Church Translation Equipment Checklist: Microphone, Device, Network and Screen
· By the Sermon Translate team
To translate a church service live with captions you need four things: a clean audio feed from the preacher, one device running the translation in a browser, a steady internet connection and a place for people to read, such as the projector, a livestream or their own phones. Test all four about thirty minutes before the service, with a real sentence spoken into the real microphone. Most failed Sundays come from the audio and the network, not from the translation itself.
What equipment do you need to translate a church service?
With live captions the list is short, because you are not moving a human interpreter's voice around the room. You are moving the preacher's voice into one device and the translated text out to a screen. The four parts are:
- Audio in: the sound of the preacher, as clean as you can get it.
- One translating device: a laptop, tablet or phone with an up to date browser.
- Network: an internet connection that stays up for the whole service.
- Screen: somewhere for people to read, either a shared display or their own phones.
Sermon Translate runs in the browser on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android, so there is nothing to install. The equipment guide has the short version of each item, and this checklist is the version to run through on Sunday morning.
How should the microphone and audio be set up?
Speech recognition can only translate what it hears. A feed from the sound desk that carries the pulpit microphone, without the band and the room echo, gives the best result. You can pick one of three routes, from best to simplest:
| Audio route | What you need | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Sound desk feed | An auxiliary or record output from the desk, into the laptop through a USB audio interface or adapter | Check the level is not clipping, and that the feed has the preacher and not the full band mix |
| USB microphone | A USB microphone on the pulpit connected to the laptop | Keep it close to the preacher's mouth and away from the loudspeakers |
| Device near the preacher | A phone or tablet placed close to the pulpit | A device at the back of the room hears echo and the congregation, which lowers accuracy |
Whichever route you use, choose that input in the microphone menu, speak a few test sentences before people arrive and watch the transcript. If the words on screen are wrong, fix the audio before you touch any setting.
Which device and how many do you need?
One. The same device follows the service from start to finish, so keep it on power and close the other apps and browser tabs that do not need to run. Use a current browser such as Chrome, Edge or Safari.
Plans limit how many devices can be active at once: Basic allows 1 and Standard allows up to 2. That limit is about the devices your team runs. Listeners who join by QR code read in their own phone browser without an account. See the pricing page for the current plans.
How good does the internet connection need to be?
Translation runs online and does not work offline. That makes the connection the single point of failure for the whole setup, so give it the same care as the microphone:
- Use a wired connection or strong Wi-Fi at the front of the church, next to where the device sits.
- Test with the room full. A crowd of phones on the same Wi-Fi can slow it down.
- Keep a phone hotspot ready as a backup, and know how to switch the device over to it.
- If many members will read on their own phones, tell them to use their mobile data rather than the church Wi-Fi.
Where will people read the translation?
Choose one or more places to read, depending on the room:
| Where people read | What you set up | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Projector or TV | The Subtitles screen, up to 5 caption languages at once, styled for the back row | A room where most people face one screen |
| Livestream | The Copy OBS URL button, added in OBS or Streamlabs as a Browser Source | Viewers online who need captions over the video |
| Their own phones | QR Code Join, included in every plan: show a QR code and people read in the browser with no account | Visitors and members who each need a different language |
Subtitles are included in the Standard and All Languages plans, or are a $10 a month add-on on Basic. QR Code Join is in every plan. Because each extra reading language beyond your plan uses more plan time, count how many languages will really be read before you choose a plan.
What is the Sunday morning checklist?
Run through this thirty minutes before the service, every week, until it becomes habit. Give the same person the job each time if you can.
- Translating device on power, browser open and signed in.
- Audio input selected, and a spoken test sentence shows up in the transcript.
- Spoken language and reading languages set for today's preacher.
- Captions readable from the back row on the screen.
- QR code printed or projected, and sharing started, if people will read on phones.
- Livestream overlay showing in OBS, if you stream.
- Backup hotspot charged and within reach.
- One person in each language group asked to tell you afterwards what was hard to follow.
What should you do when something fails mid-service?
- Captions stop showing on the screen: check the page is still open and the device is still online before you change any setting.
- The words are wrong or missing: check the microphone level and where the microphone sits before anything else.
- The connection drops: switch the device to the hotspot, reopen the page and start again. Tell the room in a short announcement so nobody thinks the captions are finished.
- Fewer captions during songs: this is expected, because sung lyrics are harder to recognize than speech. Project the lyrics in each language from your presentation software.
Equipment is only part of a good setup. Names and church terms also matter, and the guide to translating a sermon live covers the glossary and Bible version settings.
How does this compare with a headset system?
A traditional interpretation system adds a transmitter, a receiver and earpiece for each listener, charging for the units and a human interpreter for each language at every service. Makers usually sell through resellers and do not publish prices, so ask for a written quote for the number of listeners you expect. Our captions versus headsets page sets the two side by side.
Captions give text on a screen and a phone voice that can read them aloud. They do not give a human voice. If some of your listeners need to hear a person, keep a headset system or an interpreter for them. Before you decide anything, use the free monthly hour on one real service and ask a few listeners to read along.
Frequently asked questions
What equipment do I need to translate a church service live?
A clean audio source such as a sound desk feed or a microphone near the preacher, one laptop, tablet or phone with a current browser, an internet connection, and a projector or the congregation's phones to read on.
Do we need to buy headsets or receivers?
Not for live captions. People read on the projector, the livestream or their own phones. Headsets are only needed if you want a human interpreter's voice delivered to listeners.
Can I connect the translating laptop to our sound board?
Yes. Send an auxiliary or record output from the sound desk into the laptop through a USB audio interface or adapter, then choose that input as the microphone in the app.
Does church translation work without internet?
No. Translation runs online, so the device needs a working connection for the whole service. Keep a phone hotspot as a backup.
How early should we test before the service?
About thirty minutes before, with the real microphone and the real screen. Speak a few sentences and check that the words on screen match. Every account gets a free monthly hour, enough to rehearse a full service.
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