Dedicated in 1875, this neo-Gothic style church is home to the Boston Catholic Archdiocese. As one of the largest churches in the diocese, it serves as the main church for the Archbishop of Boston. The impressive cathedral hosts small weddings, funerals, and masses as well as the Archbishop’s mass, which draws upwards to two thousand parishioners. The archdiocese hired BL&S to create a sound system that would meet these diverse needs.

BL&S installed a sound system consisting of ten pairs of column-style loudspeakers, each properly time aligned down the nave of the church to provide clear sound as if there was a single audio source coming from the presiding speaker. They also added two mixing systems, an automatic mixer for simple, smaller events, and a manual mixer in the pew area for large masses involving organ and choir accompaniment.

Parishioners can now enjoy clearer vocals and richer sound throughout every seat in the cathedral.

BL&S continues to support the church’s AV needs during masses and other live events at the Cathedral.

for both automatic mixing and operator-controlled services. To accomplish this, BL&S configured a system where all microphones fed into a manual mixer located in the rear of the church while certain dedicated inputs also fed into an automatic mixer. A simple push of a button selects the required mode. Both methods provide clear and natural sound in a visually discreet fashion that does not hinder the beauty of the space.

BL&S also installed a loop hearing assist system to assist church members who are hearing impaired. Unlike radio frequency systems, where people need to use receivers and ear speakers, the loop system is an electromagnetic induction system that’s easier to use. People whose hearing aids have “T” switches need only turn their switch on to receive the enhanced audio right to their hearing aid. For those without hearing aids with “T” switches, receivers and ear speakers can be handed out.

The client was very pleased with the result. “The sound is marvelous. Sunday I heard every word the choir sang and it sounded like a choir, not individual voices.”

Sunday services.

Like most houses of worship, the Mother Church is particularly reverberant in nature, as it was designed to project sound from the pulpit area without electronic amplification. In addition hard surfaces such as limestone further exacerbate this problem; sound waves bounce off the walls, making it difficult to direct sound to the seating areas.

To improve vocal clarity, Boston Light & Sound® (BL&S) provided sound reinforcement to the seating area with two 16-foot tall by four-inch wide steerable array column loudspeakers. BL&S sound engineers tailored the output of the church sound system to focus speech directly on the seating area and almost completely off the surrounding limestone. Thus, the new loudspeakers provide clear, intelligible sound with very minimal volume change.

The team carefully designed the church sound system to match the church’s aesthetics. Matching the color of the loudspeakers to the exact shade of limestone within the church made the 16-foot tall column all but invisible. Today, parishioners from the front pews to the back row can appreciate the spoken word.

Boston Light & Sound® (BL&S) sound engineers worked alongside the design team, installing a church sound system consisting of distributed overhead speakers mounted in the ceiling above the upper-level side pews as well as two Dutch manufactured Intellivox loudspeakers, which flank the left and right side of the pulpit area. These thin, column-style speakers are steerable in the vertical plane, allowing the sound operator to steer the sound down onto the seating area to minimize audio reflections off the ceiling and back wall.

With the new system, voices can be heard clearly throughout the entire church so the entire congregation can enjoy rich, clear sound.