featured article by daivd kennedy
Architectural Planning for Worship Acoustics and Media Systems
by David Kennedy

In your church, can the amplified Word and worship be easily understood?

Has your church been designed with quality room acoustics and sound?

Will your lighting & video systems be able to meet your needs?

Will you have enough clean-tech power?

Are heat and weight loads accounted for?

Are drama and staging systems designed in, or are they an afterthought?

This article is written to churches that are planning new or substantially renovated acoustics or A/V systems; it is a general overview of concepts to give direction and spark interest. Detailed analysis of any of the individual concepts or disciplines is available in other articles, publications, and from your consulting team or Worship Space.

Early Planning

A main point consultants impress upon church clients is the need to develop their vision for the use of A/V technology in worship. The value of well-designed acoustics and technical systems represents a necessity frequently taken for granted. Serious technical problems result when acoustics, lighting, sound, staging, and video systems lack planning.

Churches that want to attract new members should consider how their technical systems compare with the current standards.

The trend toward digital technology in many areas of American culture eludes many church leaders today. Church visitors are much more tech-savvy than they were a generation ago, or even 5 years ago.

Many church visitors drive modern cars with quality stereos; they attend cinemas with powerful A/V systems and extensive acoustic design, and they buy modern home theatre systems.

R Bob Adams of Hoover & Keith, Inc., Houston, TX says, “They may not want a big A/V system the day the church opens the door, but in the future they may.” Consider infrastructure to hold the equipment, conduit to run the wires, and cooling for the stage lighting load. These are all design decisions that affect the technology long before the building reaches completion. In the future, these systems will become a requirement, not a luxury. If the proper infrastructure is already in place, half the battle is won.

To ensure success, the space for well-designed A/V Systems should be planned in the design phase. This should include the proper acoustical finishes (for reverberation time), loudspeakers, display screens, room shape, and isolation from noise.

Architectural Design

Church architects and design consultants generally believe that a key to successful church systems design lies in properly planning the space use and programming the technical needs prior to starting room design. It is vital to engage qualified designers well in advance of the final building design process, thereby reducing the chance of surprises later.

Terry M. Tarr, Architect, AIA of Fresno, CA, specializes in church planning and building design. He promotes a balanced team approach of where each of the important design elements for a worship space are designed to be complementary to each other.

Terry explains, “These components may include aesthetics, seating layout and quantity, sightlines, drama and staging, platform ministries, space and functionality, wall and ceiling angles, surfacing materials, worship styles, intended acoustic goals, acoustical panels, sound system design, clean electrical power, control and mixing locations, architectural lighting, theatrical lighting, projection systems, video camera locations, computers, communications, rack rooms, raceways for wiring installations, considerations for future needs and technology changes, noise control, ventilation, heat loads, structural loads, and other components or issues. Listed like that, it becomes apparent that no one designer can cover this array of technical needs, so the synergy of a team of experts is necessary to create the balance.

“As a design philosophy, we believe that buildings are a tool to serve the purpose intended by the client, and as such we believe the consultants can perform a valuable service to achieve that intent. When the focus is service oriented rather than designing icons the client and people to be served in that building becomes the dynamic. Early efforts of programming and planning of space and technology will reap great benefits instead of just one or two components or disciplines outweighing or sacrificing all the others.

“Relevant experience, flexibility, schooling, responsiveness, and collaborative expertise are crucial to achieving your vision and goals. Churches are organic; ministries change, music styles change, equipment and technology changes rapidly, adaptability is vital, and planning is what it takes to meet those needs now and for the future worship space.”

Acoustics

Architectural Acoustics
Churches face the challenge of delivering the Word in a clear and intelligible manner to lead people to God. Often times, church newcomers are not accustomed to the language used in a church service; they may have a difficult time filling in unintelligible words from the pulpit. Elderly and the hearing impaired may also have difficulty in understanding, if the “direct” sound is not well above the level of echoes and noise in the room. Even the best preaching, praying, and singing can fall short of changing lives if the message is unclear or difficult to hear.

A good sound system, regardless of a brand name, does not assure good sound quality. A sound system is not complete without adequate room acoustics. Sound systems can rarely cope with serious defects in a room design, and a more powerful system commonly makes such defects worse. Spending money on a new sound system may just take it from other needy ministries without solving any problems.

As Adams points out, considering acoustics is pivotal to the design of a worship space. “Design it from the beginning for sound,” he recommends. “Don’t design the room and then have someone put panels on the walls. When you do that, you are trying to retrofit sound into a space that may have been designed inappropriately. If you get some-one that understands acoustics early in the project, you can have the room designed properly. By designing the room first, the sound becomes reinforcement, not a fix to mask a room problem.”

Churches should also be a place of praise, where room acoustics encourage the congregation to sing out, so that worship sounds full, dynamic, and resonant. It should not be an acoustically dead space. Many modern churches have too much absorption installed in their worship space. Acoustical products are available as flat absorption and/or contoured diffusion.

Worship spaces built from framing and sheet rock will sound more neutral if the acoustical panels are tuned to complement the wall materials.

Churches should work closely with their architect and acoustical consultant to shape the room and specify building materials that make the room acoustics sound better with the goal of minimizing echoes and noise in the room.

Noise and Vibration Control
Neil Thompson Shade of Acoustical Design Collaborative, Baltimore, MD explains, “Sound isolation is a necessary component in building acoustics design, to reduce the transmission of unwanted sound between interior spaces or between interior spaces and the exterior. When planning for sound isolation, the designer must consider air-borne and structure-borne paths.

“Noise control is necessary to reduce sound levels from HVAC equipment that transmits into the conditioned spaces. HVAC equipment also has both air-borne and structure-borne noise transmission paths. Similar to sound isolation, planning is essential for HVAC equipment noise control and construction requirements can be lessened by proper selection of equipment by the mechanical engineer. Much noise is caused by poorly selected equipment or inadequate building space to provide adequately sized ductwork.”

Tech. Spaces & Access

I am surprised to hear that some church leaders are still unaware of the importance of having the Live Sound Control in the congregation seating area. Following are Tech. Spaces that should be considered to properly accommodate the Tech. (lighting, sound & video) Systems.

Worship Space Control Booths:
1. Lighting & Video Display
2. Live Sound Reinforcement
3. On-Stage Monitor Mixing
For more on the right sound control local see: www.churchsoundcheck.com/housedesk.pdf

Tech (Systems) Access considerations:
1. Backstage
2. Main Loudspeakers access
3. Stage Lighting access

Isolated Tech Rooms may be needed for the following functions:
1. Audio Amplifiers
2. Audio/Sound Recording
3. Lighting Dimmers
4. Tech. Direction/Video Control
5. Post Production
6. Rear Projection Chambers
7. Studio Recording (over-dub)
8. Tech. Equipment Storage

Conduit accommodates the cabling for the technical systems. Professionals recommend all cabling of any importance to be run in conduit rather than raw in the wall or under a slab floor. Conduit proves invaluable if an upgrade is needed. It also supplies protection from a nail or screw damaging cabling and can provide some shielding from noise. While CAT5 and later data cable types are becoming increasingly useful in worship A/V systems, there is no current cost-effective substitute for large conduits with multiple analogue cables.

Exceptions for conduit include CAT5 and 70V speaker (plenum rated) cabling above a T-bar ceiling. Wireless devices are be-coming more common but are costly and cannot provide the quality of wire or fiber. Churches planning a new or renovated worship space will find it much less costly and better looking to install conduit now than later.

Video Display

Churches commonly neglect to see how light can wash out even bright front-projected images. Image quality is primarily influenced by the contrast on the screen (range from black to white). Black (the absence of light and color) cannot be projected. To get a good “black level”, the screen must be designed to have a dark background and a limited sunlight and wash of worship space or stage lighting.

Like a home CRT-TV, rear projection, LED, and plasma panels can tolerate more ambient light in the room than front-projection screens. Although, the space needed behind the screen creates a downside of rear-projection. This space can be reduced through the use of a “first surface” mirror, or the new, short-throw projectors. If this back space is considered early in design, it may have negligible added cost or loss of usable space.

LED and plasma panels are the latest trend because of their thin construction. Although prices are dropping, flat panels are still costly, and not yet large enough for most worship spaces. Other display options include the new-digital HD video format with its superior image quality and wide-screen layout. Although expensive, HD can allow dual images on one screen.

Lighting

Proper design for lighting positions is also critical. David Jacques of Jacques Design, Long Beach CA, explains, “The angles and positions to hang theatrical lighting must be carefully planned to both illuminate at correct angles and blend in with the architecture. You should also consider how to maintain and service the lights. Therefore cat-walks should be designed for easy access. If this is not feasible, then other methods to reach the lighting fixtures must be considered, such as moving lights or lighting trusses that can be lowered for access.

“Spaces for lighting dimmers and control must also be provided. The dimmers should be housed in an area that is both easily accessible and sonically isolated, while the control area must have a clear visual path to the platform/stage area.

“You should also consider what type of architectural lighting should be incorporated into the design. In many cases you can combine both theatrical and architectural lighting with integrated control and dimming systems. To avoid interference, you should isolate high voltage conduit runs from sound and video lines.” Lighting is the single greatest tech. power load to design for. Note also that some local & state building codes have energy limits to deal with.

Technical Systems Loads

Heat is the enemy of technical systems (shortens their life). Calculations should be made to determine the heat load with-in each technical space. This can be as simple as getting the spec. sheets for the equipment (from the factory web sites), adding up the BTU numbers, and giving them to the Architect or project Mechanical Systems (HVAC) Engineer along with a schedule of expected use.

Overhead loads such as acoustical ceilings (not office tiles), loudspeakers, curtains, projectors, and lights need to be added up and provided to the Architect early in the design phase. This could have a substantial impact on the design and cost of the structure. Note that there are significant liability issues with overhead loads in a church. Don’t cut corners on structural design, products not engineered for “flying”, or unqualified installers.

Clean Technical Power should also be considered early in the design process. Technical systems for modern worship spaces have substantial power demands. Power may seem like a small issue, but serious problems can result if it is not designed into the base building, as retrofitting power is expensive. “Clean Tech. Power” is important to sound and video systems for controlling shock hazards as well as hum and noise in the systems. Isolated ground receptacles and insulated cables solve this problem.

Other steps can be taken to control noise, such as, putting all the systems circuits on the same phase along with the addition of an isolation transformer. Your Electrical Engineer needs the total estimated power load in each technical space/room.

Sound Systems

Much has been written about sound in churches, so there is no excuse for what many churches settle for. Current trends in sound equipment include the use of DSP and In-Ear monitoring. For more on sound and lighting equipment topics, see www.worshipspace.org/resources and www.churchsoundcheck.com.

The average church will purchase its third sound system before acquiring the long-term features needed. To avoid costly upgrades, make sure that your sound designer has many years of intensive experience with electro-acoustic modeling programs. Only modeling or a demonstration of the proposed loudspeakers in your church allows the designer to accurately predict how their loudspeaker design will perform.

Loudspeakers

Note that the loudspeakers are the “weak link” in any church sound system, so they need to be of very high quality (appropriate to the venue) and specified by an expert.

The latest trend in large-space loud-speakers is known as line arrays. There are two types of line arrays: the more traditional column-style, and the very costly, large J-shaped stacks of boxes, also known as concert line arrays (now common at major production events).

 

David is the founding Consultant at David Kennedy Associates www.d-k-a.com and Worship Space worshipspace.org. He provides expert design of Architectural Acoustics, Sound and Display Systems for churches. He can be reached at (559) 435-1122 or dkennedy [at] d-k-a [dot] com.
 

Relevant quotes from Scripture:

“their ears are dull of hearing,…they should hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and should be converted.” Matthew 13:15

“Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.”
Proverbs 15:22 (KJV)

Another relevant quote:

"It is often stated that every church purchases at least three sound systems. The first is the one obtained from the lowest bidder when the building is erected. The second is installed by the 'expert' in the congregation. The third is the one designed, installed, and adjusted by a carefully chosen team consisting of a professional acoustical consultant, sound contractor, and a representative of the purchaser-owner gifted with an understanding of his need and capable of working creatively with the consultant and sound contractor."

Don Davis
Founder of Syn-Aud-Con and author
of Sound System Engineering