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.
Nazareth Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls IA
Established in 1871, Nazareth Lutheran Church has undergone various changes over its past 150 years. Like many other houses of worship, one of those updates was a choice to host both traditional choir/organ and contemporary worship services on Sundays to better cater to parishioners’ preferences in worship style.
Just this year, Nazareth Lutheran sought to stay current in another way—by updating its P.A. system to one that would not only deliver exceptional sound for both musical genres but also position the church for its next generation of worshipers. That decision was made manifest with the installation this summer of an L-Acoustics immersive sound system featuring the new L-ISA Processor II, which was critical in bringing the next generation of sonic technology to this mid-sized church.
“The church hosts a traditional service on Sunday mornings using a choir, orchestra, organ, and bells, then 45 minutes later, there’s a band up on stage,” says Duke DeJong, integration lead at AV systems integrator Vantage Pro. DeJong and his team provided a full renovation for the church’s sound system that included L-Acoustics’ L-ISA immersive technology and an Allen & Heath dLive C3500 console.
To address the acoustical challenges of this type of traditional church architecture, the new setup includes 23 L-Acoustics A10i Focus and 11 A10i Wide loudspeakers. These are used for the five Scene arrays flown across the front of the stage, two Extension arrays, and two out-fill arrays, with six KS21i compact subwoofers flown in a center hang. Five compact 5XT enclosures are installed across the back edge of the balcony to cover its last several rows, and seven LA4X amplified controllers power the entire system.
An L-Acoustics LS10 10-port Milan-AVB switch acts as the network interface for the system, while a MADI card in the dLive mix engine connects the console to the P.A. L-ISA Controller software runs on a separate computer at the FOH position to manage the system’s object-based immersive mixing, while the console is used for level and dynamics control, making it simple to understand and master, even for the church’s largely volunteer tech team.
“The first order of business was to design a sound system that would address the church’s dynamic range of worship types,” says Marc Breda, project lead for Vantage Pro. “The pastor wanted that, but he also wanted the system to be ready to take the ministry into the future.” Cedar Falls is home to the University of North Iowa, where more than 10,000 students are enrolled. “They wanted a system that would also engage a younger generation who have become accustomed to sophisticated sound. L-ISA accomplishes that,” Breda says.
Nathaniel Parrish, the church’s music director, credited the new system as a “huge improvement in clarity and fullness. We recently had an event with 25 singers and musicians on stage, and it sounded great. We never could have pulled that off with our old sound system.”
Audio contractor Dan Olsen, who is often stationed at the FOH mix position, agrees, adding that, apart from the switch from analog to digital sound-mixing, the L-ISA system from L-Acoustics represents the biggest “game-changer” that he’s experienced as an audio engineer. “The way that I can place my orchestra and choir in a different space than the lead vocal and lead instruments helps create a space in our environment that is such an incredible boost to the overall sound of my mix,” he notes. “The ability to move objects on the fly, or to build presets depending on what group is coming in and how often, has been very easy. It’s fun to create something I’ve never been able to create with any other system.”
While Nazareth Lutheran Church is forward-thinking, it’s also realistic when it comes to finances. The 1,200-seat church is relatively mid-sized and budget-conscious. That’s why the arrival of the L-ISA Processor II late last year made all the difference. With the new product’s scalable licensing options, Nazareth Lutheran could pick an output tier that perfectly matched its production needs, significantly keeping costs down. That, combined with the specification of L-Acoustics A Series enclosures—particularly the smaller A10i—made choosing this system an easy decision for the church.
“The new L-ISA Processor II puts the concept of immersive sanctuary sound in much closer reach for churches like this,” says Breda. “They’re running a 64-channel audio system there, so it’s not a massive production. But their Sunday programming is very dynamic, and they wanted to engage their audience well for all types of programming, as well as prepare the church’s sound for the future.”
“The new processor came along at just the right moment for them,” adds DeJong, “and for what we think will be many more mid-sized churches, too.”
Nazareth Lutheran Church
- Capacity: 1,200
- Key Components: L-Acoustics L-ISA Processor II, A10i, KS21i subs, Allen & Heath dLive C3500
- Integrator: Vantage Pro
Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA
Healing Place Church has been expanding under the leadership of Mike and Rachel Haman and now has a total of 12 campuses located throughout the world, with 24,000 people attending weekly services. In a bid to enhance the listening experience of within the 3,000-capacity main arena at the church’s original location in Baton Rouge, LA, the church turned to a d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system.
A full contemporary band consisting of six to nine front line vocalists, drums, percussion, bass, electric guitars, acoustic guitar, keys, and an occasional choir play a key role during the church’s services.
“At HPC, we want to be big enough to reach the world, but small enough to feel like home,” says Pastor Mike. “We believe that changing the world starts with serving one person. Through services, outreach programs, small groups, and ministries, our aim is to lift the name of Jesus. Starting with twelve people in 1993, our vision has always been the same — to be a healing place for a hurting world.”
The vision for providing an engaging environment and increasing the connection with the congregation motivated Healing Place Church to upgrade to a d&b audiotechnik’s Soundscape system. The Orlando and Pensacola offices of Pro Sound & Video, a Solotech Company, recommended and installed a d&b Soundscape 360 system with Vi-Series loudspeakers.
“Soundscape provided immersive sound that engaged the audience from the front to the back,” says David Leuschner, a member of Pro Sound’s business development division. “Soundscape also helped with sight lines; a traditional stereo line array would have protruded into sight lines. After church leadership listened to a demo and heard how engaging it was, how the sound really made them feel connected, as if they were a part of it, they chose to go that route.”
And as it turns out, using d&b En-Scene and En-Space modules through the R1 Remote software is not as complex to operate as one might think, Leuschner adds. “It’s easy to operate, even for volunteers, and allowed engineers to develop a 360° mix in minutes instead of hours.” He adds that “the system has the power and clarity that we needed and maintained a wide coverage as well. The client had a demo of the system and fell in love with it.”
John Tillman, Healing Place Church’s technical director, had envisioned that Soundscape could be used to optimize coverage to every seat in the arena. What he didn’t expect was the impact that Soundscape would have on the church’s regular weekly services. “I feel like I’m now able to produce the sound I’ve always had in my head,” he says. “And knowing what the congregation’s response used to be, and now seeing that response trickle up to the outer edges of the room, is just fantastic.”
Soundscape processing adds fidelity and headroom while reducing the burden to the mix engineer. “The speaker system is automatically optimized for every performer separately,” states Nick Malgieri, advanced systems specialist, d&b audiotechnik Americas. “This allows every speaker to automatically handle a different mix of signals, which alleviates issues with fidelity and headroom. The engineer often requires less channel processing and plugins because the system doesn’t require as much mix processing. Adding surrounds then elevates the capabilities even further.”
En-Space is used on console channels as desired but can also be fed via eight DPA mics that are suspended from the ceiling, letting the engineer to selectively change the acoustics that are experienced by the crowd. d&b’s Nick Malgieri says the sound system upgrade was soon noticed by many, and that the church’s attendees are now noticeably more engaged in the services.
“Because of the more inviting acoustics provided by Soundscape, the audience felt more comfortable to sing and cheer,” Malgieri says. It’s also fast and easy to commission,” he adds, noting that only about 30 minutes were required to program the suspended mics. And the ability to route background vocals throughout surround speakers “helps people feel included, comfortable, and engaged with the music,” Malgieri says.
In addition to a Soundscape 360° system, the loudspeaker configuration includes Mains: (5) arrays of 8 x Vi-Series; Flown Subs: 4x SL-SUB; front fills: 13 x 44S; Ground subs: 10 x 21S-SUB; Extensions: 6 x 24S-D, Surrounds: 15 x 10S-D, Overheads: 8 x 8S, 22 x 40D and 2 x D80 amplifiers, 4 x DS10s and 1 x DS100 audio network bridge, with touchscreens for Soundscape control.
Pro Sound & Video also installed three DiGiCo Quantum 338 consoles with KLANG for the performers. The setup includes touch screens for MBE KLANG control and a Wi-Fi network for iPad control of KLANG, two SD Racks, one SD Mini Rack, Waves, DMI Dante to send to the Soundscape processor, MGB-P plus relevant Waves software for multi-track at FOH, monitors and broadcast audio.
Healing Place Church
- Capacity: 3,000
- Key Components: d&b audiotechnik Soundscape 360° system, d&b Vi-Series, DiGiCo Quantum 338 w/KLANG
- Integrator: Pro Sound & Video/Solotech
Light Presbyterian Church, Mississauga, ON Canada
With a seating capacity of 2,000, Light Presbyterian Church in Mississauga is a Gospel-centered church that serves a multi-ethnic and multi-generational community.
The audio environment in the wide, fan-shaped chapel is far from perfect. The highly reflective stage is not acoustically friendly, and neither is a second-floor glass balcony railing. This combination meant that the congregation was finding it hard to hear and fully understand services.
To solve these challenges, Light Presbyterian Church turned integrator Abe Son from Benabe ProSound. Having worked with the church on various AV upgrades for a number of years, he knew the challenges the venue presented and had a unique solution to solve the problem — TW AUDiO’s VERA20i.
“We needed to design an L-R rather than L-C-R line array system for the wide, fan-shaped chapel,” recalls Son. “The ‘true’ 120° VERA20i line array speakers were perfect for delivering even sound coverage across the whole chapel.”
The installed solution sees L-R hangs of five VERA20i-120° cabinets and three VERA20i-80° enclosures. Four VERA S32i subs flown as a central cluster provide low frequency reinforcement, while a combination of C5, T20i, C5i, C12 and C15 cabinets serve as fills in various areas. Power and processing is via Powersoft amplifiers and DSP.
With the VERA20i line arrays solving the challenge of providing even coverage, Son then used the “superb cardioid mode of VERA S32i” to solve the problem of the reflection issue on the stage. “It reduced significant amount of low frequency reflections and created tight and solid low frequency, making the sound natural and clear.”
To keep the sonic energy off the balcony’s glass surface, Son worked with TW AUDiO HQ in Germany on a simple solution: just add dummy cabinets into the array. “The TW AUDiO support and R&D team were so open minded by accepting and manufacturing VERA20i dummy cabinets to act as a ‘balcony spacer,’” Son says. “The church was so happy with the result—one of the church sound engineers said he had never heard such a crisp-yet-powerful sound.”
Light Presbyterian Church
- Capacity: 2,000
- Key Components: TW Audio VERA20i system
- Integrator: Pro Sound & Video/Solotech
Times Square Church, New York, NY
Times Square Church (TSC) on West 51st Street in Manhattan’s Theatre District has a long and diverse history. Initially built by Warner Brothers in 1930 as a movie palace known as the Warner Hollywood Theatre, the venue later transitioned into the Mark Hellinger Theatre, which hosted iconic Broadway musicals like My Fair Lady and Jesus Christ Superstar.
In 1991, the space was once again repurposed, this time as an interdenominational house of worship under the direction of Pastor David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade. He chose to preserve the venue’s modern façade and rococo interior, now New York City landmarks.
With a room this stunning, it was only fitting that it should also sound equally beautiful. Today, it does, thanks to a new L-Acoustics K3i loudspeaker system driven via a DiGiCo Quantum338 mixing console, both of which were installed by Special Event Services (SES) Integration.
During the 18 months when the church was shut down due to the Covid pandemic, church leaders sought to upgrade the audio system. While TSC had installed a very touring rider-friendly audio setup—an L-Acoustics V-DOSC and dV-DOSC rig paired with DiGiCo SD10 mixing consoles for both front-of-house and monitors—the gear was starting to show its age. And because the under-stage subs where damaged by flooding six year ago, the tech team had been leaning on the mains to also to deliver low-end reinforcement.
“On a typical Sunday, we have a drum set, bass, multiple guitars, organ, keyboards, a full choir of 60 to 100 people, as well as up to ten singers on stage, so we have a ton going on through the P.A.,” says TSC production director Luke LaPrairie. Along with better coverage throughout the room, LaPrairie sought a new system that would improve frequency response accuracy. “We wanted to ensure that what happened onstage would come across to the audience with as much fidelity and passion as what was being performed.”
SES integration director Trey Blair outlined challenges that would need to be met, starting with the space itself. “It’s a gorgeous room, so we couldn’t change anything about it,” he notes. “We couldn’t create more room where there wasn’t any like we can in new construction. We had to fit the new P.A. where the old one was. Plus, we had to unobtrusively add subs to the room.”
Just as importantly, Blair adds, the new system must ensure that the spoken word of Tim Dilena, TSC’s senior pastor for the past two years, could be clearly heard in every seat in the house, including those at the very back of the venue and under the balcony. “We utilized Soundvision to create a model of the space, then acoustically modeled several L-Acoustics solutions in the room, and K3i won hands-down every time,” he notes. “We needed the impact of a big box but couldn’t have the size of a traditional large-format P.A., so K3i fit the bill perfectly and left room for us to fly the subs beside it.” He also credits the adjustable Panflex technology for letting the upper enclosures reach the top of the balcony without energizing the hard surfaces on the walls.
Primarily utilizing the former sound system’s rigging points, SES Integration was able to fly a dozen L-Acoustics K3i enclosures alongside six KS21i subs to the left and right sides of the stage. A single coaxial X8 mounted to the wall below each sub hang provides far left and right fill, while five ultra-compact 5XT aesthetically mounted into the face of the stage deliver front-fill coverage. Several X12 located upstage left and right provide choir-fill, while an additional pair downstage serve as wedges for the pastoral team and worship leaders.
SES also installed a DiGiCo Quantum338 to serve as the church’s FOH console. This shares a newly-integrated fiber-optic loop with TSC’s twin existing SD-Racks and SD10 consoles: one continuing to facilitate monitor mixes, with the other being repurposed as a dedicated broadcast console for the church’s recently-constructed broadcast mix room. Each of the SD10s was upgraded with the latest SD10+ software for additional features and input channels, and SES also supplied a DiGiCo Orange Box loaded with DMI-Optocore and DMI-MADI cards to facilitate connection to the church’s video router for embedded audio.
With the new L-Acoustics and DiGiCo gear in place, the church now has a system that can more than adequately keep up with its dynamic and high-energy worship team. “This system is keeping the thousands of worshipers that come to TSC on their feet,” Mota enthuses. “I love the Quantum338 combined with the K3i—the warmth and clarity are all there. The impact it’s had on the audience is incredible, and the responses I’ve heard are overwhelming.”
“Hearing this system in this room for the first time was breathtaking—the amount of energy was palpable, and it continues to impress,” LaPrairie says. “Working with SES on this project was such a great experience because we were able to share our ideas and lean on their expertise, and that partnership brought us to what was certainly the best solution gear-wise. We’re all extremely happy with the results and excited about the potential of what this system will continue to bring to our worship experiences.”
Times Square Church
- Capacity: 1,500
- Key Components: L-Acoustics K3i loudspeakers, KS21i subs; DiGiCo Quantum338 console
- Integrator: SES Integration
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Greenville, MS
St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown Greenville, MS is rich with culture and community. Every week, parishioners convene under the high ceilings and stately archways of the nave, where light from stained-glass windows floods into the sanctuary.
Church leadership consulted Sound & Communications’ Allen Cotton, and he collaborated Richard Hembree of Griffith Sales Associates to overcome the challenges posed by the stately but highly reverberant architectural space.
“We chose [Renkus-Heinz] ICONYX loudspeakers because they look great and sound superb,” Cotton said. A pair of Renkus-Heinz’s flagship ICONYX Gen5 IC24-RN loudspeaker arrays proved to be ideal, working to keep reinforced sound away from the walls and ceilings and focusing it on the congregation—all while blending in with the architecture.
Stephen Edmonds, lead technician at Sound & Communications, cited “open communication with Renkus-Heinz throughout the project” as highly beneficial, noting that he worked closely with Renkus-Heinz product manager Brandon Heinz via remote technical support on the upgrade. “We were able to pinpoint exactly what was needed.”
“We are beyond thrilled with the reception the Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers have received,” says Jack Duthu at St. Joseph Catholic Church. “Now, every member of the congregation can feel included in every moment of a service. This upgrade has already promoted a stronger sense of community, and we could not be more grateful.”
St. Joseph Catholic Church
- Key Components: Renkus-Heinz’s ICONYX Gen5 IC24-RN loudspeaker arrays
- Integrators: Sound & Communications, Griffith Sales Associates
