Houses of worship (HoW) of all denominations and faiths have long used technology to engage congregations and better communicate their message.
Sound reinforcement systems began to be used for church services from the late 1940s into the early 1950s, since when audio, and other AV equipment, has become familiar and almost standard in churches, temples, synagogues and mosques.
The technology used in HoW has broadened over the years, from sound systems to projection screens into, more recently, LED walls and digital signage for song or hymn lyrics and passages from religious texts. The focus has also widened, with recordings of services, weddings and baptisms – on both audio and video formats enabling engagement and distribution beyond the physical confines of the HoW itself.
COVID FACTOR
This went further still during the Covid period, when the HoW sector fully embraced streaming and social media to carry on with services at a time when people were confined to their own houses and unable to come to the houses of worship. Jeremy Morris, senior pre-sales consultant at Vizrt, says this trend has continued and become a key part of services and AV requirements.
“Prior to Covid, some churches were doing it and there was some online presence but generally not a great deal,” he says. “Most people thought of social media as something they would post later. Covid really brought a lot of the technology to the forefront, when many churches couldn’t meet inside the building.”
In addition to his work with Vizrt, Morris also supervises the audio for the streaming platform at his local church in the southeastern US state of Georgia. Vizrt initially moved into HoW through the TriCaster range of video production systems and the NDI (network device interface) protocol. Latterly, its graphics packages, including Trio and Artist, have been used by churches for video production and, more recently, live streams. “Online engagement has exploded over the last couple of years and we are able to provide the interactivity necessary between congregants in the church and those who are housebound or travelling or for family members who live somewhere else and want to see a baptism or a relative singing,” he says.
Darren Gosney, product specialist manager at Blackmagic Design EMEA, observes that virtual services are not going away, despite the return of congregations to their places of worship. “It’s less about necessity now and more about inclusivity, keeping connected with those who can’t attend in person,” he says. “What has changed is the expectation of quality. A single camera and laptop might’ve worked before but now congregations are looking for multi-camera setups, better audio and graphics integration to make their online services feel as polished and welcoming as the in-person experience.”
From the perspective of UK systems integration company RG Jones, streaming continues to be a key requirement in HoW post-pandemic. Jon Berry of the sales and installations department, comments: “A significant proportion of our clients still live stream services, as this also provides accessibility for other services such as weddings and funerals to overseas members of family.”
TWO SCHOOLS
At fellow SI, Noise Boys Technologies, director Phill Beynon confirms the continuing popularity of live streams but comments that there are two schools of thought on the matter now the Covid crisis is in the past. “Some churches have decided it was right for a time and stopped as they gathered again in person,” Beynon believes.
“Others have decided that it’s a valuable part of what they’re offering and want to step up what they hurriedly started out of necessity. So we’re offering better, more broadcast-quality cameras and mixing systems such as vMix, as well as support for mixing live music. This includes ‘template mix’ packages for livestreams, which are becoming increasingly popular for programmes such as Logic and Pro Tools. We’re also seeing live software mixing engines such as Waves being used for live tuning, compression, effects and a generally smoother ‘produced’ mix online.”
From the US integrator perspective, Evan Hamilton, design engineer at E2idesign, comments that hybrid and digital worship formats are still the main influences on equipment choice, with a tighter integration between audio, video and lighting to create unified environments, often working on IT networks”. Virtual services are here to stay, he says. “While many have returned to in-person worship, there’s still a significant remote audience, whether it’s for accessibility, travel or convenience. This shift has required better production quality, more robust streaming infrastructure and integration between live and digital environments. Many churches are now designing hybrid-first, rather than in-person first.”
Ian Cookson, technical content specialist at Audio-Technica, which is also UK distributor for Allen & Heath (A&H) consoles, observes that many scenarios, both pre- and post-pandemic, have relied on virtual technologies. “These range from live streaming services to people’s homes to large churches sharing services with congregations at smaller satellite churches,” he explains. “The technical requirements to achieve this from an audio standpoint call for the signal to be converted so it can be received by a computer. The simplest way to achieve this could either be via a USB output from a digital desk or over Dante if using an IP-networked solution.”
When it comes to sound in HoW as a whole, Cookson confirms that there is a general demand for better quality on both spoken word and music but with a high degree of usability. “There’s often a need to balance complex feature sets with ease-of-use, because many HoW rely on volunteer, non-professional staff to operate sound systems during services,” he says.
“As a result even sophisticated equipment, including A&H’s dLive, Avantis, SQ and Qu digital mixers, are trending towards increasing user-friendliness, with programmability and pre-configuration being really important in this market. On the microphone side, handheld, head-worn, lavalier and gooseneck mics mounted on lecterns all have their place, with each capable of addressing issues of intelligibility. Wireless technology is also increasingly found in HoW and there’s a wide variety of options for different situations, from simple, licence-free plug-and-play 2.4GHz systems to large-scale, multi-channel networked solutions.”
MULTIPLE OPTIONS
Radio microphones are now familiar in HoW but, says Chris Phillips, technical applications engineer at Sennheiser, these are not the only wireless carriers in a modern worship environment. “As well as microphones there can also be in-ear monitors, intercom, wireless video and wireless lighting control,” he comments. “It is easy to get into a situation where these devices start to interfere with each other. On top of this, you need to plan around the digital TV signals and emergency services in your area. Researching what spectrum is available in your location will help you to select the right equipment for this crowded spectrum.” Phillips adds that Soundbase (https://soundbase.app), a non-manufacturer specific, free app can assist in coordinating frequencies for a project or venue.
The other near-ubiquitous item of AV equipment in HoW these days is the loudspeaker. This ranges from columns right up to full concert rigs on a par with touring systems. The current trend is for steerable set-ups, both column and line arrays. As Antonio Ferrari, director of the engineering support group at RCF, observes, this level of directional control delivers the intelligibility necessary in not only ancient religious buildings but also modern churches.
“Many worship venues present architectural challenges, such as large volumes and highly reflective surfaces,” he says. “An example of this is the 11th century St Paul Ripa d’Arno church in Pisa, Italy, where our active VSA steerable column arrays were used to improve intelligibility. Large-scale installations in modern spaces require a different approach, such as the contemporary, less-reverberant 3,000-seat Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, which features a high-power TT+ Audio GTX line array system.”
Ferrari adds that speech clarity is paramount in worship spaces, with the critical factor being to design and install systems that evenly distribute sound throughout a building without creating dead zones while also avoiding reflections from walls, floors and ceilings. “For this there are column arrays, line arrays and cardioid loudspeakers,” he says, “which are all designed for precise control over sound dispersion. Large high-frequency transducers also contribute to this effect because the waveguide effectively controls dispersion at lower frequencies.”
Xzavia Killikelly, business development manager for Bose Professional, agrees that the demand for higher audio intelligibility has increased, particularly when it comes to the sermon, scripture readings and spoken-word presentations. “There have been countless times I have visited a church out of state, only to find poor audio was a major issue,” he says. “It affects the ability of the pastor to connect with the congregation, because someone speaking can ‘touch’ you, which is why many churches prioritise clear, intelligible sound.”
Killikelly highlights proper loudspeaker selection and placement, with Bose producing the MSA12X and ShowMatch steerable column and line arrays. “Supplemental ‘pew-back’ systems can also greatly enhance vocal clarity,” he says. When it comes to larger loudspeaker rigs for musical performances, Killikelly agrees that this was originally something found almost exclusively in evangelical churches, starting in the 1960s and 1970s, but that has changed now: “I believe live music’s expansion beyond evangelical circles reflects a broader cultural and technological shift. PA systems are now serving as both an enabler and a symbol of modernisation.”
Evan Hamilton at E2idesign confirms that other denominations are now recognising the power of music to engage with congregations, which continues to make live performance a core part of worship. “As a result, churches are investing in more musical and acoustically transparent PA systems that allow for dynamic worship without compromising speech clarity,” he says. “Systems are being designed for both energy and intelligibility, with loudspeaker designs often customised to fit architectural aesthetics and acoustic needs.”
IMMERSIVE TREND
A growing trend, at least in American churches, is the use of immersive/spatial audio, Hamilton believes. Systems such as d&b Soundscape are being used not only for music but, he explains, “to envelop congregants in the entire worship experience, to create a deeper emotional and spiritual connection”. Hamilton adds that immersive sound allows for natural localisation of vocals and instruments, which can reduce cognitive load and makes for greater personal engagement.
Nick Malgieri, director of immersive enablement for d&b Soundscape, confirms that “contemporary HoW applications” are now the second roll-out of spatial installations, particularly in North America, following the first implementation in Broadway and West End theatres. “HoW want to create a better connection to spoken word and a larger-than-life sound for a more emotional connection,” he says. “But it doesn’t have to be spatial all the time. Maybe it’s mixed stereo most of the time until you get to the really big, important end of year Christmas Show, which has the resources for more time, energy and rehearsal. You can implement object-based mixing for that show only and then go back to stereo after Christmas.”
For the UK, Phill Beynon at NoiseBoys Technologies does not think the market is big enough to support the technology. “Most churches would struggle to see – or hear – the benefits, especially given the likely costs involved and the skill levels of the volunteers who mix for them every week,” he comments. Jon Berry at RG Jones agrees, saying immersive audio is not prevalent in British HoW right now. But what has become established in the UK, as it is in the US, are dedicated controllers that enable the priest or minister to run the audio, video and lighting from a central point.
These have become known as ‘pulpit control’ systems, with Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter the best known in American HoW, although this software package, which supports HD video playback and multi-camera streaming and recording, is also used in the UK. “It’s commonplace for our clients, if there is a non-technical operator involved, to use software such as ProPresenter to run the services,” says Berry. “But it can be a steep learning-curve for people inexperienced in this kind of work.”
According to Jeremy Morris at Vizrt, ProPresenter dominates the market when it comes to in-service graphic content and is able to connect to other systems because it has an NDI output. “From that I can take the same file that’s being utilised inside the sanctuary [the area in US churches where the altar is located] and make it a keyable lower third [a graphic overlay such as text or a logo] inside the TriCaster or even go into our Virtual Studio Go products for an augmented reality [AR] aspect,” he explains.
“Some of the large mega-churches are running with either Viz Artist [real-time graphics], Viz Trio [data character generator and graphics playout control app] or simplify it with Viz Flowics [HTML5 cloud platform]. But we could take Adobe Photoshop files and use that as a lower third already in the Tricaster with our live graphic plug-in. There are several different ways we can deal with this. We don’t force someone into one type of workflow.”
CuA control system that is now being used for HoW in both the UK and US is TSL’s TMVP (TallyMan Virtual Panels), which provides customisable user interfaces to run routers, tally activation (notification of what camera is live) and command triggers to third party devices. “Modern pulpit control systems let pastors easily trigger presentations, adjust lighting and manage audio from a simple touchscreen or tablet interface,” comments Jeremy Bourque, senior solutions engineer at TSL. “These systems, like our TMVP, are designed to be intuitive enough for non-technical users to operate with minimal training.”
LED LEANINGS
Also playing a major role in HoW now are LED video walls and displays, which can be used to give a good view of the minister or pastor, as well as musicians, for those further back in the church. “Large-format LED screens and projection mapping help create engaging and immersive worship experiences, enhancing sermons, worship music and special events,” says Bourque. “Churches are increasingly investing in flexible, centralised control solutions to manage these displays efficiently. The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville used TSL’s control system to integrate both legacy and modern video equipment, allowing them to manage multiple video sources across their campuses without needing complex technical expertise.”
Today, video walls are not just used in the main worship space but in and around other areas of religious buildings. As Sara Grofcsik, head of sales for the display division at Samsung Electronics America, comments, LED systems such as The Wall indoor display are used to “create immersive religious experiences” but they can also be installed in lobbies, overflow rooms and other auxiliary spaces to show live services. “This allows worshippers who may not have a direct view of the main service area to engage with the ceremony, creating a more inclusive and cohesive experience for everyone,” she says.
“LED displays have become an essential tool for enhancing community communication and engagement outside HoW as well. Outdoor LED displays are commonly used to advertise services, programmes, upcoming events and other important information, allowing houses of worship to reach more community members. St Peter’s Square in Vatican City uses Samsung outdoor LED screens to broadcast live ceremonies, allowing people in the square to view important moments from a distance.”
As well as video walls, LED plays an important role in lighting. Evan Hamilton describes it as a tool that can create “immersive and emotionally resonant” environments. “It helps guide attention and reinforce mood shifts in worship,” he says. “Projection mapping and video walls allow for creative storytelling, scripture visuals and worship lyrics. They’re also used as scenic design elements, blending form and function while evoking emotion.”
From the mid-20th century onwards, religions have had to compete with the entertainment technologies of the secular world in bringing people to worship. Today they are using all the modern techniques available to compete on a level playing field and spread their message.
