8, 2018 at 2:16 pmNot a real good explanation on C vs A weighting. To simplify A weighting starts around 500 hz so it doesn’t factor in low end. C is full frequency. A weighting is used more for legal applications of volume for live concerts and machinery. Why anyone would use A weighting for a full band doesn’t make sense to me. The only thing it could be good for is maybe looking at how loud your mids and highs are especially since our ears our most sensitive in the 1 kHz to 5 kHz. But to not factor in the low end in measuring SPL is just nonsensical.
Your explanation of our low end hearing was actually backwards. Our ears are actually less sensitive to low frequencies (not more sensitive as you said) which is why both loudness curves show that low end has to be louder for us to perceive it as flat. The whole point of those curves is to show what our ears perceive as flat…that lows have to be higher for us to hear it as flat. However, You were right in saying that our ears hear 80 db at 1 kHz as about the same volume as 100 Hz at 90 db which shows that our ears are less sensitive to the lows. The curves also show how our ear compress the lows at higher volumes. There are times when you need to drop the low end levels when you push the overall volume.
When it comes to overall volume there are many factors such as the preferences of your congregation sometimes based on average age. To me it’s important to have it loud enough that people can be energized and feel comfortable singing. This also factors in the volume of the congregational singing. I do music for a small prayer group where we actually run with professional recorded music around 90 – 95 db C weighted. I’ve run sound for a group around 800 where the sweet spot was around 100 db to 102 db C weighted. It also has to be mentioned the difference between a concert and church worship which really should have different volume standards.
Siamize says
March 8, 2018 at 5:48 pmWell commented on David (A vs C rating & ear sensitivity) … I’d have to agree totally.
Some other comments I would also add would be that larger sized rooms need more ‘measured’ low end vs ‘measured’ high end to sound the same (ie balanced) to our ears as the same replay of a recording played in a small room/car. Why … I believe it has to do with the reverberation of low frequencies ‘tricking’ measuring instruments but our ears add the reverberations. Not entirely sure but it is a definite and well documented effect.
The other effect I would also like to comment on is with regards to the room size and the measured volume vs perceived volume. In a smaller room/car, recorded playbacks at a particular ‘measured’ volume are perceived as louder than if it were played back at the same ‘measured’ volume in a larger room/auditorium. Again, I am lead to think that this is also related to the reverberation effect. This leads to the point regarding when a room feels ‘energized’. You can energize a small room at less ‘measured’ volume (ie. dBs) as it requires more ‘measured’ dBs to energize a large room/auditorium to the same perceived energization level. Again, I’m not entirely sure why but it is a definite and well documented effect … try it yourself.
I think that all this is just an amazing indication of how awesome of our creator and God was when he created the universe because he knows all this stuff and designed it and us to work this way … and that he’s still just as awesome today.
Siamize says
March 8, 2018 at 5:54 pmJust to clarify … I think i muddled up the first comment above …
For a recorded playback to sound balanced, larger rooms need less ‘measured’ low end, and smaller rooms need more ‘measured’ low end. This is due to the longer reverberation times of low frequencies, and our ears add the additional low frequency sounds up better than a ‘measuring’ device.