Acoustic Testimonies

Here is one of the many letters we get from churches worldwide. If you have a testimony you would like to share, send me an email, and I will post it here.

Hi Joseph,

Question:  May I have permission to quote from ‘The Recipe’ section of your ‘DIY Church Acoustic Treatment’ document please?  My mother and I have a website where we share resources for teaching children (www.kidsbiblesource.org), we also have pages with information for church teachers on various topics, and I am currently writing a page about classroom acoustics.

I also want to say thank you and God bless you, for the information that you have shared on your website.  I teach the kids at my church, and I also run special kid’s programs at camps.  After everyone struggled to hear our singer one year it occurred to me to use what I was learning from your website, and I haven’t looked back.  Wherever I teach now I setup the room with acoustic columns, disguised as classroom decorations, and as you would know, the difference is amazing, the kids just think the place looks great, but some adults have commented about ‘what a good PA’ it is, everyone can hear, and the room is pleasant no matter how many noisy kids are in it.  Even the noise from teens shouting and stomping on the ceiling above us one year was barely noticeable until we took down the decorations.  

I am particularly thankful because I have significant hearing loss, but with my classroom acoustically treated I can usually hear ok and will be able to continue doing what I love to do.  I have attached a photo in case you are interested.

God bless,

Delwyn

Direct link to site.

http://www.kidsbiblesource.org/acoustics.html

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A New Acoustical Tool for the Acoustic ToolBox.

Performance Space Acoustics is fraught with many myths, misinformation, and limitations.  It is pure science, but its complexity makes it appear part of the mystical arts, brainwashing most into believing good acoustics is not possible or repeatable.  What could be further from the truth?  There are rules for acoustics.  Follow them, and success is assured every time.  Break any rule, and the results create an endless and costly cycle of experiments to correct the error.  It doesn’t have to be that way, but it is human nature for people to believe that the rules don’t apply to them.  The burning question is, which is greater, the laws of physics or human nature?  The answer is simple.  The laws of nature cannot be broken, and no amount of human cleverness can change that. 

It has often been said and proven that acoustical problems come in layers.  The most common and misunderstood layer has to do with excess bass.  This layer is often misunderstood in acoustical measurements due to the sound-masking effects of bass energy.  Most experts are not trained…

Download the rest of the document here. The New Acoustical Toolbox.

Is Technology Killing the Church?

Since the advent of digital technology, it was hoped that church sound would improve. You would think that better sound would mean higher church attendance. Instead, overall church sound for Christian Worship in all denominations has continued to worsen. In a way, technology is killing the church, and Christians are letting it happen. The decline in church sound has pushed many churches into an entertainment style of worship in the hope of slowing down the drop in overall church attendance. The entertainment style of worship has turned services into a spectator event rather than a participation experience, which is what worship is supposed to be.

When tested, the overall speech quality in most churches is a low-level passing grade, and many more houses of worship fail a basic computerized speech test. Music quality in most churches come up short as well, even when the musical talent is entertaining enough. No matter what song leaders do, getting the audience to engage in congregational singing seems like a fruitless effort.

For many churches, the live worship service falls very short of expectations. It fails to compete with YouTube quality broadcasts. As a result, there is often no compelling reason for a person to attend a worship service that does not engage the person while attending. Congregational singing is the single most compelling reason for people to attend a worship service, second only to the preaching of the Gospel. Fellowship is another reason for Christians to meet, but fellowship is not part of the worship service. However, it does get people to church if they like the people they meet.

It is no secret that many pastors and worship leaders lament how the audience fails to participate during congregational singing. It’s not that the people don’t want to sing; they do. Instead, it is because the room cannot support congregational singing, no matter what technology is used. Churches seem blind to this fact. Instead of turning to the Bible to fix the worship space, for the past 30 years,…

For the rest of the Article, Is Technology Killing the Church?

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Churches are not concert halls.

They are Supposed to be better!

What! Are Churches supposed to be better than concert halls?
That’s a joke, isn’t it? No, this is not a joke.

The world is at war with the church and followers of Christ. Like the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9, where the people scattered when they were given different languages, the same thing happens when attending a church where the acoustics and sound get in the way of hearing clear and unaltered speech and music. In studying an abundance of existing churches, it becomes clear that there is a direct correlation between acoustics, sound quality, congregational health, and attendance. It would be fair to say that this correlation is throughout church history.

Just as the serpent deceived Eve, the serpent has been using houses of worship as a battlefield in waging that war ever since. Throughout the Bible, there are hundreds of warnings of deception, liars, false teachers, gods, Baal, and other worship idols. Satan, the great deceiver, will do anything to keep people out of heaven and build up his own kingdom. Any person tricked or deceived out of choosing Jesus and the salvation message is being added to Satan’s domain. With Satan and all his forces against us, we need every tool possible to properly preach the full Gospel message.

Throughout the New Testament, there are many warnings and declarations of the importance of everyone understanding the full Gospel message. Here are some examples.
1 Corinthians 1:10-11, Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
1 Corinthians 11:17-19, Now in giving this next instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there also have to be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
2 Peter 2:1-2, But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

In the past, churches have split because of issues such as the color of the pew Bibles, Hymnals, and whether to have wine or grape juice for communion. Likewise, a misunderstood word or phrase caused by sub-quality sound, regardless of being acoustical or amplified, can set people off as well, which has led to church splits. Just as words can bring people together, they can also set people against each other.

To that end, a church building is supposed to be a tool that doesn’t get in the way of hearing clear and unaltered speech. It is meant to be a safe place for the followers of Christ. It must have the right characteristics for the engagement of His people, to be participants in the whole worship, and for the preaching of the Gospel. For this reason, a church must outperform any secular concert and recital hall and all entertainment facilities at every level, period. However, it is not in the way most church people think.

The following is a walk-through explaining the differences between concert halls and entertainment facilities and how worship spaces are supposed to be unique in how they are to perform. It also includes a church sound standard lifted directly from the Bible. A standard about church acoustics, building design, and function, with a splash of the science that supports the scriptures. In studying and working with hundreds of churches over the last 40 years, the impact of upgrading a church Biblically has been a consistent result of increasing church attendance. These attendance increases have been consistent at every upgraded church from 5 to 25%, years later. Who knew that the Bible has so much to say about science, acoustics, human anatomy, and how it all works together.

Link to Full PDF Article https://www.jdbsound.com/art/churches%20are%20not%20concert%20halls%20final.pdf

Generation of liers

Another Successful Project following the Bible’s Method of managing Sound.

Excellent Acoustics on the first day of worship and every day after that!

This is what a Phase Coherent Sound Diffuser System looks like. There is no other acoustical system that can perform as well as this. This is a system. Not a point-and-shoot system as how all other acoustic products are applied.

Most acoustics treatments applied to churches fail to improve congregational singing.  Yes, adding enough of any acoustical product to a worship space will change how the room sounds, but in most cases, the change is exchanging one set of acoustics problems for another set of problems.  As a result, there is no real improvement in the overall quality of worship. 

When using the Biblical method of treating the acoustics of a worship space, not only is there an improvement, congregational singing is significantly enhanced.  In most churches that upgraded their sound the Biblical way, the audience participation often goes from less than 30% of the congregation signing to over 70% of the congregation singing within a few weeks after the worship space is upgraded.  This realizes a church attendance from 5 to 25% within the first year and higher attendance for years to come.  This improvement in attendance comes from making the room friendlier to anyone with hearing issues, which affects 8 to 25% of any population group.

Shantz Mennonite Church

Having any worship space enhanced with Biblical acoustics makes the room more accessible for everyone rather than just for younger people.  Here is an example of a brand new church where the song leader asked everyone to sing acapella during their first worship service.  Few churches begin with good sound on the first day and every following worship service.  Whether a new or existing church, bringing the sound performance level up to Biblical standards makes the performance of the worship space a room where people will want to worship in, rather than a place where people wonder if they can understand the whole message without playing it back later electronically. 

If you want to experience a great-sounding worship space, visit Shantz Mennonite Church in Baden, Ontario, Canada.  This is just the latest of the hundreds of churches that have managed their sound according to what the Bible teaches.  Sound in a worship space managed any other way comes up short of meeting the needs of any congregation. 

Here are more images of the church.

Can Science Explain Everything?

A Bible Story Parody

This is an updated version of this parody story originally published in 1990.

Enjoy.

Click to access parody%20creation%20story-lp.pdf

A Bible Story Parody

Flow Chart of the House of Worship God Designed for the best Sound and Acoustics

The path to the best sound and acoustics for a church can be found in the Bible. Who knew! Here is a printable version of the House of Worship flowchart. There are a number of updates, improvements, and, a bonus, the secret sauce recipe for church acoustics. All of it is based on the scriptures.

The flow chart is in two parts. The first part details the temple in terms of how every part of the building points to Jesus and Christians and how the Holy Place was a template for the modern church. This section can also be used as a Bible study or study guide for anyone interested in Solomon’s Temple.

The second part does a deep dive into the sound and acoustics side of the temple and how that translates into meeting the needs of modern churches.

The house of Worship that God designed solves the one problem most churches have – poor congregational singing. Studying this method of sound management for churches solves the congregational singing issue, and it removes most of the limiting factors that affect all sound systems. It seems that there is a symbiotic relationship between good congregational singing and amplified sound that was unknown until a Biblical solution to church sound management was applied.

There are many churches that have very high quality, and expensive sound systems that are performing well below their full potential, and most church owners don’t have a clue of either how much better their sound system should be performing or are unaware of how much unmanaged acoustic or the wrong kind of acoustical treatment is limiting what their sound systems could really do.

The other thing that must be made clear, no sound system or electronic technology can affect congregational singing. The only effective method of bringing good congregational signing into existing churches is by using the method found in the Bible. This method of managing church sound can be universally applied to all existing building shapes and designs, denominations, and all worship styles. Many pastors and church apologists often say that the scripture is sufficient in all things. Applying the Bible’s method to managing the acoustic of a church once again proves that such thinking is also applicable to the modern churches Christians around the worship own and use to worship God.

The file is large and can be printed into a 23-page document to be shared with others.

Click to access printable%20flow%20chart%20of%20solomons%20temple.pdf

Flow Chart of Solomon’s Temple