Customer Reviews

Guide to Sound Systems for Worship

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Until I received "Guide to Sound Systems for Worship" all I had were unanswered questions and no where else to go for the answers. I was so excited as I read and found those answers and more. I have read the "Guide" from cover to cover several times and every time I have another question I go back and there's the answer. I feel it is written on a level that would satisfy beginner and intermediate sound personnel. It defines everything from "what is sound, and how does it work" to "how it moves through the system, what the different components do, where to insert them and what it should sound like" including main mix console and monitor systems. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about how to better operate and understand their sound systems.

This book (Guide to Sound Systems for Worship) is a must read for anyone who is wanting to understand the purpose, use, and possibility of improving their sound system for religious worship. It gives an excellent overview of the electronics of a sound system without getting too "techie." More important than the techincal information this book helps you to explore the purpose and importance of your sound system within your worship service. Anyone who is a sound tech for a church or synagogue or on a committee preparing to buy a new sound system should read this book before they take any other steps. It will help the reader to understand that any money that is invested into a good quality sound system is money that is invested in one's worship service.

This book isn't just for the church 'soundman'...it's for everyone involved in worship. It covers the basics of "do we need a sound system" and how much to spend to setting up the gain structure of your system. It is written in easy to understand terms and has plenty of diagrams. I have been doing sound for over a year for the college-aged 'praise team' and just recently started mixing the sunday morning services. I had picked up a lot of knowledge during that time. This book affirmed some of my "I think so"s and taught me new things like proper mic placement, monitor mixes, and setting gain structure.

This book also goes into the non-technical side of planning the system from building design to what to look for if your going to be highering a sound engineering consultant to build you a system.

Its a very good book for the non-audio professionals in a church that volunteer their time to do the church sound.

Fantastic. I've been in small-to-medium live sound reinforcement for years picking up small bits of information. This book put me on a level to install and set up systems with confidence that I was providing the best sound that I could. I learned proper audio terms and strategies; and could intelligently communicate with professionals. I like the organization of the chapters. After the first four chapters on audio introduction, you can skip around to other chapters that discuss various components of sound systems (i.e. mics, mixers, processors, amps, speakers). After learning the basics, it becomes a good reference manual.

I am an acoustical and systems design consultant who specializes in the design and functional rehabilitation of worship facilities. I recently re-read this book as part of a survey of available literature to recommend to the church staff members and volunteers I routinely train in technical operations.

Simply put, virtually all of the information in this well-written book by knowledgeable authors is of a fundamental nature. The misconceptions many people have about these basic technical principles, along with various types of moral failures, are the cause of most of the bad sound we encounter in our daily lives. In my view, the absence of present-day fad products only helps to maintain focus of the book on serving the needs of the novice church sound operator. One exception is probably to be found in the area of stage monitoring, where the explosion in the availability of in-ear monitoring and personal mixing systems has revolutionized the quality of sound that can be attained by amateur musicians. A few other developments, such as high-quality sub-miniature microphones for speech and close instrument pickup, and the superior tools now available to the audio system designer for measurement and prediction, would also be worthwhile to mention in an updated edition. It is probably best not to spend too much time on such things as loudspeakers, DSP, and room acoustical devices, even though their development continues at a brisk pace, since the selection of these technologies is a design-level task. To that end, one of the ways in which this book is smarter than most on church audio is that it helps the novice to gain a sense of what is and *is not* a user-level decision or adjustment, and what tasks should be performed by audio professionals at either the technician/installer, or designer, levels. These are some of the most important concepts for any audio practitioner, facility manager, organizational leader, or performing artist to be aware of.

Apart from ephemeral changes in recording media, about the only truly out-of-date information in this book is the suggestion that monophonic, central-cluster loudspeaker systems are appropriate for music-intensive churches. For the most authoritative summary of this topic, see Jim Brown's AES preprint #5666.

Finally, this book contains a useful bibliography, although its list of manufacturers should perhaps be replaced with a list of journals and magazines, training organizations, and web resources. As it is, it is the best available starting point for the church sound operator, and should be combined with Curt Taipale's "The Heart of Technical Excellence" in order to gain the best insight available from a book on the role and needs of church technical staff and volunteers. Happy reading!

This book was excellent in covering sound systems for church and other applications. It discussed all aspects of audio operations both basic and advanced. While not a substitute for a lot of OJT and real involement, it helped me to understand how things worked and why you do things the way you do.

I am just learning how to run a mixing board and set up mics for worship

I found this book to be a great help in learning the basics yet it not written too low

I purchased 4 books all at the same time and this is the best of the 4

PS: after the fact this is the book that 2 professionals recommended

This book provides just about everything you would want to know about church sound systems. It may be a bit below a true Sound Engineer, but for the rest of us it is great. It doesn't cover all products but the general knowledge is there and for all but the pure novices it can be made to fit just about any product. It also makes a great reference book to keep on the shelf for thoses times things go wrong.

In the late eighties I was sent to the Yamaha School of Audio Engineering, which was offered at their faciities in Garden Grove California. My employer, at the time, saw the opportunity to enhance my effectiveness. It worked. We installed audio and audio video systems in everything from theme parks to churches. The education along with practical experience provided a solid operational foundation. Simultaneously, it sparked my sense of innovation. I enjoyed the connection I felt with large-scale developers, as I played a role in multi-million dollar projects.
It's now twenty years later and the industry has gone through several major changes - so have I. I left the audio industry in the early 1990's recession to become a teacher. However, recently I have found usefulness in the Yamaha guide to Sound Systems, again. This time I am using the Guide to Audio Systems for Worship as a text to instruct Churches' technical staff on the workings of the sound systems and relevent factors that influence its operation. The book is fairly comprehensive, easy to read/understand. Also, it provides good insight into the functions and complexities of Audio systems for worship.
We have been using the books for four weeks now, and the students are already seeing positive results in their facility and effectiveness to solve problems arising from the use of a large-format, professional-grade audio system in a large church. I recommend this book to any church audio technical teams, who want to develope their efficacy. It has what is needed.

Great Book, I am in the live sound field for churches and mid sized concerts all over AZ. This book is the foundation for everything you need in the sound reinforcement arena.

Grab it and read it.