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[Ben Cook]

For Easter and some time after my church wants to play church bells.  The bells will be played outdoors.  We have the files to play, we just need a system to play them.

City ordinance requires that the sound not exceed 60 db at the property line.

I have two questions:

What gear do we need to make this happen?

What frequencies do bells generate?

I have been the church's sound guy for years but this is new and I don't know anything about what something like this requires.

I searched for info on this before posting and did not find any.  If I missed it I'm happy to read up on my own.

[John L Nobile]

For Easter and some time after my church wants to play church bells.  The bells will be played outdoors.  We have the files to play, we just need a system to play them.

City ordinance requires that the sound not exceed 60 db at the property line.

I have two questions:

What gear do we need to make this happen?

What frequencies do bells generate?

I have been the church's sound guy for years but this is new and I don't know anything about what something like this requires.

I searched for info on this before posting and did not find any.  If I missed it I'm happy to read up on my own.

I'd check the ordinance figures.  60 db is normal speech levels. A cough is probably louder.

[Mac Kerr]

For Easter and some time after my church wants to play church bells.  The bells will be played outdoors.  We have the files to play, we just need a system to play them.

City ordinance requires that the sound not exceed 60 db at the property line.

What does the city do abut churches with actual bell towers? Real bells are significantly louder than that.

Any professional grade speaker should be able to do this. If this is a temporary installation you probably want to rent instead of buy, you should look into the rental market near you and see if anyone can provide weather resistant speakers.

Will this be just to announce services, or do you envision a full bell setup ringing the hours as well? Will it be put out and taken in each day? Roof mounted, or around the building on stands?

Mac

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

What does the city do abut churches with actual bell towers? Real bells are significantly louder than that.

Egg-zachary!!!  Light traffic on a residential street hits 60dB when a car passes.

[Ivan Beaver]

What are you "trying to do" with the bells?

That is a BIG VERY IMPORTANT question.

Are you trying to use them to signal all over the town?  Like regular church bells? 

Or just play the track for the people in attendance?

How large of an area are you trying to cover (the number of people really does NOT matter-no matter what many people want to think).

Sound does not reduce its level based on the number of people in attendance-but rather drops in level in relation to DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE.

What is the ACTUAL TRACK?  Is it a couple of bells? or a bunch that play songs?

THe system needed could range from small to very large-depending on the needs.

Are the police going to stop traffic to keep the noise down to 60dB?  In most cases traffic is louder than that---------

[Frank DeWitt]

Ignoring the 60 dB part,  bells that you would here in a church carillon system tend to be the higher frequencies.  You don't need a sub and you don't need base.  If this system is going to stay outdoors for more then a couple of days you may want to look at metal horn speakers. Many of these are weather proof and if you are willing to buy used they can be had cheap as they are not is style. 

Once you have the speaker then you need a amp that can drive that speaker or speakers and something to play your files.

BTW very good software for this is here http://inspiredcode.net/CBells.htm

[Ivan Beaver]

Ignoring the 60 dB part,  bells that you would here in a church carillon system tend to be the higher frequencies. 

When I hear the term "Church bells", I think of the massive large bells you could hear on the other side of town (at least what I was exposed to when growing up).

So it SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, that the FIRST thing that needs to be defined is "exactly what type of Church bells, how loud and what is trying to be accomplished?

Without that being defined-we have NO IDEA what the actual needs are.  So any and all "guesses' could be COMPLETELY WRONG or Right on the mark.  So  flip a coin as to what it is-----------------

With any "project' FIRST YOU have to DEFINE the TARGET/OBJECTIVE-then AND ONLY THEN will have you any idea if you actually meet the objective.

[John Roberts {JR}]

These carillon systems are pretty popular with even small churches (to annoy their non-church going neighbors). I can hear one local church from several blocks away in the summer with open windows (about two days a year between heating and air-conditioning).

Not much power and modest speaker requirements. Often the speakers are mounted inside the belfry to protect them against the elements.

Look for these in install market products.

JR

[Corey Scogin]

Best solution: convince them that playing recorded bells is super cheesy and they should buy real bells (likely prohibitively expensive).

[Frank DeWitt]

I put a system in a local church that had not had one for over 30 years.  The whole thing is run by a small fan less PC, a little QSC amp and there existing speakers.  It uses the software I posted above.  They love it.  The response from the town has been very positive.  It was written up in the local newspaper.  They toll the hour followed by a little music.  The music changes with the seasons.

[Ben Cook]

Best solution: convince them that playing recorded bells is super cheesy and they should buy real bells (likely prohibitively expensive).

This is probably my favorite response but I really appreciate everyone's feedback.  It is already very helpful.

The church meets in this building:



We rent the second floor conference room.  The speakers would be set up on the second floor landing for the stairs shown on the front of the building to the right of the picture.  The system will be setup and torn down every Sunday.  For weather I would just throw a tarp over the setup.

I knew 60dB was not loud but that was quieter than I had anticipated.  That makes the system requirements pretty modest.  I've practically grown up with the internet but I still forget to google things like that.

The function?  Good question! It was something that was for the community as well as congregants.  Now I think we will be putting the speakers inside the building but outside the conference room just to comply with the noise ordinance.

Well, this certainly shifts what we can do.  I will come back with more questions if they come up with another fun idea!

[John Sabine]

I've done a few of these and the community R series speakers have been my choice. Never had a problem and they sound great. I live between a church that I set up and installed and a church that another company installed using all weather PA horn type speakers. The difference is night and day. 


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