If you’ve opted for a large, expansive church or cathedral venue in which to host your event, mastering the acoustics is essential if you want your presentation, music or dialogue to be heard properly by your audience.

If you’re working with a basic portable PA system, i.e. speakers that haven’t been tailored to suit the space exactly, echoes and delays can cause a real problem, so here are a few tips on how to best optimise your sound to avoid any auditory mishaps.

While churches are built with good acoustics in the forefront of the design, amplifying a single voice can be tricky.  Aim your speakers directly at the back of the church, and place them as centrally as possible.  This way, the sound vibrations are free to travel in a straight line down the central aisle, uninterrupted by columns or arches.  For music, however, you can be a little more experimental.  If the church has a tall arched ceiling, aiming the speakers a little higher will add reverb and a rich, layered tone to the sound.

Contemporary churches don’t often have carpet or tapestries, which is a real downside when trying to amplify a solitary speaker.  Take note if and when you go on your site visit as to how much soft material there is within the space, and if you can’t see much, bring some with you.  This can be old curtains, cushions, anything – place them out of sight wherever you can, corners are the most effective spots, and you’ll notice the difference in acoustic instantly.  

Remember to turn all of the reverb off on your PA, and turn the EQ up a little further than you normally do.  As the person behind the microphone, it will at first sound a little unfamiliar and it’s only natural to assume that this adjustment has made your voice sound dry and a little too piercing.  For your audience, however, the sound will be much more direct and consonants will become clearer – making your difficult job of enunciating slowly and carefully much easier.  On that point, always remember that the larger and emptier the space, the slower you have to talk to be heard clearly in the back.

We at Best Venues London have hundreds of stunning converted churches, cathedrals and halls available to hire.  You can source your perfect venue free of charge here.