Recently at FRONT of HOUSE, we’ve noticed a huge increase in installation projects, both in secular venues — such as performing arts, theaters, schools and sports facilities, but particularly, also with church and house of worship (HOW) sanctuaries. In fact, the latter market has experienced a major bump in activity over the past year, and it’s not limited to simple changes, but major projects, often involving high-end, high-tech approaches to providing superb audio for both the spoken word and music. With that in mind, we decided to spotlight a number of recent HOW installations that captured our eyes — and ears.
Celebration Church, Jacksonville, FL
In its new 3,000-seat, arena-style sanctuary in Jacksonville, FL, Celebration Church has installed a surround sound system using 90 Meyer Sound loudspeakers. The system was created in partnership with WAVE, a design/systems integration firm based in Charlotte, NC.
According to the church’s audio production director Jeff McDuffie, lead pastor Stovall Weems wanted an aural experience that eliminated the separation between the stage and the congregation. With this objective in mind, McDuffie and worship pastor Matt Adcox teamed with WAVE’s Armando Fullwood and Dr. Paul Henderson to create a system design based on Meyer MICA line arrays.
The installed system has twin arrays, each with 10 MICAs. Two cross-fill arrays (each with three JM-1P’s) maintain a stereo image across the wide auditorium, while nine 700-HP subs hold the bottom end. Ten UPQ-1P’s carry front stereo to the upper stadium seats with 11 UP-4XP 48 V speakers as front fill.
For the immersive audio field, 34 HMS-10 cinema surround loudspeakers are mounted overhead and on side walls, creating a balanced, dynamic image at every seat. A speaker management system with six Galileo 616 processors provides EQ, timing and distribution for the complex web of signals.
“From an operator’s standpoint, the surround sound performance is seamless,” McDuffie said. “When I sweep with the joystick from left to right to behind, I don’t hear any dips or fluctuations in the sound. In that regard, the HMS-10s are just amazing.”
Complementing the new speaker system are three DiGiCo SD10 digital consoles, allowing live sources to be positioned in a hemispherical sound field, as well as surround playback of pre-produced elements synchronized with video and lighting using the facility’s show control platform. These surround effects are created as part of the WAVE 4D immersive process, which optimizes the audience experience using video and stage elements, immersive lighting, acoustical design and live surround audio.
Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano TX
Prestonwood Baptist Church needed an audio system overhaul for its 7,000-seat worship facility. A year earlier, Clair Bros Audio updated the system with two Studer Vista M2 desks for monitors and FOH and a Vista 9 to handle broadcast production for special events and services, which often require 120 inputs. This year, Clair Bros’ system designer Jim Devenney and site project manager Mike Mason teamed up with Prestonwood’s technical manager Bobby Reynolds, chief audio engineer Chris Schutz and audio engineer Armando Escobedo to develop the new, state-of-the-art sound system.
The result employs Clair i218 line arrays, flown Clair cardioid sub low arrays, Clair 15CX high-Q fills, Lab.gruppen PLM-series amps, Studer digital consoles, Roland M-48 personal monitor systems, flown choir monitors (three Clair 15CX’s and two R2T’s), 18 Clair 12AM wedges and new floor subs and front fills.
Representatives from Studer visited to update firmware and pre-commission the system, which has some 1,800 analog and AES inputs and outputs.
Once the sound system installation was complete, the focus turned to the studio space. In collaboration with Hanson Hue at Delta H Design, Clair Bros took rebuilt the studio from the ground up. “Clair Bros’ legacy of creative visionaries and engineers have transformed our worship center, studios and audio systems,” said Pastor Bell, “and taken us to an unimaginable level of excellence.
St. Joseph Fullerton, Perry Hall, MD
Founded in 1850 by German immigrants, St. Joseph Fullerton is a Roman Catholic church located just north of Baltimore. The current building, an octagonal structure with around-the-sanctuary seating and imaginative décor has impressed parishioners and visitors for more than 40 years.
The original sound system — which used ceiling loudspeakers to cover the sanctuary, augmented by loudspeakers in the organ chamber — suffered from coverage that was uneven in many areas and very poor in the back of the church. Mike Flaherty of Baltimore’s Nelson White Systems recommended a system based on Community ENTASYS column line arrays to provide smooth, even coverage all the way to the rear while minimizing unwanted reflections from the ceiling and floor.
Left/right double-stacked ENTASYS handle the sanctuary’s central areas. They are supplemented by a pair of single ENTASYS that cover the far left/right, with two Community VLF212 subwoofers to supplement the system’s LF performance for the church’s weekly contemporary mass.
Community’s dSPEC Networked Loudspeaker Processor provides system EQ, and Crown amplifiers round out the system. A Shure automatic mixer allows “hands off” operation for most services. For the contemporary mass, Flaherty set up a special dSPEC input with a compressor section to manage the level, and musical groups can connect their own mixers to this input.
“The church is very pleased with the results. They’ve gotten nothing but compliments about the appearance and the sound,” Flaherty said. He was also impressed with the system’s intelligibility and musicality. “Spoken word clarity is excellent, and the subs add a pleasing low-frequency warmth to the contemporary service.”
Vertical Church, West Haven, CT
Vertical Church is a multicultural congregation with a 1,500-seat sanctuary. Its original sound system combined a variety of components — eight QSC Wideline 10’s (four boxes per side), two EAW VR21’s in a center cluster, four JBL AC28/95 front fills and two EAW SB250 subs. The onstage rig had four EAW VR21 flown monitors and an eight-unit Aviom A-16 system.
The old FOH system was underpowered for the room size, and did not have enough boxes to evenly spread audio from the front to the back of the room. “If we turned the volume up so people in the back could hear more clearly, it would blast people in the front,” said creative arts assistant Robert “RJ” Roy Jr. “Another issue was that, at times, the onstage monitoring overpowered the FOH system or caused the mix in the audience to be compromised because of volume coming off-stage. Finally, enough was enough, and a system remodel needed to happen.”
The first step was dealing with the stage volume. The flown monitors were replaced with two QSC KW12’s serving as floor wedges. This brought the monitors closer to the vocal performers, but also offered the option to easily remove the speakers for events such as play performances.
The left/right QSC Wideline 10 hangs were expanded with additional cabinets, providing six boxes per side. “We then wired the system so we had separate level control over top three and the bottom three boxes,” RJ continues. “This lets us turn the bottom three boxes down for the front row and turn up the top three boxes to give clarity to the back row.” The existing subs were replaced with two QSC GP218 double-18 subs, for some “extra thump in the room.” Other than the (powered) KW12’s, the QSC system is powered via seven QSC CX1102 amps with a single CX404 driving the JBL front fills.
Finishing touches came in the form of Waves Live Bundle plug-ins for the Avid Profile console and a Pro Tools 10HD upgrade for recording and live sound checks.
The Prophet’s Mosque, Medina, Saudi Arabia
One of the largest and oldest mosques in the world, Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (a.k.a. The Prophet’s Mosque) has an open piazza that measures 2,760,000 square feet. Istanbul-based integrator Ahmad Tekin Topuzdag spec’d an audio system upgrade that included JBL gear — more than 200 CBT Series column loudspeakers, 140 CBT 70K-1 loudspeakers, 85 CBT 70-JE1 extension columns and 32 Crown CDi 6000 amps.
The previous system had limited frequency response, especially in the low end, These were adequate for speech reinforcement, but new canopies (installed to shield worshippers from the heat and sun) blocked the sound from the existing speakers.
Topuzdag saw this as an opportunity to improve the system’s frequency response, coverage and overall sound quality. After an acoustic and architectural evaluation, Topuzdag determined that JBL CBT 70J-1 column loudspeakers and companion CBT 70JE-1 low frequency extension columns were ideal for the Prophet’s Mosque’s requirements.
A key aspect of the CBT loudspeakers is their asymmetrical vertical coverage pattern, which sends more sound toward areas that are farther away than areas that are closer, resulting in more consistent sound levels at the various listening distances. Worshipers standing near the speakers don’t get overwhelmed with volume, while people who are more distant can still hear clearly. In addition, the CBT Series’ slim profile and white finish helps them blend in with the appearance of the mosque.
The system has not only met but exceeded Topuzdag’s expectations. “The JBL CBT loudspeakers provide exactly what they were designed to deliver, with an excellent balance of volume and even coverage throughout the entire vast space of the piazza. Now, everyone who comes to the Prophet’s Mosque can hear every word clearly, whether they’re inside or worshipping outdoors.”
Family Worship Center, Baton Rouge, LA
The Family Worship Center (FWC) is the home church and physical hub of the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. With three services a week, camp meetings and conferences, radio and TV programming, the audio needs are complex. Recently, the FWC facility installed one of the largest myMix system personal mix systems ever used in a house of worship.
Ethan Miller and Devin Villery of Advanced Audio Video Technologies (Sulphur, LA) set up a demo with all 10 musicians and 10 vocalists, including Jimmy Swaggart. The setup was used for the afternoon rehearsal for the regular evening international live broadcast. Afterwards, Swaggart said he had “never heard a smoother sound on stage.” They went live that evening with myMix powering everyone’s sound.
Components included 20 myMix personal mixers, three myMix IEX-16L-A 16-channel input expanders, myMix Power8 and Power12 Ethernet switches and a myMix Control network interface for web browser remote control.
This setup provides FWC with 92 channels on the network from which they can pick and choose as they like. These options were a big deciding factor for head technical director Grant Embury. “Because of its digital networking capability, myMix has the advantage of a massive pool of audio. We can substitute channels and pick and choose on the fly, without limitations.” Speaking about the system, he added “myMix quickly become instrumental in improving the quality of our performances and our recordings. The musicians hear better, and so they play better. The flexibility and capability of myMix simply can’t compare with anything else out there.”
Open Door Presbyterian Church, Herndon, VA
Genesis Technology recently completed a new-build AV installation for the Open Door Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA.
Designed by acoustics technology consultants Polysonics (also based in Virginia), Genesis Tech’s installation for Open Door features a comprehensive, leading edge audio/video and lighting system dedicated to the performance and recording of contemporary music.
The main house P.A. starts at the top with four flown custom-white Martin Audio W8C loudspeakers integrated in the ceiling motif as unobtrusively as possible. The W8C compact three-way (12-inch woofer; 6.5-inch cone midrange and 1-inch exit HF driver) speakers combine both wide bandwidth and high-SPL capability. The 55° x 30° (HxV) dispersion of the four overhead mounted enclosures offers coverage to both front and rear seating sections with minimal splay into side or rear walls for clean reproduction of music and voice sources, while the ceiling design is intended to break up any unwanted reflections.
The audio system also includes an Allen & Heath iLive digital console; a dbx Drive- Rack loudspeaker control system; Lab.gruppen amplification; Rane crossovers and Furman power conditioning.
Asked about Martin Audio, Genesis Technology’s Michael Yoo responds, “We love them. They sound great in terms of coverage and clarity for the sermons and really shine during live performances with electric instruments. Most important, the church is very happy with their audio system.”
For more information, go to http://www.fohonline.com/news/8957.
Southside Church of Christ, Rogers, AR
For the audio renovation of the 600-seat Southside Church of Christ, John Westra of Audio Design Specialists (Madison, WI) specified 12 Tannoy VX 12 Dual Concentric loudspeakers. Mike’s Sound Systems (Conway, AR) handled the installation.
The church had three goals: a high-performance system that emphasized natural sound quality; upgraded acoustics for enhanced congregational singing; and a modernized décor of the room that would make the dated A-frame design more appealing to a new generation of church visitors.
The auditorium seats 600 on a long rectangular floor. The effective height of the ceiling was lowered in the form of Venue Technologies clouds to support congregational singing. The elevation of the clouds determined the elevation of the loudspeaker systems, nestled in the dark gaps between clouds. Being black, the loudspeaker systems are essentially invisible, contributing to the illusion that no system is in operation.
To ensure uniform coverage from this lower elevation, 12 Tannoy VX 12s were distributed between three arcs. The first arc of four is just ahead of the platform to provide the precedence signal, and the second and third arcs of four each are time delayed to take advantage of the Haas effect, giving the illusion that all of the sound is coming from the platform. Due to the wide and uniform dispersion of the VX 12, the coverage is seamless.
Providing an aesthetic bridge between the new ceiling clouds and the side walls, Venue Technologies diffusive channels were applied to the balance of the otherwise exposed ceiling.
Jakarta Praise Community Church, Jakarta, Indonesia
One of Jakarta’s fastest growing Christian ministries, Jakarta Praise Community Church (JPCC) recently installed a VUE Audiotechnik al-8 compact line array system from Soundworks Productions.
“Over the years, our church has tried line arrays from most of the major manufacturers, but we’ve always struggled to achieve really good high frequency definition,” said Pongky Prasetyo, Soundworks owner and JPCC’s sound engineer since 2003.
The final PA design includes 32 al-8 acoustic elements arranged in left and right clusters of eight and a center cluster consisting of two 8-box arrays. Eight VUE Audiotechnik V6 Systems Engines provide all amplification and DSP functions, as well as SystemVUE network connectivity. Low frequency is delivered by 12 VUE hs-28 ACM subwoofers.
Prasetyo was pleased with the results. “Just as I had hoped, the beryllium drivers in the al-8 translate the upper frequencies better than anything I’ve tried before. I no longer have to pull back the 2k to 5 kHz range. The al-8’s are so clean and accurate that I feel like they can handle anything I send them. From the bottom to the top, the VUE system translates perfectly. Our church couldn’t be happier with the results.”
First Presbyterian Church, Salinas, CA
The largest church in the central California town of Salinas, First Presbyterian Church (FPC), recently went through a number of upgrades. Among these included replacing a nine-year-old Yamaha DM2000 digital console, which served well over the years, but was due for replacement. Additionally, the vintage DM2000 had an ADAT interface, which posed an issue for the church’s analog snake chain, a problem that was kludged using a rack of Behringer Ultragain Pro-8s A/D’s that output ADAT.
FPC’s FOH engineer/production manager Ryan Hunzie consulted with integrator CCI Solutions (Olympia, WA) and settled on a Yamaha CL5 console with two RIO 32D’s and a RIO 16D stagebox. The church’s needs grew over the years as it expanded to an orchestral-style setup and somewhere between 62 and 88 active inputs for an average service, so it became more important to be able to easily move inputs around.
Besides a quantum leap in sound quality and flexibility over the DM2000, the CL5 has also simplified the production process. One challenge the church had faced was onstage mixing. “We use an Aviom system for IEMs, but we also have stage wedges for parts of the stage without IEMs or personal mixers,” said FPC audio team member Paul Bench. “With the DM2000, we would have to either run back and forth to check levels or ask someone on stage, which was a hassle. Yamaha’s [CL StageMix] control app allows us to walk around with an iPad and mix both main and monitors.”
Other plusses came from the hardware itself. “Being a first-gen console, one side effect of the DM2000 was that the LCR was not true LCR. It handled stereo by using LC or CR instead of independent L or R,” said Bench. “Our speaker system was designed and processed to be LCR, but the board simply could not do this. The CL5 gave us true LCR, which vastly improved quality in the sanctuary.”
Yet, features aside, it all comes down to the sound. “The best catch of the whole overhaul is how good the CL5 makes everything sound,” Bench concluded. “When Yamaha advertises ‘sonic clarity,’ they mean it! In fact the only downside of the change is that having made this step, the church is now considering upgrading its entire P.A. to bring the entire system up to the level of the CL5.”
