worship too loud?

Greg Brewton reviews Rick Muchow's The Worship Answer Book. To the question when is worship too loud?

• The music is too loud when the volume distracts from worship.
• The music is too loud when it is no longer musical.
• The music is too loud when it causes hearing loss.

I don't know ... when I ran the sound board we adhered to the adage, "Turn it to 10 and let God do the rest." Which reminds me of my favorite sound guy anecdote.

After training a new guy to run the mixing board, the last thing I tell him is, "Now let me teach you about the most important knob on the board."

I would tell them that invariably someone will come to him at some point in every meeting (we weren't big enough to have an isolated booth) to tell him the volume is too loud (and conversely, someone will also tell him it is too low). "When that happens, I want you to make direct eye contact, smile, and say, 'thank you, I didn't realize.' Then while they are watching - and ensure they are watching, if you have to say, 'here, let me get that.' - reach over and turn this [me pointing at the board] knob. Then, when you are sure they have seen you making the adjustment, ask, 'did that help?' Smile the whole time and thank them for their concern. They will leave happy."

The new sound guy would always seem satisfied with that but then thinking back to his earlier training would sooner or later ask "but wait, that knob doesn't do anything."

To which I reply, "exactly."

Is that wrong to do?

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