Brand new speakers sound good – unless they look ugly, in which case they will likely sound “loud”. The perception of how things will or should sound has a huge impact on a person's perception of how it actually does sound. If the first audio played through a new sound system sounds bad, such as with a poorly mixed or muddy recording, then the perception of the sound system is likely to be inaccurate for those who were listening at the time. Understanding the relationship between psychology and experienced audio is vital for those who lead and serve the church through sound to grasp and apply.
The reason this is an important concept to understand, is that the experiences supported by a sound system within the life of any church (corporate gatherings such as weekly services and meetings) are an essential part of that church's nature and purpose. If the sound can be measured using a real-time analyzer (RTA) to be consistent throughout the worship space, and within desired volume parameters, but the “experience” of the congregation is that the sound is “too loud” or “not clear” then what value does the scientific evidence hold for the congregation? Very little.
The flip side of this coin is that “experiences” are extremely subjective – affected by everything from a person's preferences and past experiences, to their hearing, to the position within the room, and even to purely emotional factors such as a disagreement with the project or just being grumpy on a given day.
Often times church audio servants and even consultants/integrators/manufacturers must rely on their convictions about how things actually sound (usually supported by some kind of data) to avoid becoming quite disoriented by unhelpful and potentially inaccurate feedback.
I was once involved with a church where the speaker system was not only incapable of supporting the needs of the church, but was placed directly behind the worship team – causing perpetual feedback every week to the point of tangible frustration. Before a new speaker system could be designed and installed, I made the decision to move the current system (15-inch woofer and horn boxes on stands) to the front of the platform area so as to at least relieve the feedback issues during the upgrade process. During these weeks, the congregation experienced sound that was extremely “loud” even though the measured audio at FOH and on the front rows was the same or less than when the speakers were against the back wall – it just looked loud! In another instance, a church audio servant whose church I was consulting with during a major upgrade reported that several members of the congregation had complemented the sound of the new speakers which had been hung but not yet turned on.
The reality is that over time, these types of psychologically induced experiences do not last for long – the true sound quality of a sound system in a room will usually be experienced relatively accurately in the long run. But we should be cautious and wise in leading folks through audio upgrade projects and even with the way we go about mixing from week to week. Managing expectations and providing genuine evidence of actual sound quality can help, along with being strategic about issues such as aesthetics and inner-church dynamics. We must seek to balance the value of the congregation's experience with a sense of what is really happening – and hopefully in the end those two are the same.
