Audio setup for live church translation

Why the input matters so much

The AI has to recognise every word before it can translate it. In a quiet room with a clear voice, that goes well. Add reverb from a stone nave, the congregation shuffling, a keyboard playing underneath the prayer, and the recognition gets harder. Errors at this stage carry through into the translation and the translated voice. In our experience, improving the input is the single most effective way to improve the result.

The aim is simple: a clear, steady signal of the speaker's voice, with as little room sound and music as possible.

Option 1: a feed from the mixing desk (best)

If your church has a mixing desk, use it. The microphones on stage already capture the voice close up, and the desk lets you send exactly what you want to the laptop.

Use an aux send or a separate output

Most desks have aux (auxiliary) sends, also called mix buses. Set up one aux as a dedicated translation feed. Turn up the pulpit microphone, the lectern microphone and any radio microphones used for speaking. Leave the band, the choir and the playback channels low or off. Set the aux to pre-fader if you want the translation feed to stay steady when the front-of-house engineer rides the main faders, or post-fader if you want it to follow the main mix. Both work; pre-fader is usually calmer.

On a digital desk you can often do the same with a matrix or a spare output. Some digital desks can also send audio over USB directly to a computer. Whether that works with your desk and laptop depends on the model, so test it rather than assume.

Get the signal into the laptop

Laptops rarely have a proper line input. The reliable way is a small USB audio interface: connect the aux output of the desk to the interface's line input, and the interface to the laptop by USB. In the ChurchTranslate broadcast page you then choose that interface as the input.

Watch the levels: a desk aux output is often much hotter than a microphone. Start with the input gain on the interface low and turn it up until the speaker's voice moves the meter clearly without hitting the top.

Option 2: a microphone directly into the laptop

In a small church without a desk, a decent USB microphone placed close to the speaker works well. Put it on the lectern or on a short stand within arm's length of the preacher. The closer the microphone, the less room echo it picks up. A clip-on (lavalier) microphone connected to a USB adapter is another option for a preacher who moves around.

Option 3: a phone as broadcast device (fallback)

You can broadcast from a phone in the browser. It is handy for a house group, a midweek meeting or when the laptop fails. The built-in microphone is designed for speech close to the mouth, though, so place the phone near the speaker, not at the back of the church. Pointing it at a loudspeaker can work in a pinch, but you will get more room sound. Plug the phone into a charger and turn off notifications before you start.

Setting levels in the broadcast page

The broadcast page shows an input level meter and has a boost setting for quiet inputs. Use them like this:

1. 01
   Select the right input

   Choose the USB audio interface or microphone from the list. If you do not see it, reconnect it and reload the page, then allow microphone access in the browser.

2. 02
   Speak at normal volume

   Ask someone to read a passage from the pulpit at their normal preaching volume, not louder or softer than usual.

3. 03
   Aim for a lively meter

   The meter should move clearly with every sentence and stay well below the top. If it barely moves, raise the gain on the interface or desk, or use the boost.

4. 04
   Check the quiet bits

   Prayers are often spoken more softly. Make sure the meter still shows a clear signal when someone prays quietly.

5. 05
   Listen on a phone

   Scan the QR code yourself, choose a language and listen with earbuds. You hear what visitors will hear.

Avoiding echo, music and room noise

• Feed voice, not the room. Ambient or audience microphones make recognition harder. Keep them out of the translation feed.
• Keep music out where you can. Lower the band and backing tracks in the translation aux. A keyboard under a spoken prayer is a common source of errors.
• Avoid feedback loops. Do not put the laptop's own sound out through the PA, and keep the laptop's speakers muted.
• Mind the radio microphones. A headset microphone that slips or a battery that dies will show up immediately in the translation. Check batteries before the service.
• One speaker at a time. When two people talk over each other, the AI struggles. For interviews or Q&A, pass the microphone.

Network and power

The broadcast needs a stable internet connection. A wired connection or a strong, dedicated Wi-Fi network is better than the same guest Wi-Fi that a hundred phones are using. Plug the laptop into mains power and switch off automatic updates and sleep mode for the duration of the service.

Testing before the service

Do a short test with the free trial service or on a weekday: one person speaks at the front, another listens on a phone somewhere else in the building. Try the quiet prayer, the loud announcement and the moment the band starts. Then repeat the test on Sunday morning, before people arrive. The full timeline is in the checklist for your first translated service.

If the translation sounds wrong during a test, listen to the input first. Nine times out of ten, the fix is in the sound, not in the settings.

Back to the overview: how to translate a church service. Want to know what it costs? See costs or the pricing page.