No matter what faith or style of service, all churches share a common goal — that of spreading the message. Some have a greater emphasis on spoken word; others rely more on music in any variety of styles, whether it be folk, liturgical, gospel or flat-out rock ‘n’ roll. But all houses of worship need a sound system that provides clarity, intelligibility and musicality.
With that in mind, we present some recent installation projects, ranging from whole system to incremental upgrades. Each took a different route in their approach, proving there are numerous solutions to any audio problem — large or small — for any sanctuary.
First Baptist Church Woodstock, Woodstock, GA
Located 30 miles north of Atlanta is First Baptist Church Woodstock (FBCW), whose history traces back to 1837. Over the years, FBCW flourished, and constructed a 7,200-seat Worship Center to accommodate its 20,000+ congregation in 2005. Now the church takes another major step forward, as the world’s largest permanent installation of L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive sound technology.
Technology solutions provider Diversified was brought into the project to provide an AVL upgrade for its Worship Center. “First Baptist Woodstock has two service options, with different musical elements and characteristics, yet they share a need for sonic clarity and massive headroom with an intimate sound,” says Diversified’s Tim Corder.
“They needed a system that would add dimension to each service, and make their massive room feel small, intimate and engaging,” adds Diversified’s Nick Geiger. “We knew L-ISA would do both, and allow them to essentially flip a switch to move between their two performance setups.”
The Worship Center’s original mono center cluster speaker system failed to meet their needs. “We had volume and tone inconsistencies throughout the room,” says FBCW production director Josh Belokonny. “But a left/right line array system might not have been the right choice. “Standard left/right arrays in this room were an obstacle from a video standpoint because they would cause a lot of sightline issues.”
L-Acoustics’ new A Series — specifically the A15i —was chosen for several reasons. “The technology and sound of the box mimics larger L-Acoustics enclosures like the K1, K2 and K3,” shares L-Acoustics’ Josh Maichele. “Secondly, some of the major advantages to the A Series products are their size and weight. We were able to bend the array faster with the A15i Wide, allowing us to reduce the line length and keep the arrays above LED wall sightlines.”
Diversified and L-Acoustics specified a main Scene system with five arrays of five A15i Focus over one A15i Wide, backed by four central hangs of two KS28 subs. That system is flanked by two Extension arrays of five A10i Focus over one A10i Wide, and two out-fill arrays of five A10i Focus over one A10i Wide and two far horizontal out-fill arrays of three A10i Wide. Below, 14 coaxial 5XT spread across the stage stairs offer front-fill, with two X8 providing extreme left/right front-fill. Additional A10i Wides in the house handle over- and under-balcony fill, while above the stage, two hangs of one A15i Wide and one A15i Focus plus two A15i Wide serve as choir monitors. Three LA12X, 15 LA4X, and four LA2Xi amplified controllers power and process the entire system — all managed via L-Acoustics’ new L-ISA Processor II.
An advantage of selecting the A Series-based L-ISA design was its cost savings, which surprised the church. “This L-ISA implementation was nearly 25 percent less expensive than a traditional left/right-based system because we spec’d the cost-effective A15i and A10i speakers,” Corder notes.
With traditional left/right array systems, typically, only 15 percent of the audience seated down the center strip of the room hear things in true stereo. With L-ISA, nearly three-quarters of First Baptist’s congregants are now in the “sweet spot” for experiencing spatialized audio.
“There’s great excitement and peace of mind knowing what we’re able to produce now is a lot more accurate and represents what’s happening onstage,” says Belokonny. “It’s leaps and bounds better than our old system, and it’s consistent throughout the whole venue, which provides an opportunity for everyone to be more unified and to have this sense that we’re all in this moment of worship together.”
First Baptist Church Woodstock
- Capacity: 7,200
- Key Components: L-Acoustics L-ISA System
- Integrator: Diversified
First Baptist Church of San Marcos, San Marcos, TX
After years of considering replacing its old sound system, the First Baptist Church of San Marcos contacted Curt Taipale of Allen, TX-based Taipale Media Systems to design a new system. After visiting several of Taipale’s projects, the church team was impressed with one using Danley Sound Labs speakers. Afterwards, a demo of Danley gear was arranged in FBCSM’s sanctuary and the church agreed with Taipale’s recommendation for a Danley system.
The final design employed four Danley SH-50 loudspeakers arranged in an exploded arc as mains, with an SH-95 suspended below each as downfill speakers and two SH-95HO loudspeakers as delays. In addition, two Danley TH118 subs were flown as an end-fire subwoofer array. Installed by Fort Worth-based Electro Acoustics, the project also featured choir monitors, Powersoft amplifiers, Symetrix Prism DSP and an Allen & Heath Avantis FOH console.
“This is a textbook case where more conventional technologies like line arrays would have been the absolute wrong solution for the space,” says SEFI Consulting’s Robert Bernecker, who commissioned and tuned the system. “The wide horizontal patterns would have caused a lot of reverberation in the room.”
Bernecker was impressed by Danley’s quality. “Danley products demonstrate a commitment to elevating point-source technology, and that was exactly what was needed for this space,” says Bernecker. “I love that Danley offers honest EASE data and specs for its products. Also, Danley’s subs are remarkable in their efficiency and sensitivity, allowing for a lower box count and their legendary punch.”
After commissioning, the staff and congregation were pleased with the results. “They were excited that they could actually understand the pastor and other spoken word — some said for the first time,” Bernecker says. “Almost everyone enjoyed the solid low-end from the Danley subwoofers. Overall, they were very impressed and there were no bad seats in the sanctuary.”
First Baptist Church of San Marcos
- Capacity: 500
- Key Components: Danley SH-50s, Powersoft amps, Allen & Heath Avantis
- Integrator: Taipale Media Systems
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Miami Gardens, FL
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church was established in 1957 and has been expanding ever since and recently built a new 2,500-seat Dwelling Place sanctuary, to meet the needs of its growing congregation.
For Antioch, the unpredictability of the pandemic and the temperamental Florida weather were barriers to maintaining a consistent schedule for construction and services. “Building during the Covid-19 pandemic was extremely difficult — tariff charges, product increases, product availability and not being able to get supplies in a timely fashion made this a stressful process,” says Antioch’s sound engineer, Kimbrick Jordan. In addition to the new sound system, new lighting and video systems were also installed.
Jordan worked with Antioch’s Calvin Seymour to design the AVL systems, relying on ISP Technologies to provide the audio, with ISP CEO Buck Waller helping with the audio design.
Jordan chose a flown FOH system comprised of 24 ISP Technologies HDL3312 high-definition line array modules augmented by six ground-stacked and two flown XMAX218 dual 18-inch subs. The all-ISP monitoring system consists of six VM110 floor wedges, four HDM112s, four HDM115 stereo pairs, four ProWedge 212s and six OVP-1s. The front and under-balcony fills include eight HDL2208 cabinets.
The ISP equipment is tailored for large spaces with cost efficiency in mind, but doesn’t compromise on quality. Detailing ISP’s patented Dynamic Adaptive Amplifier (DAA) technology, Waller explains “we don’t integrate Class-D topologies into our designs, as they exude a brittle, shrill tone compared to our much warmer Class-A/B amplifier. We get almost the same heat, but we also pull less current than Class-D — they’re much more efficient and cost-effective for the electricity bill.”
The considerable size of the sanctuary made vocal clarity a top priority. Waller says the ISP equipment is designed to achieve a vocal quality that cuts through the noise. “We also pay particular attention to the midrange, so the vocals can always be heard clearly, which is imperative for the church market,” he continues. “It’s no good if the music is loud and when the pastor speaks, you can’t understand him.”
With the Dwelling Place sanctuary now completed, congregants both at home and in person can worship with high-quality sound, video and lighting systems that do justice to the message of each service. “After over 30 years in the production field, I’ve now had the opportunity to mix on and listen to what I consider to be the best sound system in the industry,” says Jordan, “and I promise, you won’t find a better built or a better sounding versatile box in its class.”
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
- Capacity: 2,500
- Key Components: ISP HDL3312 line arrays
- Integrator: ISP Technologies
