One of the most commonly asked question we get is who do we hire to install sound system in the masjid. Despite our advice many masajid go ahead and hire a general sound contractor to do the job. These companies basically provide you a system which will give you an airport type of sound or the sound in your local school auditorium. It is basically a 70 volt system with the least possible fidelity. Forget about the sonic brilliance that recording engineers strive for and is a must for Qur’an.
Here are our tips.
(1) Hire only that person or company who has lot of recording experience especially vocals. Country music recording companies are the best.
(2) In addition to recording they should also have some PA system installation experience. If they happen to know what Qur’an recitation is all about then they will be even better.
(3) On top of this they need to know what Tajweed is so that they do the right job.
These combinations are hard to find but they do exist. You have to do lot of homework and check references. It is best if you can visit the masajid where they have done the installation and check out the sound yourself. And of course you can always call us.
Knowing Tajweed is important for many reasons. For example all sound contractors use equalization to suppress sibilance (the ess sounds). But in tajweed this is required and people should be able to hear it very clearly. They also only worry about frequencies between 500 Hz to 8 KHz and choose the equipment based on this speech related requirement. Remember Tilawat is not speech. It is somewhere between speech and music or rather divine music. To enjoy the sonic brilliance of Qur’an we have to go well above 8 KHz and the main airy nature is found between 10 KHz and 15 KHz.
Please listen to the live recordings in the multimedia section from a masjid where we installed the sound system. This total cost of this system was between $4,000 and $5,000. And please compare it with the BEST recordings from Haram. Yes you read it right … once again … compare it with the BEST recordings from Haram. Use good headphones to do so and you be the judge.
One more thing, you can add or remove reverb by just rotating a knob. Look for clarity, background noise, just plain fidelity, sonic brilliance, airy sound and not how much reverb or echo it has. Echo and Reverb is bad for Tilawat anyway as it messes up Tajweed. Only use it just enough to kill the flatness of the sound and nothing more.
The links below will explain what vocal sound and recording is all about. 99% of sound contractors have no clue what REAL sound is. We know it because we deal with them on a daily basis and we are called in to fix their installations by many masajid. Please excuse us for the jokes, language and music recording in the videos below. We do not approve it neither do we listen to any music. We are just trying to make a point as to what we will miss if we go in with the wrong person or company to install sound system in the masjid.