Is a Church Sound Standard Possible? Yes

A universal church sound standard is possible if it is based around performance and based around goals that can be consistently achieved. These performance standards are what every church wants and should have regardless of the denomination or style of worship. Each church, denomination and style or worship may have requirements above and beyond these goals, but there should be a minimum and that minimum is very much a universal requirement.

Did you know that the performance of a church sound system and acoustics can change the weekly attendance of a church up to 25%? There is a direct relationship to church sound, church growth and church health. Universal requirements like coverage and intelligibility cannot be treated an optional or an extra cost. They are a must and should be kept front and center in order for people to hear and understand the message. This is a basic universal requirement for any speech communication in a large room.

The HIS System Standard
The Highly Intelligible Sound System Standard (HIS System)has been refined over the years but there have been a number of performance requirement that will never change. As long as people have ears on the side of their heads and as long as air is the final medium between a sound source and ears, these goals are not optional. Deadspots are not an option. Intelligibility where more than 10% of the words are not heard or understood are not features, they are a barrier between the audience, the ministers and other people trying to deliver God's message. These are the words that can change people's lives.

There are already hundreds or thousands of churches that already meet this HIS Standard.(Highly Intelligible church Sound system Standard. Many also surpass the standard. But they only represent about 10 to 15% of the church community. Some have met the standard by the old hit and miss approach. Some have met the standard by following many of the secular audio community goals and designed by top notch Christian and non Christian audio and acoustical experts.

Having a performance standard, even if it is not perfect and even if some of the goals cannot be met, it give everyone a starting point and an idea of what compromises they may have to live with.

Since 1985 when the HIS System Standard was first put together by a group of contractors and some church leaders (who pulled most of the standards already outlined in most of the audio and acoustical books of the day such as the first edition of Sound System Engineer by Don Davis) the performance requirements have not changed much. Some of the performance requirements are actually unique to churches and have been tested and demonstrated in many churches and have been met consistently in all kinds of spaces.

Since 1985 there has been hundreds of churches who have installed systems that meet the HIS System Standard. Many have been installed by Turn Key Contractors and by DIY (Do It yourself) with great success. We rarely hear from the DIY community but I am sure that they are thankful for this information. Many other churches have given this standard high praises for helping them get a sound system that does meet their needs and that has been the goal all along.

The HIS System Standard is only a minimum standard from which a church sound ministry should build up from. Many audio contractors, Architects and acoustical experts design systems that are better - and we welcome that. This information is for churches that don't know what level of sound system and sanctuary room performance to expect or to ask for.

Meeting the HIS System Standard in not hard to do. It is simple enough that any church can reach it and audio contractor to meet. The HIS System Standard is performance based, not equipment based. This is meant to be written so that any church can afford acoustics and a sound system that will meet their needs. It is our hope that the information provided below will help you church get the sound system they need, not what someone wants to sell you.

Is the HIS System Standard Perfect? No
Is the HIS System Standard absolute? No
Is the HIS System supported by the secular community such AES, NSCA or other professional organizations? Not yet.

Warning of Government Interference

Until a standard written by the church community itself is published, it seem that this standard is a good place to start. There is still room for improvement. Church based organizations should be establishing a church sound system performance standard of their own. If churches don't start setting their own sound standards, the US government will be doing it for them. Some leaders suggest that some of the suggests of the ADA laws (The Disability Act) may be so wide in it's scope that they may make their standard the standard used to force churches to adopt government regulated sound systems and acoustical standards. (Currently the US government claims that churches are exempt of the ADA laws under the separation of the church and state laws. However, many local and state governments enforce ADA laws in manners that it created undo financial hardship when they have no legal rights to do so.) Such regulations could be adopted in other countries too. The sooner the church community writes their own Church Sound Standards, the less the government will be imposed their regulations. And Yes, the HIS System Standard is ADA friendly.

If your church sound system performs as good or better than these standards, please let us know about it. If you have any comments or suggestions about the Standard, Send us an email his_standards@jdbsound.com

Setting a Standard

• 1. Each standard must be applicable to over 90% of the churches within the church community
• 2. To have a foundation of a sound system to build upon for future growth
• 3. The system should have all of the basic features designed into the system, ready to provide sound for all of the most common church events from worship to weddings, to funerals to concerts to drama.
• 4. It must use combinations of equipment, microphones and speakers relatively noise free when inserted into the system.
• 5. The combinations of products have to be affordable. The target cost of an entry-level sound system should be no less than $45.00 to $55.00 per seat installed from the main speaker system to the mixer and wiring to the stage.
• 6. It must satisfy people with average hearing lose and benefit those with hearing aids. It shall be understood that a hearing assist system is needed for those whom you have to raise your voice to in normal conversation.
• 7. Easy to operate with the least amount of instruction.
• 8. Have enough gain so that a person can stand in a comfortable position with a fixed microphone on a stand. This generally required a micing distance of 18 inches. (This is only for a single open mic for speaking. Adding more open mics will lower the working distance according.

• 1. The room has to be free of echo's.
• 2. The room has to be free of flutter echo's
• 3. The RT60 should not exceed - on average 2.2 seconds
• 4. The RT60 should not be less than 1.3 seconds.
• 5. There should be no standing waves from any angle. That is from side to side, front to back and floor to ceiling.
• 6. The NC of the room shall be below 35dB
• 7. The room should have an average signal to noise ratio of 25dB.

Speech requirements of a single open microphone at a pulpit, lectern or as a hand held mic.

1. Average working distance from a single regular dynamic microphone (such as a Shure SM58 or better) before feedback -18 inches. (In a room with NC 35 or lower)
2. Maximum working distance from a regular dynamic microphone (such as a Shure SM58 or better) before feedback - 30 inches (In a room with NC 35 or lower)
3. Average sound pressure coverage within the seating area +/- 3dB
4. Intelligibility score +/- 2% of 92% in all seats with either oral speech testing, %alcons or STI or RASTI equivalent. (A Computer should be used for this or you can use the oral speech test.)
5. When eyes are closed, turn your head to the source of the amplified sound. When you open your eyes, you should be looking at the person speaking or in their direction from any location within the sanctuary.
6. At 18 inches from the mic, have enough sound pressure level (SPL) to have a ratio difference of 20 to 25dB signal to noise. That is for the audience to hear direct clear sound 20 to 25dB above the room noise or, to have an average SPL of 68dB in all of the seating. (This is best achieved with an NC of 40 to 45dB throughout the seating area and on stage/altar area.)
7. To have a sound system that does not increase the reverberation time of the room.
8. To have a sound system that does not degrade the performance of the Organ or competes with congregational singing when a microphone is left on.
9. To have a sound system in which the sound operator can quickly change the controls without people in the audience noticing the changes.
10. To have a sound system that will not introduce a signal or noise when using the maximum mic gain for a single open microphone. (that means no hissssss or radio stations)

1. Have a sound system that is stable with 3 mics open and micing at 10 to 16 inches without feedback.
2. To have a sound system that will not introduce a signal or noise when using 4 mic open and micing at 10 to 16 inches without feedback. (that also means no mixer hissssss)
3. Have enough SPL in the sound system and without distortion so that a person can be heard clearly when needing to speak to the audience during congregational singing.
4. To begin the design of the speaker system as a point source system*** (speaker front and center ahead of a central pulpit) and modified accordingly as the Architecture permits of a sanctuary for the highest level of speech intelligibility and best coverage. (Music playback systems that have a Left and Right point sources much like Home HIFI and Recording Studios and can be combined as LCR systems when budgets permit. Churches on limited budgets are best served with mono point source designs when the roof heights permit it.) (*** A Speaker system should never attract attention unto itself. The speaker system should always attract you to the main position a minister normally speaks from. It is important for the sound system to mimic natural communication in which we look at what we here during the sermon portion of any worship service. When this is not possible, you should get help.)
5. All microphone lines shall be balanced type II (Two conductors, a ground wire and tin foil shield) using a 3 pin connector.
6. All lines shall be wired - Pin 1 ground, Pin 2 Hot signal or positive signal (Red or White wire), Pin 3 cold or negative signal (Black).
7. All microphone lines shall be continuous from the platform to the mixer position without any breaks. (Multi pair cables have a high failure rate. If you have to use a multi pair cable or snakes make sure the mic pairs that are individually jacketed)
8. ** Clean wind screens weekly of all microphones. Ask your product manufacturer how to do that.

To do old school tests of most of these standards without test equipment, please refer to the following web pages.
http://www.jdbsound.com/art/eval1.htm
http://www.jdbsound.com/art/eval2.htm
http://www.jdbsound.com/art/eval3.htm

Recommended Needs and Wants

These are basic guidelines only. A well designed sound system will fall within most or all of these suggestions.

1. Provide a minimum of 1 mic input for every 60 square feet of the pulpit/ platform/ altar area. This will ensure enough mic locations for the choir and all special events. (Churches with more ambition music programs should use 1 input for 45 square ft as a minimum.)

2. Provide an amplifier that has a minimum of 1/2 watt* per person** for speech only system. (Churches with music programs should have a minimum of 2 to 10 watts per person)
   (* Watts per person are just guidelines to ensure that the speaker systems are not being under powered. Under powered systems tend to have higher failure rates and have higher levels of distortion. Distortion degrades speech intelligibility. Speakers with higher efficiencies should allow you to use less power per person. Adjust your system power requirements accordingly. While a sound system should not be designed based on watts per person, when looking a proposal for system evaluations, it is a quick indicator whether to red flag the project or not.
   ** Power standards are based on a loudspeaker 99dB 1 watt 1 meter with a coverage pattern of 40 x 90. up to approximately 90ft when acoustical conditions allow it.)
3. Provide a tape player and / or CD/MP3/Digital/computer player for playback of singing events.
4. Provide a separate tape recorder/computer/MP3 unit for recording of services. (This prevents feedback loop which often destroy sound systems.) (Many churches use tape sales to funding other sound system expenses) (Update - this is also true for computers. Never have the input and output of a computer connected at the same time to a mixer if your using a computer to record with)
5. Provide a Constant "Q" 1/3rd octave analog or digital equalizer for every live mix. Mains, floor monitor, choir monitor....
6. Provide the option for floor monitors without replacing the mixer.
7. Provide the option for choir monitors without replacing the mixer.
8. Provide the option for separate signals from the mixer for Tape Recording, Distributed System (Nursery, offices, washrooms...) Broadcast output for TV, cable or video, and Hearing Impaired Systems.
9. Pre Fade Listening PFL is a must on all church sound system mixers.
10. Mixer must provide 48 volt phantom power for condenser microphones which use an electric current to increase the performance of the microphone.
11. Mixer, Amplifier and Equalizer/Processors/Speaker managers should always be separate units. (Amplifiers with built in DSP's could be used.) (There are some digital mixer than have enough output processing that you can go from the mixer to the amps direct.)
12. All Unbalanced Consumer products with -10dB inputs and outputs such as CD players, Computers, tape players and recorders should be within 25ft of the mixer.
13. Unbalanced line level signal lines should use passive or active direct boxes to convert to mic level signals when sending a signal from the altar/stage area to a mixer when the signal is bundled in a snake or bundle of shielded mic lines.
14. All live sound professional component shall have electronically balanced or transformer balanced inputs and output - ie mixers, digital processors, equalizers, amplifiers, digital delays, and other professional live sound gear.
15. All Mixers for a mono church system should have separate Left and Right (Live and Record) master output faders when only a single mixer is used to manage FOH and Recording of worship programming.
    
    

    Amendment 2001
    
    One of the easiest ways to set up a mixer for live and recording mix in small and medium sized churches is to set up the mixer as "L" for Live and "R" for Record. This is a technique churches have been using from the early 60's to this day. It is like having two separate mixers in one. One could say that mixers with single master fader control outputs are only half a mixer when compared to mixers with separate L/R controls.
    
    There are several reasons why these types of mixers are recommended in the HIS System Standard.

    1. On the majority of mixers, the aux outs are only from +10 to +18 out. Mixers that come with tape outs for recording are usually set for -10 or +4 output. The main L/R output usually are from +24 to +30dB out. In generally, on most live sound mixers, the main L/R output is generally 10dB higher in output than any other output on the mixer. It is the easiest method to see how your record mix and live mix is behaving. Since the record mix is coming off the main mix, your using the faders rather that knobs for visual queues. This is most helpful for casual sound operators or the custodian or usher who is suddenly thrown into mixing.

    2. It is the fastest way to teach someone how to record and mix the record mix using the faders, rather than the knobs of an auxiliary output.

    3. Instant 10dB boost to the tape mix when someone is not speaking loud enough. Generally, the mixer is set up so that you set the master output to -10 or 0dB - depending how the mixer is marked. If you need extra level to the tape when there is no more to give to the house mix for fear of feedback, then you just push the "R" control up and you have an extra 10 dB of signal. By using the slide fader, you have an instant visual queues as to where you are in the mix without looking at you tape level every 10 seconds.

    4. Additional 10dB boost with the channel control. Generally, the channel faders should be operating around -10dB or 0dB, depending on the markings. If after pushing the master "R" control is not enough, you can then push the channel control - as in the pulpit mic up 10dB. At the same time you also drop the house level 10dB to prevent feedback. That is a instant 20dB level boost to the tape mix when you need it. This signal is now 30dB greater than getting a mix from the aux. Because you are using the faders, you have an easy visual queue of where your mix is. When the next person with a strong voice comes back, you can then reset your channel to 0dB quickly. This is much easier than mixing the record mix from an Aux.

    5. Pan controls. The pan controls give you another easy way to control you tape mix. Say for example, you don't what the pastor voice on the tape mix during congregational singing. Let us also say he is singing off, but he is leading the congregational singing. By panning the pulpit mic and by passing the sub groups, you can cut or reduce the pastors voice from the tape mix by panning "L". Don't worry, you can do this while the pastor is singing. Just before he finished, you pan him back center.

    6. Likewise, say you forgot to setup an audience mic or you don't have extra mics, but some are not being using during congregational singing. You can then pan those mics hard "R" and boost the levels 20 dB with the channel and main "R" out. This way you can get good record levels for congregational singing.

    7. When I teach this method, it seems to be the best setup for most churches up to 32 channel mixers that have no TV or Radio programs and churches that are making less that 20 tapes a week. It is easy, simple to teach and the results speak for themselves.