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I get the same emails and letters you get.
“God has ears too, you know!”
“The church is to be an example to the world, not as loud as it!”
“It’s so loud I don’t come anymore.”
“I wish your staff cared about the congregation.”
“You are damaging our ears.”
“Don’t you know about OSHA’s volume limit of 85 dB?”
Any of this sound familiar? Few comments seem to offer anything really helpful, validated with a name and contact information, which service, where they were sitting, and what the author’s “normal” music style preferences are. Otherwise, these are just comments that leave us frustrated. Especially when so many of us are trying so hard to squeeze every drop of excellence out of whatever we have to work with. I have decided, with God’s Grace, to let these comments instead fuel me towards excellence, accuracy, knowledge, experience, and authority in facts, and I hope any words and experiences I can share will do the same for you. My hope is that you may relate, be encouraged, and at least have another opinion to help you more confidently derive at your own.
We all need encouragement with how complicated the topic of volume can be in church. I have been self-immersed in this very topic for not months, but years, and wanted to take the risk of sharing where I am on a journey to answer the question, “How loud should it be in my church?”
Opening
Almost four years ago, Willow Creek Community Church opened the doors to our new facility. And we went online with awesome overall improvement in sound. Indeed, there was an adrenaline rush amidst the exhaustion of getting to that point. Over the months that followed, we were getting reports that were all over the map. From “best sound ever” to “way too loud” and “can’t understand the vocals.” We knew it was way better, but we had only begun the long process of experiencing all 7,200 seats and what actually happens there during a service. Because of the range of reports coming in, hard decisions had to be made. We knew that many factors beyond volume were playing into the range of reports. We needed a common denominator as a guideline to make things safe and normal for most seats, while hopefully not making things too wimpy and gutless, so we could really assess the state of the system and learn how to use it.
The Quiet Ceiling
The decision was made to run services at 95 dB peak SPL C-weighting fast-response as measured on several sound pressure level (SPL) meters at the FOH position. Man, if I could poll your responses right now. That survey would be worth publishing in itself. More important than the number, or its qualifiers, is the fact that we made this decision in cooperation with leadership, and with their full trust and support. This number gave us an anchor of consistency and a mutual response to all those concerned. It has been a great learning experience. It has also been one of the hardest decisions to stick to I have ever had to lead. To mix to a peak means to take energy from mixing and pay attention to a jumping meter constantly, because peaks are fast, so you have to anticipate them. When I know to the core of my being that a song in a service would come alive and communicate better with a bit more level, but also know that we have committed to a peak, it has at times been truly agonizing. It sometimes felt like throwing art out the window. Not that I’m fighting for it to be louder. But I know as a skilled engineer, passionate artist/musician, and sensitive congregation member, how good audio can best support the band, and how the band needs to be represented. That was just plain hard. But it was also the right thing to do.
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Chris Gille is also known as “Papa Audio,” or audio & systems director in the production department of Willow Creek Community Church.
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