LDS Temple Complex
Oakland, CA
Completed nearly 50 years ago, the 1,800-seat Interstake Auditorium at the LDS (Mormon) Temple complex in Oakland, CA, was overdue for a new sound system. To address challenges including strong, focused echoes, somewhat heightened ambient noise levels and a relatively low ceiling, Ken Dickensheets, CTO/principal consultant, Dickensheets Design Associates, Austin, TX, specified a new RoomMatch array module system from Bose Professional Systems. Marshall Industries of Salt Lake City handled the installation.
“The overriding consideration was speech intelligibility, with the added need for excellent musical quality,” Dickensheets said. “We were able to keep most of the direct energy off the rear and side walls. It enabled us to get very even sound coverage in the room, better than ±1 dB at 2 kHz, with very high intelligibility.”
Bose notes that its RoomMatch modules can be used singularly in applications with modest SPL/coverage-control requirements, or formed into Progressive Directivity Arrays — curvilinear arrays in which the directivity of each module can be varied to optimize coverage for a specific room — with up to eight modules for the highest SPL and coverage-control requirements.
To power the speakers, the Temple is using Bose’s PowerMatch digital amplifiers, which can be configured as a single module, dual module in bridge or parallel mode, or as four modules in bridged plus parallel mode.
The Interstake auditorium’s final system setup includes 27 RoomMatch RM9060 modules (with 90×60-degree coverage) plus six RMS215 subwoofers, powered by 10 PowerMatch 8500 amplifiers.
The new components were integrated with an existing Yamaha mixing console and under-balcony ceiling speakers. There are two RoomMatch hangs at the proscenium and two halfway back in the room, and five more for the balcony. An additional module provides stage foldback.
Although it can be controlled via the Yamaha console, the system can also operate in an unattended mode. A Biamp AudiaFLEX processor offers room tuning, routing and control up to the Bose amps, which are loaded with the speaker parameters, while an Ivie Technologies iFlex 1280 supports automatic operation.
“On most conventional systems, when we get the speakers aimed and the crossovers put in, we’re about 20 percent along in the tuning process,” Dickensheets said. “With this system, that by the time that we’ve put the crossovers in the amplifiers and turned the system on, we were 90 percent of the way along.”
More info at pro.bose.com.
Bay Community Church
Daphne and Mobile, AL
Bay Community Church extended its reach from its base in Daphne, AL with a portable church across the bay in Mobile, AL. When the Mobile campus grew into a permanent location, the church had ESB Group design and install all AV systems.
“Originally, it was going to be one console,” noted Kevin Lammons, production director and FOH engineer for the new Mobile campus. Shortly before that console purchase was finalized, however, the PRO2 emerged, and the church opted for two units — one for each facility.
“The idea is to standardize so that volunteers can work just as easily at either location,” noted Larry Bounds, COO at ESB Group. “And the PRO2 price point meant they could afford two consoles.”
Lammons, a longtime touring engineer for national acts including Lonestar, had voiced a preference for another brand of console, but was swayed by a Midas demo in Birmingham, AL. “I had always loved the sound of Midas analog consoles, the XL4 and H3000.” The PRO2, he added, “has that same warm-sounding preamp, very true to the source. You can tell when you have a good console, because you can get a good quality sound without too much EQ.”
Lammons also credited Midas’ POPulation Groups. “Between them and the VCAs, I have anything I need at the push of one button.” His POP Groups include one for the drum kit plus drum reverb, one for all guitars plus band reverb, and another for keyboards. The vocal POP Group includes the pastor’s mics, two headworn mics, four handhelds, plus vocal verb and vocal delay. All playback — including iPod, CD player, streaming video, Pro Presenter audio, and Lammons’ talkback mic, are part of another POP Group.
To ensure he always has the pastor’s channel active, Lammons utilizes the Area B faders on the far right of the PRO2. “I call it my flex fader,” he said. “I route the campus pastor’s headset mic, vocal delay, and Pro Presenter audio to those three faders in Area B. It’s actually four channels, since the last channel is stereo. So no matter what else is going on, those key channels are always on top.”
To broadcast the weekly message from the Daphne campus during services in Mobile, Bay Community Church uses a Klark Teknik DN9650 network bridge card and Midas MADI interface. “That sends the outputs to their broadcast studio, both for live streaming and recording,” noted Bounds.
To accommodate the church’s legacy PM system, the Roland M48, ESB Group also installed an extra DL252 remote stage box in each campus. “That gives us 48 extra outputs, so we can send everything into the M48 hub without having to invest in a new monitor system for the band,” Bounds added.
More info at midasconsoles.com
Hillvue Heights Church
Bowling Green, KY
After Bruce Bossert of Nashville-based Mid-Coast & Performance Audio, Inc. provided a Meyer Sound JM-1P system for Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, KY, it didn’t take the congregation long to remark on the noticeable change in sound quality.
“Some ladies heard it immediately,” recalled Marc Owens, audio coordinator for the church. “They came up after the 8 a.m. service and asked, ‘Now, what did you do to the sound? I can understand every word the preacher is saying now, and I couldn’t understand hardly anything before.’”
At the later up-tempo services for younger congregants, the new system’s sheer power became apparent. “I can peel the paint if I want to,” said Owens, whose career in audio includes mixing for touring country notables and operation of a Bowling Green-based recording studio. “We’re hitting up to 115 dB in here now, but nobody complains because it doesn’t hurt—as often it would with the old boxes.”
“It’s a rock ‘n’ roll system in a rock ‘n’ roll church — it hits hard and it still has tons of headroom left,” said Bossert, who worked on the installation with on-site project manager Duane Tabinski.
At the system’s core are left and right arrays of four JM-1P loudspeakers, which cover most of the main floor seats in the 1,500-capacity multipurpose auditorium. For the low-end, there are four under-stage 600-HP subwoofers.
A down-firing UPA-2P loudspeaker fills in the center, two UPQ-2P loudspeakers handle out fill, and the wide balcony is covered by two UPA-2P and four UPA-1P delay loudspeakers. A number of MM-4XP miniature self-powered loudspeakers are installed, including six for under-balcony fill and eight for front fill, and two HD-1 monitors sits at FOH mix. A Galileo loudspeaker management system with two Galileo 616 processors provides system drive and processing. Final tuning was accomplished using the SIM 3 audio analyzer.
“This was my first install with the JM-1P, and I was extremely impressed with its tone quality and power,” said Tabinski. “It has outstanding vocal clarity, and it was definitely the right box for the job. When the system was complete and tuned, the sound in the room was seamless.”
In addition to the Sunday and Wednesday church services, the auditorium hosts community meetings, graduations, children’s shows, and concerts; TobyMac was one of the first to perform using the new system.
More info at meyersound.com
First United Methodist Church
Wabash, IN
Doug Hood, president of Fort Wayne, IN-based CSD Group, overcame challenges to spoken word intelligibility posed by the 300-capacity sanctuary at First United Methodist Church in Wabash, IN with gear from WorxAudio Technologies.
Hood noted that a key priority for the church, which includes piano and choir accompaniment to the weekly sermons, was to minimize line-of-sight distractions in the area of the altar. With dispersion characteristics capable of providing even, consistent coverage, Hood said WorxAudio’s X5i-P, a compact, “all-in-one” line array that incorporates five modules, proved well-suited to the task.
“The X5i-P’s horizontal dispersion is incredible,” he noted, adding that “to prove our point, we actually brought in a crank up lift, positioned the system where the new array would go, and left it there for a Sunday service so the congregation could hear the difference.”
Each of the WorxAudio X5i-P’s five modules has a medium-format, 1-inch exit compression driver coupled to a stabilized FlatWave Former (wave shaping device) and dual 8-inch cone transducers. The five high frequency drivers and 10 bass drivers are designed to provide clear, penetrating high frequencies over a predictable and controlled coverage area.
“At the client’s request, we bought the system unfinished and they custom painted it to match the room,” Hood added. “Everyone at the church has been very pleased with the performance of the new system. This line array not only gave us fantastic sound, but a very clean look as well.”
More information from worxaudio.com
Sofiemyr Church
Oslo, Norway
Sofiemyr church installed a pair of Renkus-Heinz IC Live arrays, flown upside-down alongside matching subwoofers above the church’s small performance stage.
The inverted array technique has been used before — U.K.-based Stage Audio Services experiment with the concept, flying a pair of IC Live arrays upside down at trim height for a standup comedy tour of British theatres, which allowed the beams to be angled at the ground floor audience as well as the balconies. But the Sofiemyr church installation is most likely the first permanent installation to use the configuration, which has many benefits in a tall space.
Geir Kristoffersen, manager of the consulting department of COWI for Acoustics and Electro Acoustics, Sound and Vision, handled the system design, working with gear provided by Benum A/S for the modern-looking sanctuary, which has bare brick walls, a tiled floor, large windows and a wooden ceiling.
“This room is a cube, essentially; 16 by 16 meters, with a height of about 12 meters, so it’s very interesting acoustically,” Kristoffersen said. “But it’s turned 90 degrees so that you get some angles towards the speakers.” Slots in the ceiling provide low frequency absorption.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the reverb time is just 1.7 seconds, with a very well controlled low end. “But still, 1.7 seconds is significant,” Kristoffersen noted. He added that the challenge posed by slapback from the bare brick walls had to be dealt with.
Other factors influencing the design are the church’s pipe organ, often played along with a band and a grand piano, and the pulpit, which is removed for the church’s contemporary worship services.
Kristoffersen, who also mixes some of the church services, said he is “very happy” with the inverted pair of IC Lives. “I’ve never worked with a system that’s so easy and quick to get good sound from,” he added.
“Together with the choir, we often have a worship team of eight people singing with their vocal microphones,” he continued. “Last Sunday, for example, the choir was seated directly in front of the loudspeakers and I had my measurement system at the desk and I was pumping 90 dB A-weighted, but flat out it was giving 101 dB. Yet there was no issue with feedback.
“With these digitally steerable arrays, we get tightly controlled beams, which allow us to deflect the sound away from these noisy brick walls,” he continued. “While there is some reverberation, of course, if you shoot straight into these walls then you’d have a big problem with slapback.”
The system is configured with two beams from each IC Live, one pair aimed at the front part of the congregation, the others at the rear. The result, says Kristoffersen, “is that the sound is completely uniform wherever you are standing or sitting.”
Kristoffersen noted that “because it’s a true line array and not a banana hang, it creates a cylindrical wave, which means that it doesn’t excite the room as much as a traditional three-box system, which would have been our obvious alternative. Another thing is that, with a choir, the choir bench is high, which means the microphones are right in front of the loudspeakers, yet we have never had any feedback problems. Because it’s so even sounding across the frequency spectrum you don’t get response spikes which then become the problem, especially with the choir-mic scenario.”
The system is tuned with RHAON and with an Allen & Heath IDR8 DSP processor with an Allen & Heath T112 control surface, allowing it to be controlled from two different places.
A small delay system provides extra coverage into a small annex at the rear and in the side halls using CFX-61R cabinets, again controlled over RHAON and CobraNet. These are matched with six CF-121M cabinets for monitors, which can also be deployed as a portable PA in the larger side room of the church, or outside during the summer.
“It’s also very good for the monitoring because, despite it being so loud up there, it doesn’t feedback even when it’s rock ‘n’ roll loud. Also, we work a lot with the grand piano and, for me, a grand piano has to sound good. If the grand piano doesn’t sound good, then it’s nearly worse than having the drum kit not sounding right, but even when we’re pushing rock ‘n’ roll levels and there’s a monitor there next to it, if you do push it to feedback, it’s not high-end feedback but a just rumble, which tells you that the total room is just playing too loud. It’s very impressive, and we’re extremely happy.”
More information from renkus-heinz.com
