by Michael Moore

The Holiday season is a marquee moment for Houses of Worship (HOW), big and small. While it is a time of reflection for the congregation, it can be a busy and intense season for HOW staff. From the increase in the number of services to special events and holiday performances, the sanctuary schedule is packed. The biggest factor in executing a successful program is making certain the audience can clearly hear the speakers, vocalists, and instrumentalists throughout the worship space.

Guaranteeing the right equipment is on-hand, prepping microphones, and most importantly, making sure there is rock solid wireless performance, is essential for every service. Finding volunteers and/or employing an individual or team dedicated to AV for the holiday season is a must.

Preparing For the Season

Holiday services tend to have the highest attended levels and the most complicated productions; this can be the most nerve-wracking time for even the most experienced audio system operator. Below are a few tips to make sure your holiday productions don’t come to a halt due to poor audio quality.

Start Your Production Audio Planning Early

Whether your congregation is 20, 200, or 2,000, preparations for the Holidays need to start well in advance. It’s critical to initiate communication with the worship and creative teams at least two months before the kickoff to rehearsals – though if you can start even further, that’s better. Excellent early communication with your teams on their vision and production needs for the holiday season will help you plan an audio technology plan that can fulfill their needs.

Assess Your Current Audio Inventory

After receiving the list from the creative and worship departments, it’s time to determine what audio technology requirements are needed to fulfill the house of worship’s vision. For example, when more people are added to the worship team for services, it can lead to a need for more microphones and channels that you might not currently have. You will want to look at your entire inventory to see if your current wireless system and microphone will cover the increased needs of your house of worship’s holiday productions.

Fulfill Your Holiday Technology Requirements

A few options exist for increasing your audio equipment to scale to your increased production needs. Some houses of worship will automatically purchase the gear that they are missing. Other houses of worship will rent. And smaller houses of worship might borrow from people in their congregation or other organizations to fulfill their holiday production needs.

For some Houses of Worship, it makes sense to rent their gear if you only use it once a year versus a scenario where the new equipment will be used multiple times yearly. If you decide to rent, it’s even more vital to know your technology requirements months in advance. Due to the current chip shortage, many rental houses may not have product availability like in years past.

The AV tech or team appointed for the season will be responsible for managing the rentals, driving communication between the right departments to understand the needs for the performances, and training volunteers to make certain systems work correctly and sound is flawless across events.

Planning well in advance will also give you a chance to understand how to properly integrate the rented items into your existing audio system. Plus, it will ensure things are properly connected and you have a strong signal. Software programs can also help with RF coordination to make sure there is no interference across channels or within the building. If you plan on adding extra wireless channels, take the time to test and verify that your microphones and newly integrated systems will work correctly.

Depending on the number of other programs held throughout the year, it may be worth considering buying over renting. However, it is important to consider your budget and the needs of the pastoral, choral, and worship teams before making that choice. If you do decide to buy, the price point is always something to consider. Consider investing in the highest quality system you can within your budget—ensuring strong ROI, quality performance, and stellar audio. To maximize your budget, it’s also wise to invest in microphones that are suitable for multiple use cases in your worship space.

For example, you may only need to rent a few microphones rather than buy a whole new system. By focusing on budget, antenna distribution, and infrastructure, you likely only need to add a few channels that drive quality sound rather than buying too many that may be left unused. Additionally, consider rechargeable batteries—that can be monitored on the system–over standard AA ones that need to be swapped out every few months. By not having to source new ones it can help reduce costs and increase the ROI.

Ensure Rock Solid Wireless

Excellent wireless performance is paramount to the success of the Holiday season. It’s key to ensuring audience engagement, participation, and sanctity, but where to start?

• Hardware First: whether you are renting additional equipment or simply just adding channels, elements need to be plugged in and wired correctly or it simply won’t work. This allows the tech team to check the distribution channels and ensure there is the proper distance between antennas – reducing the chance for feedback.
• Software Next: scan environments ahead of time to understand the RF environment and help you/the tech team know where you can add additional bands without causing interference; ultimately, helping you mitigate any issues. For example, a tool like Shure’s Wireless Workbench® software allows you to monitor and manage every piece of gear connected to the system without disrupting the production. With frequency calculation and analysis, the AV team can manage all the coordination from one application.
• Day-Of Management: have one tech person dedicated to managing the wireless on the day of each service or performance. They will be in charge of monitoring the RF frequencies and battery levels as well as testing and verifying that all mics/bodypacks work correctly so there is no interference.

To ensure rock-solid performance during critical moments, consider the following:

1. When renting, try and select similar products so there is a level of familiarity and teams can easily manipulate the signals/hardware and set up faster.
2. Closely monitor wireless frequencies if you add new channels to existing systems as it can affect bandwidth.
3. If using two different systems, the tonality may be different, especially if you are splitting the vocalists. Teams may need to be more cognizant of the mix, so it sounds the same.

Microphone Maintenance

While strong wireless is crucial, it’s just as important to make certain your microphones are prepped and ready to go for the big performances. Whether you’re planning to use existing microphones, rent ones to bolster your equipment, or purchase new ones, it’s essential to understand the application and test and confirm each one works properly. Also, take care when miking the space. You want to be sure there are enough microphones to capture the sound but avoid adding too many as it can cause more of a headache than needed.

For example, when miking a choir, the basic formula is the 3:1 rule. Meaning, that it is best to place mics two to three feet from the front row of singers. Then, set additional mics nine feet on either side of the center mic. This guarantees there are no hollow sounds due to phase cancellation or the comb filter effect because the mics are placed too close together. Additionally, there are similar best practices to miking drums, guitars, and other instruments for the sanctuary to ensure the audio sounds full and bright to the audience.

Preparing for the Holiday season can feel daunting, but it does not have to. Knowing you have the right wireless system in place; your microphones are tested, verified and ready to use; and your team trained; the sound of the performances and services will be a success.

Michael Moore is a Senior Market Development Specialist at Shure. He assists end users in determining the right audio products for their diverse applications, focusing on houses of worship and corporate workspaces. Prior to joining Shure Inc., Michael spent the better part of 15 years in A/V integration.