Acoustic Design/Consulting

The architectural of physical properties of a space are the biggest factors in determining the proper application of an audio system. If you are building a new facility, understanding your worship style and application are critical to designing the proper worship space. Building materials have known acoustical properties and responses to sound at various sound pressure levels.. The shape of the room can also help or hurt the end application. These are factors outside of sight lines and accessibility that will determine the speaker system design. 

For existing worship spaces that have acoustical problems, or if you have a classically designed space and you want to move to a contemporary worship style, there are acoustic tools that can be used to achieve this goal. This needs to be discussed before, or during , the process of applying a new audio system. Just putting in a new system will not address acoustic issues. 

How loud is loud? Once the shape of the space is determined then sound pressure levels (SPL) are next. Defining this will be important to knowing which speaker design style will function best. 

The challenge for spaces that will be programmed for progressive or diverse worship are keeping the space from "loading up" or being "muddy" or just plain loud and harsh. The challenge for traditional worship spaces is to maintain spoken word intelligibility while functioning well for organ and choral worship. 

Defining the function (program) for the worship space along with the architectural properties and acceptable volume, or spl level, will give the information needed to achieve the right systems design.