| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
DaQuansta
Others
5 Posts |
 Posted - 08/25/09 : 13:46
|
Hello everyone,
This is my first post on this forum, so if there's any 'mistakes', please forgive me.
First off, I apologize for posting in English. I find that easier to compose my thoughts that way.
Here's a rather major problem that our choir is facing: the organist plays extremely loud. The volume of the organ actually overwhelms the choir to the point where song lyrics cannot be heard intelligently. This problem really distracts the congregation from the mass. As the problem keeps happening, choir members get really discouraged to sing and even to attend practice.
Couple solutions our choir (we) have tried:
- We did try to tell the organist to lower the volume. Yes, it worked for like 2 minutes, and then the organ volume got louder again.
- Raise the volume of the choir from the mixing console. We did raise it to the level slightly below feeding back. No avail. The organist only plays louder.
As far as we know, this is not a problem with the organ. Other organist (i.e. the church music director) the can play it at a reasonable volume. I feel like our choir is no longer serving the mass properly, as we keep getting distracted by this organ volume problem.
If anyone has run into similar situations, can you please give some suggestions on how to fix (or work around it)?
Please advise.
Da Quansta
|
|
|
VL315
CT/NC
116 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/09 : 16:32
|
Hi, most likely the organist can not hear what he plays...
1. If your organist plays the pipe organ which is the big organ of the church, the volume pedal can not control the whole volume, just a little bit, also where the sound comes from the pipes on the walls, but I know of the sound won't be overwhelm the sound of the choir at all since all pipes facing up the ceiling. The only sound that might interfere is "great church organ" sound or "full organ". This case, ask him change to different sound.
2. If your organist plays the electric organ or keyboard which connects to the mixer with microphones, you can give him his own monitor speaker and control the main fader for his channel at a right level compare with vocals for main speakers. If you are in this situation, I can show you how to connect the speakers so you can split the sound of organ and vocal.
3. If the organist plays the electric organ with built-in speaker and he play too loud. In this case, nothing you can do other than get a clear glass panels to enclose the organ (just like you see the drummer did for his drum set) to insulate the sound. This way you still keep the same volume for your organist inside the panels, and reduce the sound on the other side.
4. Worst comes worst, change another organist who have a better ears and willing to listen.
VL315 |
Edited by - VL315 on 08/25/09 16:34 |
 |
|
|
imtuan
CT/NC
111 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/09 : 16:38
|
DaQuansta,
Có thể người đánh đàn tai yếu (không biết có được giống như Beethoven không?)
Một ý kiến nhỏ: dùng headphone và mix tiếng ca đoàn trong đó cho người đánh đàn thôi. Sau đó, điều chỉnh tiếng đàn organ cho cân bằng (dùng limiter nếu cần) cùng với tiếng hát ca đoàn cho cộng đồng.
Chúc vui nhiều,
tuan
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Gandhi (1869-1948) |
|
|
|
embevnlady
Others
57 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/09 : 22:41
|
DaQuansta,
Thiện tai , thiện tại
Có thể người đánh đàn tai yếu (không biết có được giống như Beethoven không?) Nếu thật là tai yếu thì set-volume-once and
NEVER change it (before Mass start).
Còn nếu tai Không yếu thì
1. tay đàn organ này chỉ muốn cả nhà thờ nghe tiếng organ,
vậy thì tay đàn organ "cái tôi còn lớn quá "
2. dẹp đàn organ qua 1 bên . Thà hát capelo mà đỡ bực mình ,
đỡ chia chí
3. bạn cho biết địa chỉ nhà thờ, biết đâu gần thì em xin
đàn giúp 1 tay
Em |
|
|
|
DaQuansta
Others
5 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/09 : 13:44
|
VL315, imtuan, and embevnlady,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. These are great suggestions. I will have to discuss with other member 'Ban Chap Hanh' to figure out how to apply them.
As for the (lack of) hearing issue, a lot of choir members have speculated that. However, no one has the guts to find out ;-). It's quite a senstive issue. The organist is an elder that has been with our choir for a long time. We do want to treat her with respect.
Personally, I think she does not know how to operate the technical portion (couplers, stops, etc.) of the organ, but how can I find out the fact in a respectful manner..without appearing condescending and hurting her feelings? I'm still Vietnamese in the blood, ya know ;-)
Replacing the organist is even harder. She's the only that can commit full time right now. It's so hard to find decent church musicians who can commit full time (both practice and mass). Speaking of musicians, I really appreciate Embevnlady's offer to help out. We're located in San Diego, CA. Come see our choir when you're nearby.
I feel the need to share a bit more info about the church set up...so here goes
The organ at the church is an Allen Digital organ. No pipes at all. It has its own amplifying system that goes directly into the front-of-house (FOH) PA. It does not go through the choir mixer at all. There's no aux/headphone output from it either. That kills all the monitoring options.
At one time out of desperation, I pointed a condenser mic at the FOH speaker (the distance is about 25 ft), and then routed that signal to a separate monitor for the organist. The approach did not help much.
Please keep the suggestion coming. We will keep on praying. I'm sure God will guide us.
Regards,
Da Quansta
|
|
|
|
VL315
CT/NC
116 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/09 : 12:09
|
Hi, per your explaination, look like your organist cannot hear what she played due to the FOH speaker too far from her ears. Here is another suggestion.
If the organ hooked up to the FOH PA, what you can do, go to the main control room, from the main PA mixer, connect a wire from AUX SEND back to the choir loft, and INPUT into a powered monitor, then you can control the volume of the organ at that channel only. Remember this cable can not longer than 25 ft so we don't loose the signal. And the shorter cable is the better.
If the main mixer is far away from your choir loft, you can set a power amp inside the main control room with same hook up (Aux send from mixer to power amp input), then run a speaker cable from the power amp to your choir loft and input to a floor monitor. Regular speaker cable maximum of 50ft, if more than 50ft, change to a bigger size cable.
Hope this will help.
|
|
|
|
DaQuansta
Others
5 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/09 : 12:57
|
VL315,
Thank you very much for that suggestion. It sounds like a good approach. I will explore this option.
Thanks again.
Regards,
Da Quansta
|
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Loud organist overwhelming choir
