Soundproofing a Church Sanctuary

How Do I Soundproof A Church?

Soundproofing a church and providing acoustical treatment for places of worship can be a challenging process. You must balance the acoustics of the spoken word, the choir, and live musical content to enrich the worship experience.

Today’s places of worship have higher attendance volume and a larger variety of services from the traditional to the contemporary. Spoken word is very important, and the choir still wants to project a full sound. There are often performances by live instruments as well. Yet we still want an intimate environment for the service and pleasing sound quality to accentuate the experience. To achieve this, you need to have a certain level of acoustical control. We can help soundproof a church with a good sound reinforcement system that meets your needs. You cannot have an effective sound system without great room acoustics.

What Are Some Ways To Soundproof A Church?

• Having a church or place of worship that has low noise levels from the mechanical systems is the best place to start.
• You can treat noisy duct work with a number of materials including Pipe and Duct Lag, Pipe and Duct Wrap, Flat Foam used a duct liner, and Plenum Return Silencers.
• You will need a space that has a Reverb Time (RT 60) around 1.25 to 1.5 seconds. This will reduce excessive echo and reverberation to achieve intelligibility for the spoken word, and for the music, this will produce a clear, full sound. Adding absorptive panels like AlphaSorb® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels or Whisperwave^® Ceiling Clouds into the space can help lower the overall reverb time.
• Acoustical treatment on the rear wall, ceiling and balcony front to reduce slap back echo and excessive reflective sound energy. AlphaSorb^® Wall Panels are the most common treatment option for this section of the room.
• The stage area needs to be able to project sound from the choir, but controlled sound levels for the musical instruments. If the praise and worship band is using an acoustic drum kit, a drum shield or drum enclosure should be employed in order to limit the amount of sound being projected from the kit to the audience. A similar sound panel setup can be used to quiet onstage guitar, bass, and keyboard amplifiers, as well as horns and other wind instruments.

Why Is Soundproofing A Church Important?

By soundproofing your church, you provide your audience with greater intelligibility for the spoken word and allow for better control over the choral and musical presentations. Echo and reverberation will cause mixed sound signals unless your church is acoustically treated. Ignoring the importance of sound quality can lessen attendance and the growth of your congregation. Members will either choose to compete with the noise and speak louder and further increase decibel levels, or they will simply stop coming to the service. This is particularly important for people who may already struggle with hearing issues.

Examples Of Church Soundproofing

Here are just a few examples where Acoustical Solutions assisted with soundproofing a church or place of worship that show or describe the amazing results after acoustical treatment.

• Faith Baptist Church (video)
• Miracle Faith Center (case study)
• Drum Enclosure Results (video)
• First Baptist Church of Ironton (case study)

Tips And Reminders For Soundproofing A Church

These goals are best implemented in the original design but can also be achieved after the construction is finished. You can do this in steps to meet your budget by starting with treatment that achieves the most results.

Typically, you would want to start with the rear wall or front balcony area for general room sound control. You would then move to the stage area to control sound from musicians. Do not get caught in the trap where you do not do anything because you cannot do it all at once. Whether the room is a sanctuary, fellowship hall, or gymnasium, Acoustical Solutions has the materials to meet your soundproofing needs within your budget.