Volume Fix

[Ron32288]

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since I've posted on here, so here goes nothing

I've been at my church for a couple of years now, and the one thing that was an issue for the choir was volume. The choir is seated upsraird where the organ is located and complain of the organ being too loud, but downstairs, the organ is too soft. For example, the opening hymn registration (A couple 8, 4, 2s) with the swell pedal at about half, had a reading of 86 dB where the cantor stands, and even louder where the choir sings. I didn't measure the downstairs reading, but if standing downstairs, the organ is not loud enough.
We are having an issue with the digital portion of the organ so currently it is all completely pipe and no speakers. The only way for the organ to fill the church is to obviously use the pedal which controls the swell shades and blast the choir. I'm wondering if there was any fix for this to somehow make the organ fill better or project differently? We have no problem calling a tech, and moving the choir or organ is not an option. Choir starts soon and the director and I have no idea what to do. Thank you all

[Pipeorganbuilder]

It would help to know what type of organ you have and the size of the church. Let us know more about your setup and that will help us to maybe offer a workable solution. You might want to include some photos.

Michael

[Piperdane]

Have the choir wait until about 5 minutes before their anthem to ascend to the gallery is one option.

Organists need to play "to the room" in which the instrument resides. Okay, a bit loud for the choir, but is it fair to the congregation downstairs to not hear the organ as it was meant to be heard for congregational singing etc?

Another possibility is to get the digital portion repaired and working properly, maybe have the speakers moved so that they speak into the larger room or that they speak from the front/chancel? I would be totally against re-voicing the pipes to appease the choir. There are professional ear plugs that some, who play in orchestras, use.

[toodles]

You may need to have a 2nd audio system installed--one for the main part of the church and a 2nd system for the choir--the one in the choir being at reduced volume. Of course, both would need to be equidistant from the choir & console so that sound arrives at the same time. The choir system might be a simpler system (i.e., fewer channels) than the main.

[myorgan]

Is it the pipe or digital portion of the organ that is too loud for the choir? If it's the pipe organ, there's not much that can be done. If it's the digital, there are possible solutions.

The more information you can provide, the better our answers will be. Photos of the choir loft with the organ setup (or a description thereof) would be priceless.

Michael

[Ron32288]

Thank you all for your responses. It is the digital part of the organ that currently does not function at all. I will take pics tomorrow morning when I play for the 10:30am to give a better idea.

[Sarah Weizhen]

The choir probably stands too close to the pipes that speak loud and shrill ( like a 2' or something). But you mentioned there is no way to move the choir so I don't know...