If you’re a church leader or a church technical director, you have a lot on your mind right now as lent draws to a close. Will your church audiovisual systems stand up to the crowds this Easter? Do you have a support team that can help if something goes wrong?
Ninety percent of churches rank Easter as the holiday with the highest attendance, says LifeWay Research.
You don’t want anything to go wrong. Easter is a joyous and important time. It’s a time to attract the unchurched into your church community. It also gives you a chance to turn the “Easter and Christmas” crowds into regular churchgoers.
While it’s too late to plan a complete audio visual systems revamp a week before Easter (on the other hand, right after Christmas is a great time!), it is a good time to consider individual components that may be wearing out, upgrading your video, and ensuring you have crisp, clean sound to every corner of your sanctuary.
Ask yourself, and your tech team and worship leaders, these questions to make sure your church audio video systems are in the best shape for Easter Sunday.
Do You Have Enough Mics and Monitors?
You might have an expanded choir or band for Easter Sunday. Do you have enough mics and stage or in-ear monitors? If not, it’s time to look into renting additional equipment. If you regularly run short or you find that certain mics and monitors don’t work it’s not too late to purchase a few new pieces.
Are Any Speakers or Amps Not Working?
If you have digital amplifiers with read-outs, a glance in your equipment room will tell you if amplifiers aren’t functioning properly. For analog amps, you’ll have to listen. Are any speakers not performing? Troubleshoot to determine if it’s the amp or speaker, and see if it can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced.
Do Older Amplifiers Need an Upgrade?
If you’re still using analog amplifiers, it might be time to upgrade to newer technology. Analog speakers are affordable and long-lasting. But digital amps offer processing capabilities, less distortion, and greater energy efficiency. That reduces power and cooling requirements, which can reduce your overall electric bills. As prices for New York electricity skyrocket, you might be surprised how this investment can save your church money over time.
Self-powered speakers can also save space and further reduce long-term costs.
Dara AV can also install audio processing with remote monitoring and management capabilities. If your church sound system has an issue, we can fix it in minutes – sometimes even before you realize something went wrong. If we don’t have to brave Staten Island traffic, it saves us time and saves our client’s money.
Are the Screens Working?
Is a projector bulb near its end-of-life? Has an LED screen had issues lately? It may be time to replace these critical components. But first, be sure the culprit is not just a bad cable or a wire that wasn’t terminated properly. If your tech team can’t get to the bottom of the issue, your audio visual installer can help. We are here for our clients to service their systems, especially when it comes down to crunch time.
Are You Presenting the Video Quality Today’s Churchgoers Demand?
During Easter production rehearsals, does every seat have a clear line-of-sight to at least one of your screens? Are the screens large enough to show the details you want and congregation members expect? Are the colors true to life?
LED screens have made tremendous advancements in recent years, with screens of 100 inches – and beyond – affordable for many budgets. Additionally, advancements in color reproduction technology, brightness, and refresh rates put today’s screens miles ahead of older systems.
If you’re looking for seamless images on a large-scale, direct view LEDs deliver brighter pictures, a wider color gamut and larger-than-life images.
Just before Easter is a great time to give your sanctuary that “Wow” factor that may have been missing, or just make sure that you’re presenting the best video quality you can afford to discerning congregation members.
Is Your Overflow Space Ready?
How many attendees are you expecting for Easter service? Is your sanctuary designed to hold them all? If not, it’s time to ensure your overflow space audio visual systems are ready to meet the demands of today’s tech savvy audiences, who expect an experience as good as – if not better – than what they’d get in the main congregation if they are gathered in an overflow space.
Depending on the size of the space, anything from new projection systems to a video wall could meet your needs to make a large congregation worshipping in separate rooms all feel like one.
Do You Need Rental Equipment?
If your church needs lighting, additional audio equipment, or temporary screens to take your Easter service to the next level, it’s time to decide if it’s best to rent or buy these gear, and start shopping around for fair prices, good service, and a firm who will take the time to work with you on your church’s overall technology, so it doesn’t look like you just brought in new equipment with no thought of how it would fit into the overall design.
Do You Strive to Reach Even More People?
If you’re considering streaming video services, Easter is a good time to make that leap. Dara AV can provide the means to record, edit and stream services to reach homebound congregation members and expand your reach beyond the New York area. We can also set your sanctuary up for streaming services.
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Are you ready for your Easter service? If not, Dara AV is here to help.
Why not give us a call and see how Dara AV can serve you.
FAQ
How much does a church sound system cost?
A high-quality church sound system can cost between $20,000 and up to $50,000 or more. It depends on the size of the sanctuary, any overflow space, and the type of system you need.
What brands are church sound systems?
Affordable, high quality sound systems from companies like JBL, Community Professional and Bose Professional will deliver the audio quality your church needs and stand the test of time. If you aren’t sure, find an audio visual design consultant specializing in churches to create a system to meet your needs and budget.
What is a church sound system called?
A church sound system might be called a PA (public address) system in a smaller church, and would include speakers, amplifiers, and a mixer. Church sound systems can run the gamut from a very simple PA system for spoken word all the way to concert-level line arrays, subwoofers, and digital processing to immerse the congregation in the music.
