The increasing use of live music in church buildings means many places of worship are reviewing their audio needs and looking to new technology to provide crisp speech amplification while meeting the complex needs of choirs and live musicians.

In the past these two tasks required different systems and the technical ability to set them up. Modern digital audio systems can cater for speech and music with the flick of a single switch.

Wireless digital audio technology allows clergy or lay speakers to address the congregation through a radio microphone, then by flicking a single switch allows the church music group to play using pre-set sound levels. Previous systems were over complicated and adjustments made by the music group affected clarity of speech when the system was required to accommodate a single speaker.

Another digital audio innovation is providing professional standard hymn music for churches with no choir or band and for occasions where the full choir is not appropriate. A Hymnal is a programmable device which will store and play the music of over seven thousand hymns with a wide choice of instruments including church organ, orchestra, brass and woodwind quartets; and worship bands. The hymnal plays through built in speakers or can be linked to church audio systems.

Churches today are exploring new ways to use their buildings outside of traditional worship. Frequently churches will have multiple rooms for various diverse uses. The rooms meet a variety of needs from worship, weddings and celebrations to lectures and gatherings. All the rooms have differing acoustics so the challenge for audio visual professionals is to provide a system that will play a variety of music then switch to crisp speech with a single button. In the past this has required a mixing desk which the musicians would setup for their needs. Then the vicar or priest needed to reset this complex desk to allow them to speak to the congregation. An audio visual specialist will usually loan the church a system for a week or two so that musicians and ecclesiastical staff can test the most effective solution to meet their diverse needs.

It is not only churches and cathedrals that are embracing digital audio technology to help spread their word. Monasteries and nunneries share the need for clear communications. A Buddhist monastery in Northumberland recently embraced twenty-first century technology with the installation of portable public address equipment and an induction loop to aid the hard of hearing. The equipment will allow the Abbot and visiting speakers to address gatherings large and small, either outdoors or inside monastery buildings during public talks, meditation sessions or retreats.