As Application Manager House of Worship - Americas for L-Acoustics, Josh Maichele practices his passion for the design and engineering of world-class audio systems.
A look at the history of church sound
The design of early churches was governed by many of the same tenets that church designers use today. Chief among them: the need for congregants to experience the full sights and sounds of church in order to share in the worship experience. In particular, the ability of sound to stir hearts and engage worshippers has made acoustics and audio technology key factors in the church’s ability to reach and connect with new audiences and, as such, grow.
Learn more about L-Acoustics, industry leaders in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of premium sound reinforcement technologies, here.
Before the 1940s, churches were designed so that the human voice could be projected without amplification, often located in remote places to be away from the bustle of trains, cars, and other competing outside noises. When the first wave of sound reinforcement systems hit in the late '40s, their ability to amplify the spoken word quickly made them indispensable for churches, but the systems’ limited fidelity presented new challenges. Church leaders quickly learned that a room designed to be acoustically correct in shape and surface materials worked acceptably with one centrally located speaker as sound source, but that any number of circumstances (a poor room shape, wrong surface materials, or a wall in the wrong place) could cause an otherwise good sound system to sound bad.
In the mid- to late-1950s, the popularity of readily available and portable Public Address (PA) systems placed loudspeakers away from the people whose voices were being amplified, usually off to the left and right side of the stage. This created a disjointed feeling, but one that audiences grew accustomed to in years to come. While sound systems would continue to advance in fidelity, growing to handle even the largest rooms and supporting more diverse and modern musical styles for worship introduced in the ‘60s and ‘70s, designers of church sound systems continued to be challenged by changing room designs and having to balance coverage with keeping clean sight lines.
Conquering distance and coverage
In September 1984, Dr. Christian Heil, a physicist with a passion for sound in the field of elementary particles, created an electro-acoustic engineering firm that would ultimately become today’s L-Acoustics. Five years later, the company launched its MTD115, a high-performance coaxial loudspeaker that became a staple of the sound reinforcement industry. And in the early ‘90s, Heil and his team would change the landscape of professional sound systems with the introduction of the modern line source array loudspeakers and their V-DOSC system, the first high-frequency device capable of creating a rectangular, constant-phase planar output.
With V-DOSC, Heil and his L-Acoustics team delivered a system that nearly every professional audio loudspeaker manufacturer would soon adopt as a model for their premier touring systems.
The refinement of the line source array was a landmark development for audio engineers and designers. Easy to assemble, extend, and direct, when engineered together, arrays of speakers with different abilities behave as if the sound was radiated by a single, continuous, and articulated ribbon to deliver equal horizontal coverage at all frequencies. Not lost on sound designers for concert venues and large worship gatherings was the ability for these line source systems to deliver quality sound far beyond the limits of previous traditional point source systems, even when clustered together. With V-DOSC, Heil and his L-Acoustics team delivered a system that nearly every professional audio loudspeaker manufacturer would soon adopt as a model for their premier touring systems.
“With L-Acoustics, it’s never been a ‘me too’ approach. From day one, it has been about pushing audio technology in the direction of what is better for the listener; what will provide the best experience.”
B.J. Shaver, Business Development Director, Install - Americas, L-Acoustics
Spatial sound: a new frontier
Now, 20 years after modernizing PA systems with line source array technology, L-Acoustics has introduced a radical improvement in live sound with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology (pronounced “el EE-zuh”). While the company promises L-ISA will open a new chapter in live sound by reinventing the concert experience, L-ISA is technology that addresses many of the major issues that sound designers for worship spaces and church leaders have been hoping for.
What L-Acoustics offers with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology is a new way to design, process, mix, and experience multichannel sound that overcomes the pitfalls of audio radiating from the “wrong” locations.
Even though today’s well-engineered audio systems are better than they have ever been, they all fall short in at least one critical area: they fail to promote authentic engagement between performer and audience. Voices and instruments, often by necessity mixed in dual mono, are reproduced by loudspeakers that are deployed to locations that are too distant from where the sound is made. This makes it harder for people in the seats to enjoy and feel fully connected with what is being presented on stage, as what is happening in front of them is always coming from somewhere else—off to the side, or above, but not emanating from what our eyes are telling us is the obvious source. As good as our sound systems have become, their design introduces a “baked-in” distraction to which our minds have had to adjust—until now. What L-Acoustics offers with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology is a new way to design, process, mix, and experience multichannel sound that overcomes the pitfalls of audio radiating from the “wrong” locations.
Josh Maichele and B.J. Shaver, respectively Application Manager House of Worship - Americas and Business Development Director, Install - Americas for L-Acoustics, are experts in the new L-ISA technology and have seen firsthand the development of house-of-worship sound. Maichele says he has always had passion for designing and engineering on world-class audio systems. “It’s exciting to be bringing L-ISA technology to worship and giving church sound designers a world-class tool that can finally make the worship experience so much more intimate. Our goal should always be for technology to disappear into the experience. That is what L-ISA technology can do better than traditional sound systems.”
“It’s exciting to be bringing L-ISA technology to worship and giving church sound designers a world-class tool that can finally make the worship experience so much more intimate. Our goal should always be for technology to disappear into the experience."
Josh Maichele, Application Manager House of Worship - Americas, L-Acoustics
Josh Maichele's podcast, "High Tech Simplicity," with Justin Edmonds, can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Shaver's heart for the church has grown steadily with his audio expertise working as an AV integrator specializing in houses of worship, and has followed that passion with L-Acoustics. “I’ve seen how audio systems have evolved and how L-ISA technology is continuing to lead the way,” he says. “Line arrays were a boon to the industry. Now, L-ISA will prove itself in concert venues like Resorts World in Vegas with the residencies of major artists like Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, and Celine Dion, and in major worship spaces like Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta and Orchard Hill Church in Pittsburgh.” Shaver is quick to add that L-ISA is innovation born of the L-Acoustics spirit. “With L-Acoustics, it’s never been a ‘me too’ approach. From day one, it has been about pushing audio technology in the direction of what is better for the listener; what will provide the best experience.”
Both Maichele and Shaver frequently address questions about the application of L-ISA technology. “Will our engineers have to learn new tools?” and “Is it too complicated for volunteers to work with?” While the L-ISA ecosystem does present a new concept and some new tools for engineers to accurately translate the localization with movement of the performers, both experts offer that the tools are purposefully built for working live events and perform in ways that front-of-house engineers expect. “Panning,” Maichele explains, “now works with width and distance, and it’s already built into the software of the most popular digital consoles, like Digico, SSL, Avid, and Yamaha, so your control—and your attention—remains right on the channel strip where it belongs.” The combination of a graphical interface and functions integrated into mixing consoles make adapting to the new system," as Maichele describes, “natural and fluid for the engineer.”
L-ISA matches what audiences hear to what they see. Some are likening this to the sonic equivalent of direct eye contact.
By all accounts, the accurate localization of sound sources that L-ISA offers heralds a new era in sound, bringing with it the vibrancy and levels of immediacy that have been sadly lacking in today’s common sound system solutions. This is particularly true of worship sound. While complex research and technology from L-Acoustics were required to make it happen, the result is refreshingly simple: L-ISA matches what audiences hear to what they see. Some are likening this to the sonic equivalent of direct eye contact, allowing for an immediate, direct, and deeper connection between performer and audience. Audiences say it gives a feeling of intimacy and heightened emotional impact. What can be better for worship than a truer sense of connection?
