Don't Understand Sound Systems? Read This.

A problem that many churches face—especially smaller ones—is understanding how to set up and operate a sound system in their space. 

All the knobs, switches, dials, graphics…

It can be overwhelming to navigate, let alone troubleshoot any problems that arise. 

Here’s a guide that covers the set-up and use of a basic sound system—plus a real-life case study that YOU 🫵 helped out with! 

The Basics

Every sound system has these essential components:

• Something that captures an instrument or voice.

• Something that shapes that sound.

• Something that amplifies that sound.

• Something that produces the sound into something we can hear.

• Something that connects all these links together. 

Let’s look at these “somethings” in their respective “industry” terms:

• Something that captures an instrument or voice ➡️ Microphone or direct-input line (DI for short)

• Something that shapes that sound ➡️ Audio mixer/mixing board*

• Something that amplifies that sound ➡️ Power amplifier*

• Something that produces the sound into something we can hear ➡️ Speaker/loudspeaker

• Something that connects all these links together ➡️ Audio cables (instrument or speaker) or Wireless connections

• * These two components can be housed in one unit, if you’re constrained by budget or space.

When you break it down into these parts, it’s definitely less intimidating. Still, when you start fiddling around with the equipment, it’s hard to know exactly what to do with all the controls or how to put everything together correctly. 

Let’s tackle each major category, one at a time. 

The Connecting Pieces: Audio Cables & Wireless Connections

In order for a sound system to function, all of the pieces have to be connected with the correct cables. Typically, instruments plug into amplifiers, DI’s, and other units via ¼” instrument cables, microphones and the outputs of DI’s connect to the mixing board via 3- pin XLR cables, mixing boards connect with power amplifiers via a combination of ¼” and XLR speaker cables, and speakers can connect to power amplifiers via ¼”, XLR, or standard speaker wire (depends on the make/model of the speaker). 

It’s crucial that you have the right cables to make the necessary connection; it’s like this:

Your house is older and filled with only two-prong, ungrounded outlets. You buy a new coffee maker that has a three-prong cord. Well, that’s not going to work! (Unless you cut off the grounding post… yeah, don’t do that.)

Same thing in sound systems: Certain units, like microphones, only use an XLR connection, while others only use ¼” or standard speaker wire. Be sure to have the right pieces in place so you can actually hear sound fill up the room!

(Also, you cannot use a ¼” instrument cable to connect speakers and vice versa. Instrument cables are made for low-level signals, so if they’re used to connect speakers, the high-level signal can cause damage, melting, or even fire. On the other hand, using speaker cables for instruments can create unwanted sound because they are unshielded, which means they can pick up signals from other sources, i.e., fluorescent bulbs, thereby producing buzzing or humming.)

Wireless connections, on the other hand, still utilize the same connectors (¼”, XLR, etc.), but they are often expensive and are not common practice to use, especially when connecting mixing boards, power amplifiers, and speakers. You’ll usually see them used for microphones and to connect instruments to DI’s or effects boards. 

Microphones/DI’s

When it comes to determining whether to use a microphone or DI, it’s pretty simple. 

• Use a mic for: voices, certain acoustic instruments that lack pick-ups, amplifier/speaker cabinets. 

• Use a DI for electronic instruments and acoustic instruments that contain pick-ups, some other instruments (bass guitar can often go direct).

Microphones come in all shapes, makes, and sizes. Most folks use supercardioid mics that are really good picking up a tighter soundwave pattern than others. This works well for individual singers, “speaking” parts, and amplifiers/speaker cabinets. 

DI’s range from simple to complex, but at their heart, they’re just a box that allows you to plug a ¼” cable into it, and it then sends out an XLR cable to go to your mixing board. Think of it as a transition/conversion point that optimizes the signal flow from your instrument to the board. At our church, we often use a simple in/out box for acoustic guitars and keyboards, but others might use more sophisticated units that allow you to tweak the sound even further. In other cases, some amplifiers/speaker cabinets feature a DI output, bypassing the need for a microphone to be placed near the speaker grille. (The same goes for “amp-less rigs” for electric guitar players, where they rely on digital replication of an amplifier for their sound, allowing them to go directly to the board.)

Mixing Boards 

These components are probably the most intimidating, all because they have the most knobs and dials. The good news is there are really only three knobs you need to worry about on a mixing board for a super basic set-up:

• Channel gain: Sort of like volume, but it raises the ceiling of volume that your channel volume can meet. Useful for boosting up quieter voices/instruments, but too much gain can lead to that awful, squealing feedback that no one likes. 

• Channel volume: Sets the volume of a single channel within the overall mix of channels. Example: You might set a vocal channel to be slightly louder than the accompanying instrument if the instrument is played loudly. The channel volumes would be set differently.

• Master volume: This sets the overall volume of your mix. You set your channel volumes how you want them to sound proportionally to each other, and then you can raise or lower that entire mix with a single knob/dial.

Other important features would include EQ, which allows you to boost or cut specific ranges of frequencies on a given channel. Is the bass guitar rattling the whole system, even at a low volume? Roll back some of the “lows.” The keyboard or guitar is just way too “bright?” Roll off some of the “highs.” For super basic set ups, you won’t likely need to mess with the EQ all that much; you’ll mainly worry about volume and gain. 

Power Amplifiers

These units are simple, but they’re absolutely essential—this is what allows your sound signal to be amplified correctly for the speakers to broadcast into your room. In other words, this powers your speakers. 

This is also a unit that has to be paired correctly with your speaker set-up. If your wattage doesn’t match closely with the capacity of your speakers, then you’ll either not send enough signal to the speakers (faint volume), or you’ll send too much volume to the speakers, which could damage them. (This is if your wattage is far below or above the recommended ranges, respectively.)

In a basic set-up, especially for smaller churches or church plants, some teams might only have access to a powered mixer, where you combine a mixing board with a power amplifier into one unit. The thing you have to be careful about is that these units are typically meant to power smaller speakers, so you couldn’t use them to power a large, complex system for something like an auditorium or amphitheater. If you have the budget, I recommend getting a separate mixing board and power amplifier, as these units, when separate, give you the right tools to get the job done without sacrificing features, like powered mixers often do.

Speakers

For the smaller church or church plant (where you’re using maybe one instrument or computer to play tracks, along with a couple vocal mics), a couple of 8”, 10”, or 12” speakers will fill your room nicely. When you start increasing the number of instruments or the size of the room, then you need a larger speaker to hear things more clearly, without distortion coming through (characteristic of small speakers being overdriven). 

The smaller you go, the more likely you’ll use standard speaker wires to connect to your power source. The bigger you go, the more likely you’ll use ¼” or XLR speaker cables. 

(I’ve already said this, but please DO NOT use instrument cables in place of speaker cables and vice versa. Nobody wants fires, melting, humming, or buzzing.)

Real Case Scenario

Now that you know a little bit more about sound set-ups, let’s see how this played out in a real-life case.

This past week, I installed a sound system for a church, which was the first time they had implemented something like this. 

For music in worship, they regularly use an iPad with pre-loaded tracks, along with an electric keyboard for when their pianist is able to play. They didn’t have any other sound source than the built-in speakers on the electric keyboard, so parishioners sitting nearest to the keyboard were overwhelmed, but congregants across the room couldn’t hear a thing!

When it came to preaching, the pastor could project fairly well, naturally, but it would become taxing after a while. 

They needed a solution to evenly distribute sound throughout the room, making it pleasant for everyone to hear, and the pastor needed a respite from speaking loudly for an extended period of time.

They opted to go for:

• Wireless mics (1 headset, two handhelds)

• Mixing board

• Power amplifier

• Two 10” speakers

Some neat features:

• The mixing board had enough channels for the mics and the electric keyboard, plus the iPad to plug in directly. But even cooler was the fact that the mixer had a Bluetooth channel, so we were able to connect the iPad wirelessly and allow the pastor to sequence through the tracks from the pulpit.

• The speakers were finished a nice white color to blend in with the paint on the sanctuary walls, all mounted on ball-joint fixtures directly fixed to the wall. They look like a natural feature of the sanctuary, rather than a conspicuous add-in. (Think: black speakers on telescoping pole stands—not a good fit for this space.)

Installation was a bit lengthy; I had to navigate some twists, turns, and avoid metal contact points with the speaker wire (to eliminate any unwanted grounding/interference), along with solving the problem of hanging 15 lb. speakers directly onto drywall. (The wall studs were spaced too far apart for the mounting brackets.)

But the end result? A fully functioning, well-blended sound system that makes the listening experience enjoyable for people to hear and for the leaders to use, as not to wear themselves out. 

What’s really cool is that because of the support from our donors, we were able to do this consultation and installation free of charge, which immensely blessed this congregation. All they had to do was purchase the equipment, and the rest of the labor was taken care of. 

If you’re reading this, and you want to learn more about how you can help churches make the leap forward to necessary updates like this, then click the button below, or give us an email at [email protected]. 

Thank you all for the support and prayers you give—God is using this to bless His church!

Be blessed 👊✌️