How to successfully solve audio setbacks in churches
Date: November 05, 2020
Known as a forerunner and leading company in bell and audio systems in places of worship, Belltron is increasingly taking on particular demands made by religious communities.
It’s over forty years that the Company has constantly studied problems related to the sound and acoustics within the church and has led it to successfully resolve critical issues in particular architectural structures of great artistic value favouring the high quality of the sound yet never neglecting the aesthetics and respecting the liturgy at the same time.
Marvinacustica is a leading company in the study, design and production of soundproofing systems to generate a much clearer sound.
Both companies recognize the significance and utmost importance of the intelligibility of the vocal sounds along with the musical and meaningful message that must transpire in every corner of a sacred building such as a place of worship where people go to contemplate and observe deeper emotions. This is why the main objective of all their internal productions is based on safeguarding the recollection that enlivens every function. It is important to avoid any distractions caused by hissing, rumbling sounds or misinterpretation of the word. The audio quality is of the utmost importance in a discreet but clearly dominant way in places where the Word is the core of the church function.
The audio setbacks that were present in the Church of SS. Trinità in Piacenza are those common to many modern churches; the construction materials, often unsuitable for a correct sound diffusion, were subsequently perfected with the help of the Marvinacustica company and at the same enhanced the Belltron audio system.
The Marvinacustica company intervened with its team of competent acoustics technicians to carry out the Ante Operam sound level measurements which are necessary to establish and find the most appropriate solution to the audio problems. The SS. Trinità church in Piacenza in fact had a very high reverberation that had to be significantly reduced in order to achieve optimal acoustics. After analysing all the data that was collected, a decision was made to apply sound-absorbing panels to the side walls in order to achieve the required reverberation time. The “White Star” panels made by Marvinacustica have a very good acoustic performance and at the same time are aesthetically pleasing with a low impact in the church, this choice was made knowing that they integrate harmoniously within the church surroundings. The acoustic result was immediately noticeable and the Post Operam sound level measurements confirmed the excellent result that was reached.
Don Giuseppe Tosca, the parish priest of the Church of SS. Trinità in Piacenza since 2016, sent us his acknowledgements as follows:
«The first stone of this church in Piacenza dedicated to the SS. Trinità (holy Trinity) was laid in June 1950. The designer was the Piacenza architect Mario Bacciocchi. The church consists of two crypts and a so-called "superior" church. The acoustics of the upper church from the 1950s to today have never been fixed. In 2016, having become the parish priest here, I immediately contacted the Belltron company to resolve the problem. The upper church is all made of concrete and huge windows to which is added an extensive all-marble floor. The transept, about 30 meters high, presented the most critical situation.The entire false ceiling was and is made of sound-absorbing material which was unable to be effective in any way in the transept due to its considerable height. Without changing anything, the mere installation of a Belltron audio system made it possible to greatly improve the acoustics for the parishioners. The problem was resolved with the support of the Marvinacustica company by applying sound-absorbing material to the walls of the transept. In doing so, new adjustments were made to the Belltron audio system by its amazing technicians to reach an optimal result. Belltron has also installed the digital bell system providing an excellent, clear sound of bells thanks to the digital technology, perfectly in accordance with the law with regards to the decibels and the duration of the bell system’s vast choice of bell sounds available in the system. My parishioners were very satisfied and I have to thank Belltron not only for the quality of the service, the professionalism and the exquisite kindness of its technicians, but also for the generous deferral of payments that I was granted without having to ask for it».
Owing to the structural improvements made, Belltron has managed to achieve and ensure an intelligibility and natural sound reproduction which characterizes each device and highlights all the qualities of the audio system.
