Technology upgrades — for audio, as well as video and lighting — for houses of worship remains one of the largest sectors of growth in the industry, particularly within the contemporary worship market.
Clearly, not every sanctuary needs a mega system that could power a rock ‘n’ roll festival, and by that same token, neither does an intimate jazz club. Yet one common need among all house of worship systems — large and small — is a requirement for clarity and intelligibility, especially in the typically difficult acoustical environment of a church sanctuary. Modern speaker designs often offer precise dispersion control, DSP and even steerable functions to keep sound directed at the congregation rather than the walls and ceiling, yet choosing the right system for the job is essential.
And as we found in this survey of recent upgrade projects (both entire system and incremental), each took a different route in their approach to making sure the word, the music and the message comes through clearly and cleanly to all parishioners, whether seated near the altar or in last row.
Calvary Church Charlotte, NC
Clark, an integration firm specializing in house of worship projects, deployed a Martin Audio sound system based on MLA arrays as part of an audio upgrade in the huge 5,000-seat sanctuary of Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC.
Calvary has one of the largest pipe organs in the world, with 205 ranks and 11,499 pipes and embraces both traditional and blended worship. “The church wanted reinforced sound in the room for speech, a choir, orchestral and modern instrumental music without negatively impacting the acoustics for the pipe organ,” says company co-founder Houston Clark. “We also needed to eliminate reflections off the back wall that were causing intelligibility problems. We came up with a unique solution using the Martin Audio MLA system that would solve those issues and ensure consistent coverage for every seat in the congregation.”
The new system has three center ceiling hangs with 16 MLA enclosures on the left and right that flank six MLX subs. Eight MLA Minis hung facing the choir and orchestra pit behind the subwoofers provide effective monitoring for the stage and two flown Martin Audio H3H+ speakers per side are used for outfills, while two D12 speakers at the edges of the stage handle the outermost seating. Under-balcony fills include six Martin Audio DD6s, with four XD15s as upper balcony fills.
“MLA allows us to control the slap-back echo off the back wall of the room that was negatively affecting the pastor’s sermons and creating intelligibility problems,” adds Clark. “And now, going from the main floor, to the second and third floor balconies, the sound experience is consistent at every floor. It was truly amazing to walk all of those floors and not perceive a difference in the sound.”
Calvary technical director Dan Smith is also impressed with the MLA system: “Using MLA, we can do all of this without affecting the organ and the room. We didn’t want to pad or treat the room because it’s such a great sounding room. The control is amazing now. I was sitting on stage last night and you can’t even detect the slapback of a snare off the back wall. It’s like being in a big room with no back wall.”
INSIDE CALVARY CHURCH
Capacity: 5,000
Key Components: Martin Audio MLA
Integrator: Clark
Designer: Houston Clark
Willow Creek Community Church South Barrington, IL
Over the years, the Willow Creek Community Church (just northwest of Chicago) has experienced enormous growth. Besides the 7,000-plus-seat giga-church in South Barrington, IL, the organization has mega-churches in nearby Huntley, Crystal Lake, North Shore, Wheaton, downtown Chicago and additional satellite campuses.
Meyer Sound gear plays heavily in helping Willow Creek spread its message. The main sanctuary recently added 14 Meyer 1100-LFC subs to complement a previously installed MILO line array rig, and all of the facilities have espoused the digital realm with Yamaha consoles and Dante networking.
“With the new 1100-LFCs, we can now offer a complete package with incredible headroom on the low-end,” says Matt Wentz, audio systems engineer for the South Barrington campus. “The sound is clean, consistent, and perfect for our energetic style of worship.”
Two facilities recently added Meyer JM-1P arrayable speakers and 1100-LFC’s. Following these upgrades, every major venue on the main campus and three of its regional campuses are now equipped with Meyer Sound. On the church’s DuPage campus in west Chicago, a portable system (two flown JM-1P’s per side, with three UPJ-1P VariO’s for front fill) supports services in an 800-seat high school auditorium. “The quality and clarity of the JM-1P system is like night and day compared to our old setup,” says Stephen Kendeigh, technical director of that campus.
The Meyer gear was provided and installed by TC Furlong, of Lake Forest, IL.
Willow Creek’s main auditorium has a 94-foot stage, theatrical lighting and FOH mixing via a Yamaha PM1D console, creating a worship experience similar to a large concert arena. Four other venues at the church each have a Dante-enabled Cat-6 audio island with Yamaha digital audio mixing, with reliable audio routing between the four venues, all interconnected via a fiber optic network.
The Dante architecture in the main auditorium offers access to a wide array of audio sources, including 160 audio inputs from the stage; and dozens of wireless microphones and in-ear monitors. The FOH mixer’s output is converted to digital by Dante-enabled BSS London Blu-806 signal processors. The Dante signal is then sent over the Dante network to the loudspeaker management system. Additional Blu-806 units decode it back to AES/EBU for use by the P.A. and monitors serving the tri-level auditorium.
INSIDE WILLOW CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH
Capacity: 7,095
Key Components: Meyer Sound MILO, JM-1Ps, 1100-LFCs; Yamaha PM1D, M7CL QL and CL consoles; Audinate Dante networking
Integrator: TC Furlong
Malibu Presbyterian Church Malibu, CA
The new Malibu Presbyterian Church was more than five years in the making, after a wildfire destroyed the previous facility. Following the loss, the church erected a temporary 250-seat sanctuary until a new building could be established. Audio Techniques outfitted that facility with six flown EAW KF300 full-range speakers and two SB1000 dual-18 subs.
Designed/installed by Audio Techniques of North Hollywood, CA, the main system in the new church has two EAW QX564i full-range speakers, flown left/right. The QX Series has four 12-inch woofers surrounding the coaxial compression driver, offering highly coherent response across the full frequency spectrum. The two SB1000 subs from the temporary facility were repurposed. Four EAW JF80 compact speakers placed along the platform supply front fill, with four time-delayed, ceiling-mounted JF80s offer additional mid/high presence in the balcony.
The new 300-capacity sanctuary has a main floor backed by a curved two-row balcony. The glass and steel space has large windows on each side of the platform providing a view of the Pacific Ocean. “We thought the acoustics would be horrible given the building materials, but the church brought in an acoustician that did a fine job in alleviating any issues,” notes Bob Ludwig of Audio Techniques. Treatments include strategically placed curtain strips as well as compressed fiberglass that covers about 80 percent of the ceiling while providing an attractive look.
“The QX Series is absolutely ideal for applications like this, where there’s a need for strong full-range performance from a compact package that’s easy on the budget,” Ludwig states.
INSIDE THE MALIBU PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Capacity: 300
Key Components: EAW QX Series
Integrator: Audio Techniques
Designer: Audio Techniques
Central Church of God Charlotte, NC
The Central Church of God has a total capacity of 6,000 attendees in the main facility and three satellite campuses. Earlier this year, the church added to its complement of DiGiCo mixing consoles (including SD5, SD8, SD9 and SD11 models) and recently focused on its main P.A. system.
Jerry Temple of integrator XLmediaworks invited Don Kendrick, the church’s director of media services, to a d&b audiotechnik demo at Atlanta’s Fox Theater. “The Fox is not unlike our church in terms of size, seating and acoustics. I was impressed by the coverage and transparency of the system, but still wanted to hear it live,” says Kendrick. “Fortunately, MerleFest in upstate NC was just the place, as one stage was using the V-Series. Set on a hillside, coverage was tricky. But when I walked around, the coverage completely blew me away.”
Kendrick also brought in consultant Jim Brawley to work directly for the church and paired him with XLmediaworks to design/install the new system. The two plotted the sanctuary in d&b’s ArrayCalc prediction tool to determine the solution: L/R arrays of V-tops, with flown V-SUBs and J-INFRAs to each side. Brawley added d&b T10 cabinets for front fill.
Kendrick was satisfied with the new system. “That low-end from the INFRAs — what d&b calls ‘the octave you never knew you had’ — is right; you can make a bass player sound so true. In fact, the fidelity of all instruments is astounding, and all in the right place. It is such an easy system to mix on.”
INSIDE THE CENTRAL CHURCH OF GOD
Capacity: 1,800
Key Components: d&b audiotechnik V-Series; DiGiCo SD5
Integrator: XLmediaworks
Designer: Jim Brawley (James Brawley and Associates)
Bay Area First Baptist Church League City, TX
Located in League City, just outside of Houston, the Bay Area First Baptist Church is undergoing a multi-phase expansion with the first phase focusing on the main worship center’s audio and lighting systems (a video upgrade is planned for this fall). The church’s technical director John Fones called on Skylark AV of Oklahoma City to provide high-quality equipment.
The system’s centerpiece is an L-Acoustics KIVA rig, with left/right hangs each having a SB15M subwoofer and five KIVAs below it, and four SB18 subs under the stage carrying the weight of the low-end. Three L-Acoustics 8XT’s were implemented for extreme side and center down fill, while two LA4X and a LA8 provide powering and processing for the entire rig.
“Skylark arranged a demo for us a few months back,” says Fones, “and I knew the next time I purchased a P.A. it would be L-Acoustics. The clarity is second to none. I’m amazed at how good it sounded right out of the box, with no tuning. Of course, Skylark tuned our rig and took it to another level.”
Other additions included Shure ULXD4 with RF Venue Distro4+ and Diversity Fin for wireless and custom multi-pin Whirlwind drop snake with dual disconnects.
Inside the Bay Area First Baptist Church
Capacity: 800
Key Components: L-Acoustics KIVA
Integrator: Skylark AV
Designer: Steele Beaty and Marcus Walker
GBI Gilgal Church North Jakarta, Indonesia
Indonesian integrator Kairos Multijaya, which specializes in audio system and acoustical designs, handled the audio/video/lighting installation in the new GBI Gilgal church in North Jakarta. The massive 4,000 square-meter, four-story complex houses a main 1,000-seat sanctuary, a 400-capacity youth/fellowship hall, as well as other rooms, catering facilities and outlets.
An Allen & Heath iLive-T112 surface and iDR-64 MixRack system were installed in the main sanctuary, along with five ME-1 personal monitor mixers. The console feeds a large Meyer rig with six MICA line array in a L/R configuration, with four HP700 subs, six UPM front-fills and four delayed UPJ’s in the balcony area.
An Allen & Heath iLive-T80 system was selected for the youth hall, while a rackmount iLive-R72, is available as part of a portable AV system. Speakers in the youth hall include RCF 6001 mains, TT-28 subs and TT25A delays.
“I never used a digital mixer before but since then I have fallen in love with iLive,” says sound engineer Vian Pioh. “The best feature for me is the Mixpad app, which makes it easier for me to control stage monitoring. iLive is a really user friendly digital mixer, which must be tried.”
INSIDE THE GBI GILGAL CHURCH
Capacity: 1,000
Key Components: Allen & Heath iLive-T112/iDR-64, iLive-T80, Meyer MICAs, RCF 6001’s.
Integrator: Kairos Multi Jaya
First Presbyterian Church Salinas, CA
The First Presbyterian Church has been in its current 1,500-seat location for more than a decade, around which time the previous P.A. was installed. The church recently upgraded to a comprehensive sound system from VUE Audiotechnik.
John Prock, owner of Music Unlimited, the retailer that supplied the VUE equipment, is also the church’s bassist. Prock and the church’s creative arts director Ryan Hunzie traveled to Mountain View (near San Francisco) to hear an installed VUE rig, and were blown away by the system’s transparency. “Our existing P.A. was okay, but the VUE system would provide better coverage throughout the room, as well as increased reliability,” says Hunzie.
“We have 12 al-8 line array cabinets in two hangs of six on either side of the room, and eight al-4 subcompact line array cabinets hung as a center array,” Hunzie adds. Four hs-28 dual 18-inch ACM subwoofers add LF punch, and six i-Class 2×4.5 dual 4.5-inch speakers handle front fill. Stage monitoring is via two VUE a-10’s and four i-6a’s.
In addition to providing amplification for the speakers, VUE VSeries Systems Engines offer DSP for EQ, crossover, time-alignment and loudspeaker protection. “Its networking capability allows us to use SystemVUE software to create the system configuration, as well as check on amplifier status,” Hunzie says. The engines are fed by a Yamaha CL5 console with two RIO 32Ds and RIO 16D stageboxes.
“We could tell the difference between the old and new system right away,” adds Hunzie. “The first thing we noticed was the clarity, especially in and under our balcony, where we had issues with intelligibility. Coverage across the room is amazing. You can sit on either side and it always sounds like you are seated in the middle of the room.”
Inside the First Presbyterian Church
Capacity: 1,500
Key Components: VUE Audiotechnik al-8 and al-4 line arrays, hs-28 subs
Supplier: Music Unlimited
Designer: John Prock
Beltway Park Baptist Church Abilene, TX
Since 1996, Beltway Park Baptist Church has enjoyed tremendous growth, doubling its original South Campus building to 80,000 square feet in 2009 and opening of a new 48,000-sq.-ft. satellite North Campus. Focusrite RedNet interfaces network both campuses, enabling the distribution, routing and recording of services, praise bands and religious and secular events anywhere within the respective locations.
Creative director Jacob Moore designed the audio, video and lighting systems at both locations and oversaw the installation at the North Campus by an in-house team through his consulting company, Earsight Design. Dallas-based Sound Productions supplied the equipment.
At the new North Campus, 12 miles from the south facility, RedNet 4 mic preamps provide a 40-channel split from the worship center stage. The DiGiCo SD9 FOH console accesses the Dante network via a RedNet 6 MADI bridge. At the South Campus, a similar RedNet Dante network supports 48 channels from the stage, with a RedNet 6 split to an Avid VENUE FOH console. Audio at both sites can be routed to a RedNet 5 Pro Tools interface for recording to computers via a RedNet PCIe card or Dante Virtual Soundcard.
At both locations, other Dante-enabled gear connects to the network, including I/O interfaces and mixers for use in smaller venues. The Dante networks run on a 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone that carries additional traffic, including other audio transport protocols, DMX lighting data and multiple streams of IP-based HD video.
“RedNet offers a cost savings; you can utilize audio in different venues on the campus simultaneously,” says Moore. “The system is the same price as an analog split, except now I have high-definition audio anywhere and everywhere I want it with the click of a mouse.”
Inside Beltway Park Baptist Church
Capacity: 1,500
Key Components: DiGiCo SD9; Avid VENUE; Focusrite RedNet networking
Integrator: Earsight Design
Designer: Jacob Moore
Supplier: Sound Productions
Haiti Cathedral Port-au-Prince, Haiti
The devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed thousands and destroyed major infrastructures. One cultural landmark lost was the Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, which is now slated for a 10-year rebuilding project. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church completed a temporary 1,600-seat open-air facility adjacent to the old church’s ruins.
Miami-based Revelation Sound designed and installed the sound system for the steel-frame cathedral, using Ashly Audio Protea processing, amplification and user interfaces. “The Protea DSP’s automatic mic mixing and feedback suppression let the church have sophisticated services without a skilled sound tech,” said Revelation’s president Michael Melcher. “And once an Internet connection is up, we’ll tie into the network-ready Ashly gear and can make adjustments remotely.”
A Technomad Schedulon carillon (chimes) system chimes at prescribed times, powered by an Ashly KLR-3200 amp and four Atlas loudspeakers. “When we first fired up the carillon system, the drywall crew leader had a tear in his eye, explaining it was the first time in Port-au-Prince that bells sounded since the earthquake.”
A generator powers sound and lights during services. Eight inputs, including Shure wireless units and a reconditioned choir mixer, feed an Ashly ne8800M 8-in x 8-out Protea digital system processor, routed to a self-powered Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16 steerable line array system and two Ashly KLR-3200 amps to drive under-balcony speakers and choir monitors. Three Ashly neWR-5 programmable remote controls offer easy preset selection for different types of events, with individual level control of each input.
Inside the Haiti Cathedral
Capacity: 1,600
Key Components: Ashly amps/processing; Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16; Technomad Schedulon
Integrator: Revelation Sound
Supplier: Revelation Sound
Trinity Central Church Vancouver, BC
Trinity Central is a modern, non-denominational church with a 120-strong congregation that meets at a local independent cinema in Vancouver’s Yaletown district, setting up and breaking down their gear for each week’s service.
“We’ve got a good sounding P.A. system, and although the room isn’t really designed for live sound, we’ve been working on optimizing our system’s performance,” explains Mark Peskett, Trinity’s technical advisor.
As part of that process, Trinity recently upgraded to the new Mackie DL32R mixer. “We had been using the DL1608, which served us very well,” Peskett explains. “We’re not a large church, but we really value the sonic integrity and production value of our meetings,” he says. “The DL32R is a major step up. The preamps sound absolutely pristine, with a great sense of dynamics, clarity and air.”
The band is typically a five-piece, with everyone on in-ears. “All of our musicians look after their own in-ear mixes — at least those who own iOS devices,” says Peskett. “Thanks to the DL32R, we can now run four or five stereo monitor mixes with no problem.” He also finds the DL32R’s multi-track recording capabilities to be invaluable. “It’s just awesome — particularly the fact that you can just plug and play without any driver installation.”
Inside Trinity Central Church
Capacity: 250
Key Components: Mackie DL32R
Designer: Mark Peskett
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Rockville, MD
Inaugurated in 1968, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, the original 47-year-old sound system was well overdue for an upgrade.
The 1,000-seat room’s acoustics have always been a challenge, says Gene Ingham of systems integrator RCI Systems. “The sanctuary has an A-frame architecture with 35-foot ceilings and lots of windows,” says Ingham. “The altar area is in the center, the choir is on one side with the organ and piano, and most of the congregation sits directly in front. The original sound system did not project far enough, so it was like a cloud of sound coming out of the sky, lacking clarity and intelligibility.”
Ingham spec’d a pair of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16-RN digitally steered arrays for the sanctuary, marking the first installation of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Gen5, the company’s newest generation steered beam technology. The rig was set up using RHAON II System Designer, R-H’s latest control and beam steering application.
“We do a lot of work in very reverberant spaces, and IC Live is a real problem solver for us,” Ingham notes. “St. Patrick’s has a traditional service with organ, piano, and choir, and speech intelligibility is important. The IC16-RNs sound great and have plenty of power. The beam coverage was so wide I only had to put two IC16-RNs in, and it still covers the main room and at least half of the transept. And with the IC16-RN’s low-profile design, half the people don’t even know the speakers are there.”
Inside St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
Capacity: 1,000
Key Components: Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Gen5
Integrator: RCI Systems
Designer: Gene Ingham
Spring Meadows Seventh-Day Adventist Church Sanford, FL
The new sanctuary at the Spring Meadows Seventh-day Adventist Church had the challenge of keeping the reflective hardwood panels and stone walls in the fan-shaped 1,000-seat hall from overwhelming the intelligibility of the message from church’s 72-foot-wide raised platform. The solution came via Bose RoomMatch speakers and some acoustical treatment.
Systems integrator Sound Stage designed and installed the space, placing left-right arrays with two RM12020 modules, an RM9020 module and an RM9050 module, plus stacked pairs of RMS215 subs, along with 1.5-inch fiberglass acoustical absorptive panels along the rear and side walls. The second floor FOH position is outside the main audio coverage area, so Sound Stage calibrated a Bose RMU208 small-format utility speaker to the level of the main sound system. Powering is via a Bose PowerMatch PM8500N networked amp and Bose ControlSpace DSP controller.
Bill Fletcher, co-owner of Sound Stage, used Bose Modeler and Auditioner software, designing the system and the acoustical treatment within it, choosing the exact components needed to address the room’s specifics.
“A great thing about the RoomMatch product is that you can choose precisely the vertical and horizontal coverage pattern control that you need by choosing the appropriate module,” he explains. “The audio coverage pattern is well-defined in the seating area. Coverage just outside the seating drops off dramatically, to minimize sound reflections from rear and side walls.”
Inside the Spring Meadows Seventh-day Adventist Church
Capacity: 1,000
Key Components: Bose RoomMatch speakers, PowerMatch amps
Integrator: Sound Stage
Designer: Bill Fletcher
Shove Memorial Chapel Colorado Springs, CO
Shove Memorial Chapel on the Colorado College campus seats nearly 1,000. Integrators Sight + Sound Technologies recently installed a new sound system based on five Tectonic Audio PL-11 flat-panel DML (Distributed Mode Loudspeakers).
The design mandate was to provide a highly intelligible, feedback-resistant system that provided equal volume coverage to all areas of the space and was respectful of the architecture. The stone chapel is built in the gothic cathedral style, with an arching ceiling, long and narrow nave and wide perpendicular transepts. The acoustics are highly reverberant.
“Tectonic PL-Series loudspeakers utilize non-point source DML technology to overcome perennial issue of sound reinforcement in such difficult spaces”, explains Tectonic’s Marcelo Vercelli. “DML audio propagation is extremely wide in coverage, non-destructive when interacting with reflective surfaces and very feedback resistant. They perform well in large reverberant spaces.”
After a successful onsite demo, Tectonic provided color-matched PL-11 panels. Sight + Sound Technologies mounted two PL-11s horizontally at the front of the chancel, two PL-11s vertically a third of the way into the nave and a single horizontal PL-11 facing rearward into the apse. All Tectonic panels were mounted with standard 400mm x 400mm VESA hardware.
“The demo sealed the deal,” says Sight + Sound’s CEO Kris Johnson. “When we got the demo speakers in, we realized the wide dispersion covered the areas very well. In fact, we were able to reduce the total number of speakers needed.”
Inside the Shove Memorial Chapel
Capacity: 987
Key Components: Tectonic DML PL-11 speakers
Integrator: Sight + Sound Technologies
Yunus Emre Camii Genk, Belgium
The sound system for the Yunus Emre Camii, the largest Turkish mosque in Belgium, had poor intelligibility and reliability. A new system design/installation was awarded to Hifi Center Herteleer. “The entire floor of the mosque is covered with thick woolen carpet, so floor reflections are reduced but the domed ceiling creates a tremendous echo,” says Kristof Broux of HCH. “The solution was to use speakers that could cover a large area, but with tightly controlled vertical dispersion, so no sound was directed into the dome. Community’s ENTASYS met these parameters perfectly, and is well proven for its excellent intelligibility.”
Two ENTASYS full-range column line-array systems provide the sound for the mosque’s main area, with two CS4 speakers providing rear delay fill. Four I/O5 loudspeakers cover the women-only area at the back of the mosque and four R Series R.25 speakers with Crown amplifiers are used on the minaret, providing 360-degree coverage outside for the call to prayers.
“The new system has transformed the sound quality in the mosque,” adds Broux. “Whether the imam is praying softly, or singing out loud, the intelligibility and coverage throughout is superb.”
Inside the Yunus Emre Camii
Capacity: 1,000
Key Components: Community ENTASYS, R.25 on minaret
Integrator: Hifi Center Herteleer
Designer: Kristof Broux
