Several weeks ago at our 50+ Listening Post we received a wide variety of feedback on a number of issues from our maturing boomers, of which I am one. We met in table groups and each table presented feedback that they wanted leadership to hear. A wide variety of good stuff came our way that we as staff and board are carefully and prayerfully working through.
What was surprising was apart from one issue; no one theme emerged as consistent over the vast majority of tables. The one issue that did surface at all but one of the tables is what is perceived to be a volume issue with music at our worship services. With the move from Randy to Jarret as our worship pastor, the perception is clear, at least among those over 50, that the music has become louder.
At the same time Jarret and our musicians insist that the issue isn’t volume and that the music has not become louder. In many cases the volume is less. The issue is often the style of music and how the music portion of the worship service is put together. Some buy that, but many remain skeptical. The other side of the coin is that we get as many complaints that the music is not loud enough, not engaging enough among those in the under 40 crowd. For many, they want “to feel” the music, not just hear the music. We’ve actually experienced growth since January, and one of the reasons is a sense of increased passion in the music portion of our worship services.
Now I don’t normally sense that the music is too loud or that it is inhibiting my ability to enter into worship with the rest of the church family. I tend to be skeptical when I hear complaints. So last Sunday when I did think the music was too loud, I suspected it had to be true. When I became aware of at least one person under 50 who felt it was too loud, I was convinced. So I pulled out the “lead pastor card” which I so try to use sparingly, and asked that the volume be lowered a bit for the 11:15 service. But the result in the 11:15 service was not satisfying for me either.
Even before the 11:15 service, I was surprised by the reaction of those who normally complain about sound. Several of them from the 50+ crowd went out of their way to say what a powerful time of worship they had just experienced. In fact the 9:15 crowd who are normally a bit more reserved in their outward response to worship music were incredibly more expressive than is the norm. That was evident to many, especially those on the platform.
What I came to understand is that a really loud opening song, which did have one of the key boards pumped up louder than we had meant for that one song, followed by some other more intense worship songs, left me with an experience that I found overpowering rather than conducive to my worship. I may also have been oversensitive to those from the 50+ listening post!! Much of my less than positive experience was very subjective, and not at all based on the actual volume, decibel or even bass levels of the music – although they all contributed. And what was less than positive for me, ended up being very positive for many, including many of our volume critics.
I’m left struck by the complexity and subjectivity of the whole sound issue.
However I am aware that what our sound technicians hear in the sound booth, is not at all similar to what most of us are hearing in the rest of the auditorium. And yes, what you hear depending on where you are in the auditorium varies greatly! But the person manning the sound booth is not hearing what any of us hear and that’s a problem. In other words, the 50+ crowd do have a point that we need to work a little more at, rather than dismiss.
This week the pastoral team wrestled with the issue at our staff retreat. While we expanded our sound booth a couple of years ago, that has only bought us reasonable space to work our technical stuff from, but it does not solve what the sound technician hears. The crow’s nest above our sound booth simply distorts what the sound tech is hearing. Currently it is impossible for the sound technician to serve us at the level of excellence that we expect.
So something has to change. Take down the crows’ nest? We thought of that. That’s a huge deal. And we lose what we put it there for in the first place, and it remains less than an ideal sound solution. Better than what we have now, but still far from ideal.
So what’s the ideal sound booth solution? Well to put the sound booth smack in the middle of the auditorium, like so many larger churches do. But wow, that has a huge number of somewhat unworkable implications for us. So we’re currently thinking of building a small sound booth at the level of the third or back tier and tying it into our current sound and media booth. This would get just the sound technician out a little further into the auditorium, hearing what most of us hear. We would then move our video camera to what will become the upper level media booth, getting it out of the way and in better alignment with the platform.
No solution is ideal. But after listening to the 50+ crowd the staff team agree that the status quo is not acceptable. Will this solve all the issues? No because so much of the issue is style and perception. But it will allow us to become more consistent and provide a better overall sound experience, which is so critical. So we’re going to price out what this means, and perhaps a few of you with a passion for the sound issues will help us do this without overly impacting other budget lines. While we’re only in the initial planning stages, if all goes as it could, we might have this all done by September.
Doug
