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Everybody admires a new soundboard, especially one with all kinds of bells, whistles, and what-nots. There's nothing wrong with having such gear, either, to help churches hold the attention of listeners who are used to state-of-the-art multimedia. But lately, we seem to be buying into a my-system-can-beat-your system mentality, which could force us to buy far more than we need.

You can spend $110,000 for a Midas XL4, $100,000 for an Amek Recall, or a couple of hundred thousand for a Cadac Concert. If your church really needs an automated console, you can't beat those systems. But really, how many ordinary church members can tell the difference in sound produced by a Yamaha 4K for $70,000, a Soundcraft Series 5 for $53,000, or even a Mackie at $10,000?

I suppose you could argue durability, preamps, and equalizer sound to justify the expense, but you could also add wiring, mikes, speakers, and outboard gear to a lesser-priced system for far less money.

Anyhow, no matter what you spend—$10,000 or $200,000—if the system has problems or won't work properly because you don't have qualified people to operate it, you might as well revert back to tin cans and a string, or shouting.

Speaking of qualified people, all it takes to operate a sound system is basically mastering one procedure and repeating that as many times as necessary. Sound mixing is a bit more complicated, particularly if you have to mix 60 channels. But most churches don't need that many channels; 6 to 12 is plenty for 100 people or less in a worship service.

A basic sound system for a small church should cost about $2,500, including cables and microphones. The average system in the majority of churches in the United States today costs about $21,000. The most expensive sound systems top out at about $1 million.

High-end installations include wonders such as multitrack recording that is synchronized with video. There are dozens of options to consider in purchasing a screen or projector. In choosing a screen, for example, you must sort through features like: fiberglass matt white, seamless matt white, glass beaded, front projection, rear projection, vertical mount, horizontal mount, tilting, or straight. You must also decide the size, keeping in mind that the bigger the screen, the more it will cost to ship. In addition to price, size, shipping, and options, you should check out what kind of service you'll get on the product in case of malfunction.

In the matter of price, don't go overboard on equipment, but don't go cheap, either. Sunday services and special events have enough surprises for a sound crew without having to deal with inferior equipment. Spending a few hundred more dollars to get a console with subgroups or mute groups will make everyone a lot happier.

Churches can get along without mute groups, 10 auxillary sends for different monitor mixes, a rack of wireless units, or in-the-ear monitors. What they shouldn't be without are a couple of good microphones, a set of speakers, a clean amp, a good board to run it all, and extra cables to replace the ones that go down for no apparent reason.

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