Having a good and quality sounds in a Church enhances liturgical worship, hence, in the Catholic Church, sound systems are an essential part of liturgical worship and ceremonies, singing, homily and sermons which should not be taken for granted. A clear, high coverage, and easy to use sounds system is an ultimate for every Catholic Church but in many cases, sounds have always been a challenge in most Catholic Churches even in some Cathedrals.
During liturgical celebrations either on a Sunday, ordination, wedding or funeral Masses or other liturgical or para-liturgical activities in any Catholic Church, you would surely experience a challenge in sound. In these places, it seems the Priests and the Pastoral councils do not place priority on sounds.
However, some Parishes are doing very well in acquiring modern sounds equipment while some have enhanced their sounds and engaged very experienced sounds engineers. Thanks to their Priests and Pastoral Councils who have seen the need to enhance sounds as a means or mode of New Evangelization.
Many Catholic Churches face acoustic challenges, with limited budgets for professional help. Indisputably, a poor audio quality provides a bad liturgical worship experience. As a matter of fact, a good sound system for a Catholic Church should prioritize clear and balanced audio throughout the liturgical worship space, including high-quality microphones, speakers, and a mixer tailored to the room’s acoustics, with proper speaker placement and professional calibration to ensure excellent speech intelligibility and music quality across the congregation; consider features like wireless microphone options, a digital mixer for flexibility, and acoustic treatment to minimize feedback and noise.
Unfortunately, many of these things are lacking in some Catholic Churches, that are struggling with poor sounds quality, all because some Priests and Pastoral Councils do not place priority on sounds. In fact, poor sound level issues and technical problems can mess up Church sound systems, and old equipment might not work with today’s audio formats. Such things show that taking a step with modern technology becomes vital with time.
Investing in a modern sound system enhances the entire liturgical worship experience. This process is to make sure the Priest’s homily is clear and free from distractions. The role of sound quality is therefore vital to feel the immersive experience. Anyone can hear the homily or sermon without interruption with a high-quality church sound system. However, a bad sound system can cause disruptions, and it is hard for everyone to focus during worship.
It is very nauseating these days to enter a Catholic Church to be welcomed with a bad quality of sound. One hardly hears what the Priest is saying or at a point in time, one would hear funny noises either from the microphone or the speakers or the sounds go off totally in the middle of the Holy Mass due to some technical hitches.
In searching for a solution to the sounds issues in our catholic Churches, I think there is a way to get relief by upgrading the Church sound systems which is necessary to feel the high-quality audio in every corner of the Church.
A good and quality sound system is important for staying connected with parishioners and spreading the message on time. Therefore, a well-planned sound system can handle different events, improving the spiritual experience every parishioner.
It is time the Catholic Church wholistically looks at its acoustics (Sound quality) by ensuring that every Parish has a modern sound system or enhance on what they already have and engage experienced people to manage the sounds. This advanced technology maintains sound quality, making the service more meaningful but as a reminder, sound system is not just about speakers and microphones. It’s a professional setup that ensures every word and song can be clearly heard everywhere in the Church.
A Church’s public address system setup ensures sounds, including music and microphone audio, reaches the entire audience equally. An experienced sound technician or an experienced parishioner who is an expert in sounds, usually engaged operates the system from the sound booth, ensuring everything runs smoothly due to the complexity of the setup.
The proper placement of the sound system is therefore very crucial since it justifies the equal sound distribution to every worshiper. The modern sound system typically includes a sound booth and control table connected to strategically placed speakers around the Church. The placement and type of church speakers, whether one-way or two-way, depend on the Church’s layout and the desired effect.
If any area of the Church building echoes a lot, it can make sounds messy and hard for the audience to understand. Hard floors and seats reflect sound waves, which can cause echoes and make the space feel noisy.
A quality audiovisual (AV) system is essential for churches today. Whether it’s a Sunday Mass, a wedding, or a funeral, clear sound and visuals make a big difference. A good AV system ensures that everyone in the congregation can hear the message clearly, no matter where they’re sitting. It is important to create a meaningful and engaging experience.
It is a known fact that music is an important feature of many of our liturgical and para-liturgical celebrations. A properly installed sound system can improve the worship experience by allowing each note and word to be heard as expected.
Modern services frequently feature films, slideshows, and live streaming. A capable audiovisual system can manage these requirements smoothly, making your services livelier and more approachable.
Investing in skilled installation ensures you receive a system that will last. It’s dependable, simple to use, and requires little maintenance as time passes. Technology is always changing. A skilled installer can help guarantee that your system is up to date-and responsive to future needs, saving you from costly updates later on.
A skilled AV Installer can actually enhance the liturgical worship experience; therefore, Parish Priests and Pastoral Councils must take the steps with alacrity to invest in sound equipment, upgrade their sounds systems and engage qualified sounds engineers to make their Parishes more engaging and accessible for everyone.
Parish Priests and Pastoral Councils should remember good sounds has a lot of benefits which needs not to be taken for granted by them. Among them are:
- Gives emotional and spiritual satisfaction to the congregation as attending Mass by most of them is to fully submerge in the liturgical activities like the homily and a good church sound system plays a greater role in that.
- The congregation is able to follow, consume and fully, actively and consciously partake in all liturgical and para-liturgical activities without difficulties as they don’t feel bored. Thereby fulfilling their spiritual needs as a “captivated audience is a focused audience”
- Sustaining and increasing the congregation, as good sounds make most of them look forward to be going to church always to enjoy good liturgical songs. This will help to curb the much talked about migration of most of our youth to other churches in their quest to have that experience.
- Good soul inspiring hymns by the choristers from good sound equipment set-up has a good therapeutic effect on the congregants as collaborated by musicologist. “Good music is the food for the soul”
- Good sounds would make parishioners have a good feel of the liturgical ambience and spiritual atmosphere.
- Good sounds at our Grottos and outdoor activities also give good visibility to people around, enhances the spirituality of other people, hence, also enhancing the New Evangelisation mission of the Church through sounds.
Therefore, setting up good sound equipment for Holy Mass and other para-liturgical activities and engaging a professional to manage the sounds are very important task that should be crucial to Parish Priests and Pastoral Councils; hence priority must be given to that area to intensify the Evangelization Mission of the Church.
By Damian Avevor
