Music

When we first purchased the gym I worked out a few times, and the speakers were not up to my standard. The ones in Studio X sound awful to the trained ear, and the one speaker we had in the weight area hooked up to a consumer grade Sony receiver was pathetic. My home has speakers in nearly every room--built-in, soundbars, home theater, headphones with amplifier for serious listening, and audiophile-grade two-channel audio. We have a grand piano that is played throughout the day, whether by me or my children, my daughter takes singing lessons, and I was taking guitar lessons for a while. So when I purchased the gym I knew I had to put in a speaker system.

We talked to a company out in Canton that does installations all over the country, but locally their work includes the Terrell Film Alley, Andretti's, and Lifetime Fitness. They recommended Sonance speakers and a Powersoft commercial amplifier. The system was designed to sound even throughout the workout floor and then they calibrated the volume to a standard commercial level. We played some music on it, and it sounds great. The bass is tight and the sound really is even throughout the whole space. Its easy for me to hear when an amplifier is stressed, and we have more than enough power.

I'd say 75% of what I listen to is Christian worship music. Its great music--hymns like "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "Amazing Grace" to Handel's Messiah to Christmas classics like "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Joy to the World" stand as some of the greatest creative achievements of the Western world. Even the "Ode to Joy" in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is essentially worshipping God. And of course I love listening to contemporary Christian music--the compositions of Hillsong and Bethel Music may lack Beethoven's singular genius, but it's still pretty good.

Contemporary Christian music has been the soundtrack of my life since high school.

Back then, it was Casting Crowns--"Voice of Truth":

"But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win, you'll never win"

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says, "This is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth"

And more recently during Covid, when we lived in Los Angeles, it was Bethel Music--"Raise a Hallelujah"

"I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, Heaven comes to fight for me

I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive"

When I worked at a gym in college, I played Christian music in the mornings, and now that God has blessed me with my own gym, I will continue to play it.

And the volume is set at a level that I think sounds good. I tried setting it a little lower, but it just sounds bad to me. We are just going to have to agree to disagree on the volume. I am sorry. I really am. I wish we could have it loud and not loud at the same time.

We added the ability for members to select their own songs all the time using the Rockbot app--in the mornings it will be from Christian playlists, and then in the afternoon it can basically be anything. So outside of the mornings there really shouldn't be any complaints about the playlist. It's just whatever members are choosing.

Ultimately, the music is a sideshow. Our primary concerns are cleanliness, professionalism of staff, adding more classes, and upgrading equipment. Normal gym stuff. We are honestly pretty surprised that so many people care about the music, but that they do shows us it's worth it for us to care about it as well, so I've devoted thought and attention to it and made these decisions.