How Loud Is Too Loud For CHURCH? 

Given that worship is meant to be a congregational participatory experience, you need to factor in the dynamics that play to help each member join in with singing. An important, but not discussed here, issue is that a singer (congregational) has to be able to hear the crowd around him/her singing - just like the vocalists in the band need foldback - so they can feel a part of the moment. If the mix prohibits that group sense for the congregation, then it is just a concert. If your mix seems flat, then some tweaking in your EQ on each component input will need attention: you are the engineer with a job to do, and that job is to ensure maximum participation.

Having a healthy conversation about volume is so important!

The same way people use the word “loud” to describe something harsh, I’ve found that people also use the work “quiet to describe something too muddy or lacking in clarity.

Room acoustics are just as important as the decibel reading… our church runs just as loud as we always have but since treating our room the clarity and lack of long reflections has made the listening experience much more pleasing. Bad acoustics makes a difficult job almost impossible

I have been on worship teams for years, and volume didn't dawn on me until I saw my father in law wincing in pain, trying to turn down his hearing aids once the band fired up. I've since come to a place where I'd rather hear the church over instruments, so that means turn it waaaaay down

I know an older person who has a pace maker, and when the church service is too loud he has to step outside the building until worship is over. I'm glad someone is talking about his.

When the guy in the second row (without a microphone) is able to sing louder than the combined volume of 5 people singing with microphones, and he is singing off key so loud that it causes the worship team to have difficulty finding their notes, that's when you know the volume is NOT loud enough.

I think there is also something that links more to the theology of church singing that needs to be considered. Our goal is to make the church SING to the lord, not to listen to the band perform! If the congregation is not singing, there is something wrong. If the congregation can't be heard thru the sound system, we need to lower the volume. Try it! There is no sound as beautiful as the voice of the church singing praises to the lord.

As a professional sound tech of many years, I gotta say I found this video to be extremely well done! Such a solid tutorial for anyone who feels insecure with those conversations, including the ones who wont admit it :P Keep up the great work!

I used to run sound for a small church way back in the 1980's. The console I had was a Peavey 10 channel analog unit, with way fewer bells and whistles than the consoles I see being featured in the tutorial videos I have been watching lately. Needless to say, there was no such thing as a digital mixer back then! My pastor gave the simplest, and most straight-forward advice: "The goal is to make the sound natural, but only louder." That advice worked for me throughout the years I was doing it. I didn't have fancy instruments, meters, and computer programs to achieve the perfect mix; instead, I used the most technologically advanced tools ever given to man by God--my ears! I listened carefully during sound check and took suggestions from the musicians and singers--and followed the pastor's advice. In all those years I do not recall ever really having anyone in the congregation complain that the sound was too loud. I guess I was doing something right! I must, however, take issue with your assertion that 95 dB is "safe." First of all, "safe" and "comfortable" are not necessarily the same thing. As a sound engineer in a church, it is imperative that you keep the sound levels at a "worshipful" level (whatever that is). (One of my biggest issues where I now attend is that often the vocals are lost amid the instruments. It's hard enough to sing along when every song is one that I have never sung before, without the extra aggravation of not being able to hear the singers over the instruments!) You should take into account for the fact that older members of the congregation will hear sounds different than will younger members. You are going to have to strike up a happy medium--a mix that is pleasant to "most" of the people in the room. If it is not perfect, so be it. After all, you are not mixing a rock concert; you are mixing a worship service. Just because you "can" push levels to 95 dB, doesn't necessarily mean that you "should"! I am used to talking about dB SPL, so maybe that is where some of my confusion with what you are saying comes in. I recently worked 17 years as a baggage handling system repair technician at an airport. Our management told that us we had to wear ear protection when we were in any area the sound exceeded 85 dB SPL. That basically meant we had to wear ear plugs all the time when we were outside. My point is, how can 95 dB be called "safe" when anything over 85 dB is considered "unsafe"? What am I missing here? How does 95 dB, peak relate to 85 dB SPL? (It's all right if you don't answer; I know how to "Google." I will find the answer. Thanks!)

Excellent and informative video. Thank you so much. Loved that illustration/skit you did 😊

This video is excellent!! Haha love the enthusiasm, very engaging and informative. Good things to remember when responding to the congregation.

Great discussion - Thanks

I set a couple of LEQ A-weighted alarms in Smaart. 3mins, 20mins, and an hour. That way, I have a single song limit, limit for the duration of worship, and the whole service. I tend to help the band with their dynamics with the band and vox VCAs which also helps keep the mix in healthy volume levels. A feels-good loud when it should be loud and a feels-good quiet when it needs to be quiet. I got the idea from Muse’s FOH dude. The pastor and production director trump all for sure. Excellent video, dude.

I have been focused on just this topic. Yes, I got complaints. By asking questions, I figured out that what bothered people was not the actual volume, but the harshness, particularly of the vocals. I added some dynamic EQ centered around 4kHz to the vocal bus and the complaints turned to compliments. Levels are 90-93 dB SPL C weighted, slow, at FOH

Years ago I added mics to our drum kit. The next Sunday someone complained that the new mics were too loud. Which was interesting to me, since they weren’t actually CONNECTED to anything yet…. :)

I wish more people understood just how hard it is to get it perfect and that it's not so simple of a problem. Especially dealing with low end equipment, with poorly configured speakers.

Have you ever seen children, especially toddlers, holding their hands over their ears during a worship service? I have. It seems to happen starting at maybe 90 dB-SPL peak. By 100 dB-SPL peak it is almost common. I suspect that young ears are feeling pain at these volume levels because holding your hands over your ears for ten minutes or more on end takes work. They would not do it only because they don't prefer the music. If anyone knows of some research on this matter, I'm interested. I've never seen it mentioned in journals, which does not mean it is not "out there," but at least I've not found it mentioned in the literature. But now that I've mentioned this behavior, keep your eyes out and I suspect you will notice it. (Great video BTW.)

So much to say!!! I run FOH around -5 db or -10 db master fader wise and tend to use VCA grouping to balance things. Sometimes people as musicians, Pastors, singers etc like to be loud and tend to rely on the ambience of the FOH instead of using the in ears or their floor wedges. Sound guy wise if you don't have a person know the difference of balancing volume with faders and aux volume they tend to turn things extra loud with the Gain knob and its like noooooooooooo!!!!!! Loud don't make you stand out or anything. Having a good balance control overall with volume is where it's at. Again a lot to say bolllllll but thanks so much for this vid!!!!

Remember people! FOH mix position is likely 3-6db lower than your front rows!! Depending on your PA of course, but dont forget its always louder in the front compared to your FOH mix position.

Agree with everything. Additionally, by the time congregants come into the service and the music begins, as engineers our ears are already "burned" in so the level may be fine for us but not out of the blocks for them. So a good practice is to start the level a little lower than the full volume and inch your way up to that top point. That will allow them to ease into the mix and levels.

Oddly enough- my pastor LOVES it LOUD. Louder than I believe it is needed. Luckily, our congregation loves it and have only gotten a complaint once and it was right after my pastor asked to bump it.

As a layperson/congregant, I’m almost never complaining about the mix. (Though I often wonder why some of the singers are bothering to sing into microphones when they’re not included in the sound in the room. I assume it’s for the recording that I am not going to ever hear.) When I can’t hear the mic’ed pastor speaking while the worship team is playing/singing, IT’S TOO LOUD! If the sound board operator is wearing headphones to monitor the mix and never removes them to listen to the actual room, IT’S TOO LOUD! Sound team members who are not on duty should be moving around the room to understand what the congregants experience! To be fair, some complainers need to choose different seats so as to be further from the loudspeakers.

I feel that if the congregation can’t hear themselves singing then it’s too loud. I know that is quite simplistic but it’s not a concert. The musicians and singers are there to help the community to sing. And yes, church personalities matter. Thanks for your insights!

As you mentioned, harsh frequencies is usually the issue which tuning your room can help. Sometimes certain frequencies are the issue and not just the volume. That's how festivals and concerts get away with pushing 100-105 db and it feels powerful instead of "harsh" during the set.

There's some great advice here! Thank you! I will say from personal experience, knowing who you are accountable to in regards to sound levels is part of that conversation at times. Receiving feedback from the service co-ordinator/pastor or whoever it is that is responsible for the overall environment of the meeting can be a humbling reminder that you are accountable, part of a team - and are assisting in leading people to meet with their Creator God in adoration in a room of amazingly unique people all doing the same. This isn't your rock show, haha 😊

2 additional things that I’ve found that are really helpful in conversations with people about complaints. First I ALWAYS ask which seat they’re sitting in. PAs don’t cover spaces perfectly - ours are actually pretty good, but there are still hot and cold spots. A vast majority of the time, I find those people were sitting in a known hot spot. And even if they weren’t, it allows me to offer a suggestion to try a different seat - I can usually point out some “quieter” areas of our room. Second, I’ve found it really helpful to let people know that I wasn’t perfectly happy with it either. (Now. Usually I’m unhappy with different things than they were, but that’s beside the point.) “Ah man. I’m sorry to hear that. I was really struggling with a few things (sometimes I name them if it’s not too technical) this morning. Some mornings this is a piece of cake, sometimes I’ve really gotta fight with it to create a good experience. This was one of those mornings. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to nail it like we usually do.” I think a lot of times people assume that what came out of those speakers was exactly what I wanted, and that’s almost never the case 😂. Owning up that I’m still tweaking and wrestling with it has been super disarming.

My husband and my ears where ringing, when vocalist sang I had to leave the room to hallway. I can’t hear my own voice or others sing next to me. It’s a concert that we didn’t choose. We don’t get to be involved in worship.

Excellent video man! So much subjectiveness to this conversation. Every congregation and church is different! And a killer well balanced mix on an excellent PA can be completely comfortable and enjoyable at 95db! while a rough mix on a poorly designed or deployed PA at 88dbA can be a much worse experience! Or anywhere in between! My church is a very large energetic impactful church. We have an excellent band, not the best PA but a decent one, and it’s about a 3000 seat auditorium. When I first started mixing there I was averaging 92dbA at FOH, I was asked to turn it up. Now I average about 96dbA at FOH and have only gotten one noise complaint from a single congregant in the last like 6+ months. But I recognize this isn’t every church I walk into. It’s about culture! Also understanding that in a poorly designed or deployed PA or poorly treated room, FOH may not be your best point of reference which is hard cuz that’s where you spend the majority of your time. I like to walk the room and verify that it’s translating well throughout!

Once I had two members came up to me at the same time. One said that the bass guitar was too quite and the other complained that the bass is too loud.

I've had complaints about the sound being too loud when I've had the house sound turned off. They were hearing the stage monitors.

Having been the sound man for many years at church, the person who gives the most money to that church determines how loud the music will be

I record my measurement mic. I play it back through smaart in virtual soundcheck and look/listen for issues.

I’ve found that 90% of the time it’s not that that the mix is too loud. Most of the time it’s something in the mix: a harsh or peaking frequency, a sub frequency that’s resonating in the room rattling the chandeliers, lack of clarity, or the band hit a wrong note. A perfect example of this is Gateway Church in Dallas. They run up to 110dbA peaks but because the sound was crystal clear and next to perfect they get few complaints. My church runs up to 95dBA peak and we still get complaints occasionally but I usually just look for whatever frequencies are peaking the most on my RTA and then do 2-3dB eq cut in the mains/sub eq for that frequency. Generally solves the problem without pulling energy out of the whole mix.

While we haven't gotten many volume complaints lately we have had them in the past. I measure the volume from the center of the room, not the sound desk. As an "average" rather than a minimum (sound desk being the furthest point from the speakers). We aim for 90dB on the slower average mode of the meter. What I don't hear people talking about much when it comes to FOH volume in worship is how that volume sits in relation to your own singing. The way I see it is that I have 2 reference points, one is where my own voice overrides the worship leader (WL) and I can no longer hear them or follow their melody (ie the "minimum"). The second reference point is where my own vocal is completely drowned out by the PA and I can no longer hear my own voice at all (am I singing the right note? probably not). That's a "maximum" so to speak. I either case I've lost the ability to follow the WL. I'm not a super proficient singer so I need a strong melody to follow. There is a lot of scope within those reference points, and I like to sit the WL a bit above where my own voice sits... and then form the mix around that WL. The harmony instruments are a tiny bit lower not to compete, the drums+bass are fairly equal in level etc. So yeah, I walk down to the middle of the auditorium and sing along. Having the ipad to make adjustments as I go lets me do that. There are several large churches in my city that regularly hit that maximum point for me... and yeah I just don't really want to visit them because of that. I love the music but it's too loud for the PURPOSE of leading the congregation in song. And I love loud... loud is great. But what's the point? Really? It's to lead people in worship.

We often have the problem that a) some people want to be able to hear themselves AND their neighbors singing b) and some like to be "engulfed" by the sound of the band (and specifically NOT hear themselves or their neighbors). It is rather difficult to mediate those two - nearly mutual exclusive - preferences; esp. since both sides take their own for 'objectively right". A similar conflict is between people who essentially want to hear the singers (just slightly "decorated" by the instruments) while others like to have a full "band experience" with the vocals just playing a part in it. We are experimenting with different 'zones' (front right near the band for the 'engulfers' - back left the 'self singers'), but it is really hard for people to sit anywhere else (esp. harder than to complain to the tec afterwards ;-) ). Another approach we are starting soon: Feedback sessions after each service (mainly among the staff).

I tell people all the time. Find MORE volume in the low mids. and lows. you won't get any more complaints but you'll get more engagement. Now don't go overboard (nobody wants to hear subs feeding back at 50hz) but try that out. I aim for a 'C' weighting at least 5db louder than my 'a' weighting...

Bad eq or unbalanced mix can contribute to perceived loudness, but when I step out of the mix position and stand in the congregation, if I don’t feel comfortable singing because I can’t hear if I am on pitch then no matter how good it sounds, I am mixing for entertainment value, not for supporting the congregation in worshipping God, and it is too loud.

Problem frequencies can stack up like 4 female singers on a similar part and make a safe sound level sound harsh and loud.

When trying to settle on an average sound level I would suggest that you put some people out in various sections of the auditorium and find out if they can hear thereself singing or are they just drowned out by the volume? Worship is supposed to be a corperate participation and if the majority can't hear themselves singing....it is too loud! As a musician I love the music but in worship the words are more important than the quality of the backing.

As a professional musician that has played at many churches I can tell you with certainty that at least half of mixing engineers are deaf and/or they have no conception of the genre. They should be thinking “coffee shop band”, not “arena death metal”. When the congregation can’t hear themselves singing, they’ll simply stop and watch the show.

I can only control the keyboard and the vocals. There are also two electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums which I have no control over. The building is about 90 years old meaning it was not meant to have all of those instruments. The buidling is about 50' long and 30' wide with hard surfaces and little to no absorption. When they say its too loud its frustrating because it's out of my hands. Any suggestions?

Great video! At 3:54 you mention checking "smart" to determine where your sound levels are set. What is "smart" and how do I check it on my Behringer X32 Compact mixer? Thanks!

SO much to unpack right here...I generally run our church at around 80-85db, but we do have an old guy with a db meter who likes to tell us its to loud and he generally gets told politely to put it away and if he has a problem he can talk to the pastor about it....and generally the end of the discussion. My rule is if I find it to loud...its too loud. Also at a previous church I had a gentleman (and I use that word loosely) complain it was too loud and would constantly turn around and give me intimidating looks to make it a point he wasn't happy. What we did find out later, was that he had a perforated eardrum. He knew he was the one with the problem but wanted to make it everyone else's problem. I understood his pain but at the same time, to use an analogy "you can't run onto a firing range and not expect to be shot" don't be in the main hall if you have ear problems.....

Put some foam earplugs on the mix console. The whole head banging in church tread has me flabbergasted; but it is what it is, so provide a solution. Sunday morning is supposed to be chill. But not anymore. I bought my parents earplugs because they were effectively told there would be no volume adjustment at church.

Great thoughts! What is your rationale for using DbA vs DbC weighting? Genuinely curious. Thanks!

Make sound over compressed and then add more compression. And then add limiter and tube compressor. Don’t forget auto tune. Then add more compression and one more secrete sause: compression. And the add some saturation and compression against. May be it is ok now to put it to PA. Or may one more compressor?

WHO and others say that children are more susceptible to loud sounds than adults. I believe they recommend a limit of 80 dB to avoid permanent hearing damage. Edit: cursory Google search shows various limits, but most are around 80 to 89 dB for 8-hour exposure

I try to mix at 92-94db RMS A weighted. I think it’s a bit on the loud side but any quieter and the mix sounds so “far away” in our long untreated room.

Can we do a video about sound levels, lights, and emotional manipulation?

The truth is that the population is aging and older people, in general, have less ability to tolerate high volumes. Rather than alienate a huge swath of our congregation, here is a challenge: If a church has multiple services, designate one as “The Quiet Service” where the sound is run quieter (avg 70-75db), maybe with a trimmed down band, maybe a mix that lowers emphasis on drums. Or just go all acoustic. Do it for a few months and watch what happens in each service. Observe engagement and take note of what compliments and complaints are put forth. I know it is like what many churches did in the old days, when they would have a “traditional service” and a “contemporary service”, but sort of in reverse.

We generally run at 80db because that is what the room can “handle”. If we have the kids i the whole service we run closer to 70 db (sometimes really hard to mix)

This is where my I.T. experience comes in handy. "My computer isn't working right." "Ok, what does it show on the screen right now?" "Also, what about it isn't working right?"

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A few question s from sound guys (and gals) to ask themselves IS IT LEGAL - know you local laws which may vary by jurisdiction. You may also find different laws apply to participants in the event or employees who are working on the premises , or even if you have children present. IS IT SAFE - ironically the most damage from overloud environments is likely to be done to younger people - whereas often older people who are less vulnerable wil be the ones to complain (probably because they have already experienced some hearing damage and want to minimise it getting worse) IS IT INCLUSIVE - have we got autistic adults or children present or those with similar issues - who may be severely distressed by loud noise . If we do what mitigation have we made - and if we have provided a quiet area where sound is less or they wear some form of ear defence what level of attenuation is being provided and what is the max we can go to .. WHAT ABOUT OUR TEAM - are our musicians, roadies, technicians, sign language interpreters etc all adequately protected and able to do their job - can they communicate with each other. WHAT ABOUT PASTORAL MATTERS - can our pastoral leadership team hear each other and confer when they need to WHAT ABOUT PARTICIPATION - can members and participants hear each when they sing - can they pray for each other or bring each other words from God. And finally and most importantly CAN GOD BE HEARD - noisy celebration can be a valid part of worship - but God often speaks in a still small voice. And when his people aren't hearing what he is saying he has been know to tell them to stop their noisy songs and the racket of their instruments - and that he HATES their festivals and gatherings - because they are just off on their own hype and are ignoring his message about justice and peace. (AMOS) Know when to shut the *!^*! up and give God a chance to speak and his prophets a chance to be heard and his people a chance to pray from the heart.

Hello, what monitor are you using behind you?

One thing that sound people seem to forget, is that after the pre service rehearsal, their ears are desensitized to the high volumes of the loudest songs. They then start the service at a higher volume than they should. What sounds normal to the sound person is way too loud to the person that has just walked in from their quiet car ride.

what if the venue is outdoors?

The belief in our church is that louder music brings more engagement. (Which I think is bunk.) I had a worship leader tell me that when he is in the congregation, he doesn’t want to hear the person next to him. They run it loud and my Apple Watch was reporting 96db consistently. Just for comparison, in my car I turned up the sound to cause my watch to read 96db. At full volume, I couldn’t make it that loud. We are ruining people’s hearing, one Sunday at a time. The ringing in my ears tells me it’s true.

What is the meaning of biblical worship? What Is Worship According To The… | Love Worth Finding Ministries Worship is when we give our deepest affections and highest praise to something. True worship of God is when we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's when we prize God above everything else and put Him first in our hearts. As it says in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one! Has nothing to do with modern day bands or mixes. It's from our hearts, Absolute quiet is also worship.

Rule number one when anyone comes to say it’s too loud, Ask. Acknowledge by nodding your head and turn in your ear. 1. Ask “what” is too loud? Is it a voice or an instrument? 2. When did you notice it was too loud so I can check and see if there’s anything I did or the musicians or singers did between that time and now. 3. Is it still too loud right now or was that before? 4. I’ll make some adjustments but if it’s still too loud for you let me know okay.

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Our Church sound is over 100 db is this bad ?

When the kick drum is as loud as Gun and Roses’ its too loud if you cant understand the singers its too loud !!

What about intimacy of worship .Quiet and personel .Balanced for all generations of christians .Go to classical concert and hear the harp .It is not a loud instrument but can express deeply .I have a song on Soundcloud .QUAVERTUNE . Godliness with contentment .1 Timothy 6 .Am I the first to write and compose on this subject ? I wrote this because it needed to be writen as do many other songs . The style ,dynamics and mix . I can go back to the drawing board on this too . I like to be a bit experimental with the music style and instrumentation .To me a lot of christian , even worship music ,contemporary is a bit old and tired .Townsend and Getty never get tired . It is the value of the lyric .

I appreciate that many are recognizing that SPL is only one of several factors in measuring people's complaints. However, does anyone's stated dB references on this post take into account distances? SPL measurements really need to include @ what distance in meters due to the inverse-squared law of sound propagating through atmosphere. I'm sure we could all appreciate that there may be a difference between measurements taken at 1 meter near the source and the back row of any auditorium. So, the "95bB A-Weighted, time weighted average, up to 4 hours" specification must include distance to be valid. Otherwise, it just becomes relative. I say this because I remember a certain law enforcement officer showing up with an SPL meter quoting specs while standing close to the speaker system. By the time he was through people were complaining because they couldn't hear the music. You just have to laugh.

I hate extremely loud live sound. No matter it's a conference, a musical show, an EDM festival or a rock concert, too much SPL not only means irritation and hearing damage but also exert a doom-like impact on the sound's function of information and emotion delivery. Based on my personal experience, human ears are not linear. They have their sweet spots, compression zones and clipping zones. When the SPL is too high, everything you hear is not spatial anymore. All the sound elements are crushed into a thin sharp plane and sounds like a thousand angle grinders making sparks on your skull and eardrums. Nothing's melodious, nothing's aesthetic, nothing's comprehensible. Even worse, too much noise constantly activates the subconscious run-or-fight reaction, which is certainly not enjoyable to endure.

We had a long time without any complaints, but in the resent past there were not just old people with hearing ades complaining but also "normal" people said that it has gotten louder over time (8-10 weeks). I am constantly making adjustments and improvements to the PA an the console to get a better worship experience every time. Therefore that feedback really bothers me, also beacause it is not communicated politly every time. We try to keep the volume under 90db A weighted and that only in the loud parts. I feel like the song choices play a huge role for the way we mix. When they are singing it out on stage and giving it their all, it feels wrong for me to not give this the energy it needs. Also our subs may have been too quiet in the recent past. If there is a lack of bass, sometimes this also can lead to a unpleasant mix. I will try to have the FOH be the loudest position in the room so that if anyone comes up to me and complainsy that my reference wasn't wrong. There is so much that goes into that topic. Thank you for dicsussing it.

I'm pretty sure that you're mixing too loud, but all I have is the numbers that you are telling us that you are mixing at. Ultimately, church music is congregational music. If you are mixing it like it is a concert, then you are missing the boat. It needs to be loud enough that people feel safe singing, but quiet enough that they don't have to yell for the person next to them to hear them singing.

Usually I turn the master down a few db. so they hear the change in volume. Then creep it back up after they leave.

I have an idea. Lower the volume. Problem solved.

If the purpose of the music is to worship God, we need to remember he is not deaf. Very loud church music is entertainment, not worship.

Worship isn't about showcasing the band's performance, it's about the CONGREGATION singing songs to GOD! If the congregation can't hear themselves singing - maybe you should reconsider who it is you are "worshiping".

Dude, you should be doing professional voiceovers.

Yeah, volume way too low!

When the choir or the band are really good, no one will ever complain that its too loud

My question isn’t why is it too loud but why does it have to be as loud as you have it? Why does your mix have to be 90-95 decibels? I feel musicians in general want the music to be loud. Never understood why you can’t mix at 80-85 DBs? Your congregation are not musicians and to me it’s your responsibility to play at a level that is acceptable to the majority of the congregation. This is not a concert they paid for. I am not worried about what is healthy by OSHA standards. It’s more about servicing what your congregation wants. I respect your knowledge but your video basically talks down to the lay person and to me it sounds like you are finding excuses to play the music louder because that’s what you want and not truly listening to your congregation. The simple question goes back to why can’t you just turn it down? I think we all can still worship God at a lower level. Think about it.

Simple: It's never loud enough.