This is it...a visitor walks into the church building and has taken the first step--a giant step. They have overcome every barrier that has kept them away; fear, intimidation, social inertia, weekend distractions, preconceived notions and a million other reasons that have kept them away until now.

Now, this moment and this moment only, you have the chance to make a first impression that might keep or forever color this visitor's opinion of you and your church.- or any church this person should visit in the future.

For a new visitor, the first thirty seconds of hearing your minister speak is a time when you must get it right. Visitors must be able to understand every word spoken, not just hear sounds through the audio system. Remember that a visitor will most likely not be familiar with church language, the subject matter or is used to the diction of the person talking.

Is the sound system free to do its job in delivering God's message or are the sound reflections getting in the way of understanding speech or music. Are the acoustics of the room limiting the sound system's ability to deliver the spoken words clearly? If your church has a choir or praise team, can a visitor make out the words in the music they are not familiar with?

Did you know that a visitor must be able to hear at least 90% of every word and syllable clearly to understand what is being said? When speech understanding is below 90%, then the person is most likely spending most of their time just trying to hear. Hence the wandering eyes, the yawning and the closed eyes with nodding heads.

Did you that a person who is familiar with the content and the speech patterns of the people they are listening to can fill in the blanks of what is being said down to about 78% of clear words. Below that level most people are just trying to hear.

(In a conversation people speak at about 180 to 220 words per minute. In the first 30 seconds of a sermon, every visitor looking for a new church or a new life will know whether they will come back to your church or not. So who is really making that first impression -the acoustics, the sound system or the minister?)
Does your Church have any of these problems?
  1. Dead Spots.
  2. Drum Shields.
  3. the bass players always playing too loud. They can't hear themselves!
  4. dull congregational singing.
  5. poor intelligibility.
  6. constant problems with feedback.
  7. to have everyone eat the microphone to avoid feedback and to be heard.
  8. problems hearing the choir
  9. problems reinforcing the choir
  10. problems understanding the choir
  11. the monitors louder than the main speakers system in the audience
  12. the soundman keep turning up the system as loud as possible every week and it doesn't matter who is running it.
Or do you have questions like these?
  1. How can we tell if our problems are from the sound system or the room?
  2. Our sound system covers the room within +/-2dB but the intelligibility is poor. Why?
  3. Why does the new sound system have the same feedback problems and the old system?
  4. Our Soundman went for some expensive training and things have not improved much. Why?
  5. In our sanctuary you can't understand people 15 to 25ft apart in normal conversation without a sound system and it is not better with a sound system. Why?
  6. Why does our sound system go into feedback in the middle of the praise and worship portion of our service when our soundman was not doing anything to the mixer?
  7. Our church is growing and planning to build. Whenever the subject of Acoustics come up were told it will be alright or it's too expensive to make changes after we started building. How can we really know what we are buying?
    Hello and Welcome to my world.

The most common reason a church sound system fails to perform properly is because of room acoustics. You can't make an audio system force a worship space to perform beyond its limits. All Sound Re-enforcement /PA Systems are like magnifiers. They don't just magnify sound from a microphone, recording and instruments; they also magnify the Acoustical defects of the room. Bad acoustics are usually features omitted when the worship space was first assembled or planned. It shows how the space has not been sequenced properly for speaking, amplified live music and congregational singing and so on. (This is true for home churches, warehouse churches, purpose built churches and cathedrals. No space where people gather for worships are exempted.)

If your church has good acoustics, then why are you hear? You can't have good acoustics and a properly design sound system and have the sound problems mentioned above.

My job is to end the cycle of churches using frequent sound system upgrades to solve room problems. My experience and training allows me to convert any room used as a house of worship into a space where bad acoustical effects are replaced with good acoustical features are unmasked, added to and amplified. This gives most churches the concert hall like qualities they should have and more. Also, I don't just fix the room; I also custom design the sound system that is bests suited to take advantage of the acoustical freedoms you did not have before. This kind of service is included in all of our *prescriptions. After all, Church Sound Systems and Church Acoustics are really just one discipline. You can't do well with one without being an expert of the other.
=========================================
JdB Sound Acoustics
Consulting Services
If you want better sound for your church, Call Today
JdB Sound Acoustics 416-248-9007
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A Christian Owned Full time
Church Acoustics and
Sound System Consulting Company
- E-mail - jdb@jdbsound.com

St James Anglican Church 1984 -2007 New
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Discussion

* There are two types of prescriptions. One is a prescription of pills. They will make you feel better but there is no cure. no matter how many pills you take.
The other type of prescription is a cure that usually doesn't feel good until the problem is cured once and for all. I only prescribe cures, not pills.
There are two parts to fixing or planning for church sound that are often never achieved. Room and Sound System performance plus the frequency response of the sanctuary or worship space.
Opening doors changes the bass response of the Sanctuary.
For assistance, please send an email asking for our PDF information file to Download.
Please include:
Your Name - - Church Name - - Church seating capacity - - City - - Country - - Phone Number. _
Send your email to jdb@jdbsound.com - - - - If you need prompt service, please call. Ph: 416.248.9007
JdB Sound Acoustics does not sell audio equipment, acoustical panels or do installations. E-mail address is - jdb@jdbsound.com
PH. 416-248-9007


We work on projects that have a wide range of budgets. Ready made solutions are often high cost. If your church wants to offer some volunteer help, the cost of fixing a worship space becomes much more affordable.

Here are some examples of projects with very limited budgets. For each church the worship space was changed from a hostile non musical, low intelligibility space to a high quality space that has an almost ideal balance of musical performance with great speech intelligibility whether the sound system is on or off.

1997 - Parkdale United Church Ottawa, Ontario Canada- 450 seating - Cost Under $2,500.00
Often rented as rehearsal space for members of the Ottawa Symphony at the NAC
2002 - Emmanuel Pentecostal Christian Church, Montreal, Quebec - 600 seating  - Cost Under $4,000
2004 - East Pasco Seventh Day Adventist, Zephyrhills, Florida - Octagon Sanctuary, 500 seating - Cost Under $15,000
1999 - Indonesian Community Church, Toronto, Ontario Canada - Seating 500 - Cost under $8,000
2002 - First Baptist Church, Norman, Oklahoma  - Seating 1000 - Under $7,000
1995 - McElwain Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, USA Seating 1200 - Under $8,000
1996 - St Paul's Anglican Church, Stroud, Ont. Canada - Seating 200 - Costing under $400.00
1999 - Waupaca Community Church, Appleton/Waupaca Wi, USA - Seating 350 - New Church - Under $15,000
2003 - Vineyard Church - Mundelein/Libertyville, IL USA - Seating 450 - Under $6,000
assistance and supervision by All Church Sound
1998 - Good Shepherd Church, Gloucester, Ontario, Canada - Seating 600 - Under $5000
1997 - First Independent Presbyterian Church, Sao Paulo - Brazil  - Seating 1200 - Cost under $1,000
1999 - First Presbyterian Church, Meaford Ontario Canada - seating 200 Cost under $1,200.00
2001 - Heritage Alliance Church, Windsor, Ontario Canada - Seating 700 - Cost under $8,500.00
1999 - Orleans Community Church, Orleans, Ontario Canada - seating 900 - Cost under $11,000
2003- St Bernard's Church, Keene, NH. USA  Seating 650 - Cost under $4,000.00
2005 Metropolitan Church of God, Toronto, Ontario Canada150 seating - Cost of repair $600.00
2006 Gateway Community CRC Church, Abbostford BC Canada seating 350 Gym - $700.00
2007 - St Andrews United Church, Fitzroy Harbor, Ontario Canada Seating 250 - $440.00


Fixing the acoustics shouldn't be expensive whether it's just to control the room
for a sound system or to make it like a concert hall. Both cost about the same.
It just needs to be done.

** NOTE **  The above projects were managed by church members

Sayings church members have shared with us.
- There is an old saying "people who fix old boats are trying to fix a hole in the water."
Trying to make a church sound system work properly in a church with
acoustical problems is like trying to fix an old boat.

- You can't fix a church that was never acoustical planned - but you can finish what was started.

- Church acoustics costs more the longer you put off dealing with it.
The longer it is put off, the more you have to look at it. as well
More Sayings From Churches
- There are hidden cost to church acoustics - attendance - sanctuary usage - tithes and offerings - growing talented leaders.
There are other costs too. Missions, community outreach, planting more churches and
staffing the church with full time workers. Who knew!!

- For years I have been wonder what the pastor was saying. Now that I can understand what he is saying,
I have noticed that our minister is a very very good preacher.
  • Churches have one of two types of sound systems. One type of system competes with a room —undermining the worship service. Feedback, deadspots, distortion and poor intelligibility are unwanted sound effects that church audiences shouldn't be distracted with. These systems are designed and installed by Laymen and Professionals with good intentions and there are many variations of them.
  • The other type of sound system is one that compliments the room and there are many variations of them too. However, when a sanctuary has room problems, no sound system can function beyond the performance of the worship space.  Sadly, many churches are replacing well designed sound systems with the latest and greatest technology in hopes the next sound system will be better - only to be disappointed after the novelty wears out.  
    Good sound in a church requires a foundation and that foundation begins with acoustics. Ignoring acoustics condemns every sound system to a life of mediocrity and constant upgrading that often costs much more than the cost of fixing the room. 
  • When it comes to planning a new church, for some reason many people have been buying into a myth that suggests that fixing the room latter is cheaper or better. History and evidence shows that churches designed around acoustics cost less to build and are more comfortable for the audience.
  • If you are having problems at your existing church with hearing or you are not enjoying your worship services, you have come to the right place.  Isn’t it time to get your church out of the sound rut?



JdB Sound Acoustics
PH. 416-248-9007
63 Lockerbie Ave. Toronto, Ontario Canada

"Sufficient information is available to such an extent that it is inexcusable for any church building
to have poor acoustics. The acoustical results may be determined even before the building is constructed."  
Page 163 - Planning Better Church Buildings, William A Harrell, Broadman Press -Southern Baptist Association Nashville 1947

Our e-mail address is - JdB@jdbsound.com

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