With our large church buildings comes a problem – how do you ensure that everyone can hear the Word? An audio system is required to reinforce the sound so that everyone in every seat can hear distinctly. A good sound system makes a big difference to worship. But how do you find a good audio desk?

There are plenty of options to choose from – too many to list. But some general criteria to consider are as follows:

• Number of microphones – i.e. this determines the number of channels you will need
• Location of any fixed sound sources, e.g. a choir loft
• Number of musicians – i.e. how big of an orchestra do you plan to have for that Christmas contata?
• Location of the sound booth – e.g. on the main floor or in the balcony

Once you have some ideas about the sound system, then you can explore all of the vendors. And you will find a lot of them out there, eager to show you their equipment. (Some will even bring it on site to demo.) This is where quality and cost comes into the picture, and you will want to choose carefully to get the best value for the money.