Should It Sound Like That?
System B: Instead, for the same “x” amount of dollars you get a quality 32×8 console, with 2 2-way mains, 4 monitor wedges and 2 25-watt stereo amps. This configuration doesn’t offer nearly as much equipment but it’s of much higher quality.
Expandability
The next most important thing is expandability. When purchasing a system or some piece of individual equipment, are you keeping in mind what will happen when your needs grow? Let’s say that your church is currently 100 people. What happens in two years when your church is 300 people? Hopefully you are not thinking that you will then have more money to buy a larger system, because that is almost never the case. Another consideration: what about when the band grows from three to eight people? If you bought System A, you will be playing catch-up until the system completely fails, or the poor sound causes a coup in your church. If you bought System B, you now have the capability to grow and expand without investing an obscene amount of capital.
EQ, Reverb, and Hot Tips on How They Work
Another area that we want to touch on is outboard gear, i.e. effects units, EQs, compressors, and so forth. Probably one of the most effective but over used (and incorrectly used) pieces of equipment in a church sound system is the reverb/delay unit. It goes like this: when the music sounds bad, put more reverb on it. Another commonly heard phrase, “It’s feeding back; we need to turn it down.” (Hint: EQ) How about, “I sound like I am in a tin can.” (Hint: EQ & reverb)
So, what is EQ and what is it used for? First, EQ stands for equalization. It is an electronic tool that allows you to manipulate specifically targeted frequencies. Basically, EQ is just a fancy name for tone control. On the most basic mixing consoles, the EQ section is usually divided into three bands: LO, MID, and HIGH. As the quality of the board increases, so does the division of the bands, i.e. LO-MIDs, HIGH-MIDs, and so on. Even your car stereo has an EQ, which is called the bass/treble knob.
Category: Fall 2001, Ministry, Pneuma Review
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