While the Los Angeles Lakers may be long gone from the facility, L.A.'s venerable Forum lives on–as home to Faithful Central Bible Church, where Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer serves as the church's senior pastor/teacher. And though the Forum now functions as a house of worship, the venue also serves Southern California as a premiere facility for concerts and related functions.
Recently, Faithful Central staged a major production complete with a 100-voice choir, a 46-piece orchestra and numerous soloists–all of this accompanied by a wide assortment of props, live animals and additional staging support. The event was staged at one end of the Forum, as this enabled the church to accommodate the 16,000-strong crowd and facilitate prop movement through the tunnels. Capturing the Orchestra
Renowned producer/arranger Benjamin Wright was summoned for the duties of musical director. Wright, whose orchestrations have helped define the sound of artists such as Justin Timberlake, Earth, Wind & Fire and Outkast, handled all arrangements and conducted the extensive ensemble, which included a variety of brass and string instruments.
Because of the Forum's massive size, miking the orchestra was a critical issue. In addition to the live considerations at Front of House, the event was also videotaped and recorded for a DVD release. In order to achieve the best possible audio recording, Wright enlisted the services of his longtime friend and engineer, Reggie Dozier. Dozier has engineered for artists Brandy, Toni Braxton and is perhaps best known for his Grammy-winning efforts with Outkast.
Both Wright and Dozier noted that microphone separation was key to obtaining a good mix. Dozier discussed his approach: "Achieving separation is always a challenge when you're working with an orchestra because you're dealing with ambient sounds that arrive from multiple directions. Getting the optimum mic position is really a matter of multiple adjustments, accompanied by checking how each adjustment impacts the sound.
"Phasing is another important consideration," added Dozier. "Every time you have multiple microphones close together, they're going to pick up adjacent sources you don't want. You may have a mic on the sax player, but you find the microphone next to that musician is also picking up the sax–only it's thinner and doesn't sound right due to it being out of phase. Correcting this situation requires repositioning the microphones and checking the results. This is a very common occurrence that gets easier as you gain experience. Knowing the characteristics of your microphones is a very important factor in these situations."
For the violins and violas, clip-on microphones from AKG, Audio-Technica and Shure were used. The decision was made not to use area miking for these instruments because of the sound pressure levels onstage and the proximity to the main SR system. This facilitated positioning the mics in extremely close proximity to each instrument–minimizing bleed from unwanted sources and affording both Dozier and John Wilkes (Faithful Central's FOH live engineer) maximum control over sound quality. But Wright made an unusual choice–15 MXL 2006s (a large diaphragm, pressure gradient condenser) on the winds and another eight on the lower strings. "When you go into a huge place like the Forum," Wright stated, "you have to really know your gear and how it's likely to perform in that environment. With the MXL mics, I consistently get a warm, rich sound I know I can count on, and that goes a long way toward obtaining the results I envision."
The choir for this event was approximately 100 voices strong. Twelve condenser microphones consisting of a combination of AKG 414 and MXL V67G models were employed. FOH engineer John Wilkes notes, "We chose cardioid condenser mics because we wanted broadcast-quality material for the DVD recording and you're not going to get that from mics typically used for live sound."
With all miking assignments in place, signals were mixed with a Yamaha PM5D digital console that was dedicated to the orchestra. For monitoring, performers, conductor and both engineers all wore headphones. According to Dozier, "Headphones make it much easier to create a suitable environment for the performers in a space that big and cavernous. Between the house system, the monitors, and the overall level, it would have been extremely difficult to hear much of anything clearly otherwise."
Come Fly With Me
With its use as both a church and a concert venue, the Forum's sound system needed to be not only potent in terms of SPL and clarity, but also able to readily move about and accommodate the various functions on the schedule–often with very fast turnover. The ability to reposition and fly/remove the house SR system mandated considerable flexibility. To address these concerns, a JBL VerTec rig capable of multiple configurations was designed and installed by Pittsburg, Penn.-based Edward Simon and Co.
The system included 20 VerTec 4889s (double 15s) hung in the direct center, left-right position. Ten VerTec 4888s (double12s) were flown each on right and left, with yet another eight 4888s for the extreme sides left and right. Filling in the low end, 16 4880 (double 18s) subs were flown. A dozen Lab.gruppen FP6400 series amplifiers supplied power. For ground effects, a customized setup consisting of eight double 18-inch subs from North Hollywood, Calif.-based Schubert Systems Group were stacked off to the sides for earthquake effects.
Unlike the Easter Sunday service, Faithful Central's regular services are positioned at half-house, or underneath the Forum's scoreboard, with congregations averaging from 6,000 to 8,000. For these services, 32 4888s plus 16 4880 subs handle SR tasks. Drapes are used extensively to create an intimate environment while also serving to mask other setups that may exist.
Both Wilkes and Simon referred to the VerTec setup as a "touring system in a permanent venue," with the key to its flexibility being the hardware. Fitted with rigging tubes made of hard-black anodized 6061-T6 aluminum and hinge bars made from chromoly-alloy steel with epoxy powder coating over zinc-plated surfaces, the system can be flown/removed inside two hours. The rig uses cadmium-plated hinge pins and stainless steel quick-release pin lanyards.
Wilkes noted, "With the various suspension points, we have the flexibility to raise the system up and out of the way, or completely remove and store it. When the rig has to come down, we can keep the rigging hardware fixed in place and roll it out of the way. When we next raise the system, we roll it out and hoist up two to four boxes at a time and never lose our hang points or dispersion patterns. The VerTec's rigging hardware was an important consideration in the selection of this system."
An Event to Remember
Reflecting on the scope of the production and the size of the audience, Wright remarked, "Faithful Central's service was a huge production, lavishly staged and featured a wealth of talent–everyone involved deserves a round of applause. This was an unforgettable experience and one that I'm honored to be part of for two consecutive years."
