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The sermons of Pastor Steven Furtick (shown above) now originate at the new Ballantyne, N.C., campus and are distributed to 14 satellite locations across North Carolina, Virginia and Toronto, Canada. Photo courtesy of Marianella Coutyneye.
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Contractors are used for critical lighting control positions in lieu of volunteers due to the increased demands of that role at the new Ballantyne broadcast location. At other campuses, one or two volunteers are used each weekend for lighting programming and operation. More volunteers are employed for seasonal lighting plot and set changes. Photo courtesy of Sean Lyon.
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Worship teams at satellite campuses are “sync’d up” for a united worship experience using broadcast over IP with eight channels of audio including a click track. Photo courtesy of Kyla Reinbold.
Elevation Church's newest campus in Ballantyne, N.C., was built as a modern venue for worship. In addition to an 1,800-seat sanctuary, two children's theaters, rooms for child care, and office space, the 80,000-square-foot structure acts as a broadcast hub to unite Elevation's 12 other campuses in worship each Sunday. However, the facilities at Ballantyne represent much more than a local space for worship.
“Building out the Ballantyne campus presented us with an opportunity to design a facility from scratch that could support a wider range of media broadcasts,” says Brian Poole, Elevation's director of live production technologies. For uniting its campuses across North Carolina, as well as reaching a rapidly growing number of online attendees around the globe, technology has become key to the evolution of Elevation Church and its mission to reach new worshippers far from God.
Meeting Design Challenges
Coordinating technology at Elevation’s Ballantyne campus to support music, worship and the dynamic broadcast sermons of Pastor Stephen Furtick represents multiple challenges for Poole and his teams. To service a combined weekly attendance of more than 20,000 for three worship experiences at local campuses, the teams orchestrate a broadcast over IP with eight channels of audio including a click track. This allows worship teams at other campuses to sync up for a united worship experience. Local hosts at each campus provide a welcome message, while the ability of all campuses to broadcast allows experiences, like weekly baptisms, to be pushed-out live to other campuses.
“We can see people’s lives being changed,” says Poole. “It provides a sense of unity—people united in worship at multiple locations.” This type of coordinated live production requires careful planning, and Poole and his team ensure that fail-safes are in place. “Everyone has backup files ready,” he says, “and, if the technology fails, the campus pastors take over with a prepared sermon. All materials are designed to be easily used at [the] receiving end, and a producer at each location coordinates the efforts of volunteers.” He adds, “We provide training to set the standards for how systems are used, in a ‘train the trainer’ fashion.”
Poole, who oversees production technology and focuses heavily on audio for Elevation, knows every facet of the church’s live productions. “I’m whatever I need to be on a given day,” he says. Having extensive experience in church productions, technology and the church’s evolution make him an ideal technology leader. At an early age, Poole was attracted to audio technology progressing from running sound in children’s church to becoming the “chapel sound guy” in high school.
“It seems that I’ve always been working on productions,” he says, “and always had a passion for audio.” Early in life, he knew he had a calling and enrolled in the seminary in New Orleans. Life changes cut his seminary studies short and brought him back in Charlotte to help with family. “I started volunteering on the audio set-up team at Elevation’s main campus,” he recalls. Subsequently, he served as an intern and then contractor before joining the staff full time seven years ago. “For me, it has all been a learning process as we have moved through big events, touring and, of course, new campuses,” he reports. “I didn’t go to school for it, but we are always in the process of figuring out the latest technology and learning something new.”
Applying his audio expertise, Poole drove the audio design as a key element for the worship space at Ballantyne. “Our worship style is loud and bold,” says Poole. “To support that, our system needed to be substantial. Plus, our goal was to be able to replicate what many have heard on our recordings and what they have downloaded from iTunes. Those songs had to translate well in the room.” Other important design considerations included designing the space that works as a hub for broadcast, being able to produce material to feed the church’s 24x7 online stream, and being able to create pristine live recordings for distribution. To accomplish all of this, Poole took charge of arranging quotes and contracting specialists. “We approached this project with a sense that every detail counts,” he shares. “Our concept was that controlling all aspects of the project would give us better results than trying to go through middlemen. As a result, we looked at everything related to a connection, right down to cabling and patch panels.”
Working closely with LS3P of Charleston, S.C., the company that created the building and interior design, Choate Construction of Charlotte, N.C., completed construction of the Ballantyne campus. WH Platts of Charlotte and LMG Inc. of Orlando, Fla., were tasked with portions of the technology design, while Russ Burger Design Group of Carrollton, Texas, handled the acoustic design of production suites and control rooms. Acoustical expert Jim Brawley of James S. Brawley & Associates of Clemson, S.C., was called in for the acoustic design of the worship space, and the SES (Special Event Services) Integration group of Concord, N.C., was responsible for hardware installation and integration. Poole worked closely with contractors and manufacturers throughout the process to ensure that all were in tune with the church’s vision and provided the best possible solutions and pricing.
A Powerful Audio Experience
After auditioning other audio systems, Poole and church leaders decided on L-Acoustics to provide a powerful and reliable loudspeaker system. The team worked closely with the company’s regional sales manager, BJ Shaver, who provided regular feedback on audio design considerations and helped the team to hone in on an optimal stereo configuration. This configuration employed 10 L-Acoustics K2 speakers per side as mains flown along with six K1SB subs per side.
“Having toured and rented L-Acoustics’ systems for events, I was very comfortable with the choice,” recalls Poole. “The K2’s clarity and transparency were the biggest selling point for me. Competitors’ products don’t throw high frequencies as far and, in that sense, using the K2 simplified our system design.”
Poole also points out that needing to use fewer sound sources reduces system phase and timing issues. In retrospect, the team was pleased that the software design of the L-Acoustics system provided not only the sound pressure levels needed for Elevation’s powerful worship experience, but also an extremely even frequency coverage across the entire space. “What we saw in the software design,” says Poole, “the system actually achieves.”
Seven L-Acoustics SB28 subs and six SB18 subs were added to bolster low frequencies and L-Acoustics Arcsii and x8 loudspeakers were respectively added as out-fill and front-fill speakers. The manufacturer’s Arcs WiFo speakers were flown as stage fills. Amplification for the audio system is provided by 19 L-Acoustics LA8 controllers and two LA4x controllers. On stage, Shure UHF-R wireless microphones are used along with Shure PSM 1000 IEM (in ear monitoring) systems.
To mix audio, a Digico SD10 mixing console is used at front of house, chosen by Poole for its flexibility, reliability and outstanding technical support. As an example of the flexibility, he points to Digico’s recent Stealth Core 2 upgrades that significantly increase the mixer’s capacity and channel count. “They are at the forefront of the industry,” he says. “Plus, for us, support is big. I can get them whenever I need them.” A Digico SD8 is used to mix monitors and Digico SD racks provide shared I/O for the system. An existing Midas Pro9 console with DL251 input boxes was redeployed for web broadcast and two Yamaha QL1 consoles are used for monitoring in the video and master control rooms. Elevation Church’s ProTools recording system is capable of 128 inputs and Sound Devices 970 redundant recorders are configured to capture audio performances. An Evertz EMR MADI router was also added at the Ballantyne campus as a unified platform for routing digital audio.
Lighting Flexibility
A major objective of the building and technology design for the Ballantyne campus was to create an optimal space for recording for television and Internet broadcasts. Having an effective space for this purpose directly addresses the quality of their live simulcast to remote campuses and live online broadcasts, as well as ongoing collaborations with Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Andy Bentley, technology director and lighting designer worked closely with integrator, SES, to design and install a lighting system that would both support Elevation’s broadcast needs while also allowing flexible lighting designs to address the church’s evolving worship style. “At Elevation, we are always changing,” says Bentley. “Flexibility for our lighting system is very important to meet whatever design trends we are trying to accomplish from week to week and season to season. For our lighting, it’s not one look or feel.”
The moving light package for the Ballantyne campus includes 12 Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 spots along with 16 Martin Mac Quantum Washes and six Mac 250 washes brought from other campuses. “The Quantum Washes allow for three concentric rings of color control, as well as the ability to illuminate the lens. This, combined with the beam twister functionality, make it an incredibly versatile fixture,” says Bentley. “They create far more unique looks than your typical moving head wash.” To achieve theatrical and concert looks, Bentley employs Philips Showline Bar 660 and 640 Luminaire LED baton fixtures and lighting looks are enhanced with the addition of two MDG ATMe oil-based haze generators. After trying many of the popular hazers, including water-based hazers, the lighting team decided on the ATMe hazers as the most effective. “Water-based units seemed to dissipate too quickly,” he says. “ATMe hazers have greater output, provide an effect that lingers and leave less residue than other oil-based units. Plus, with CO2 propulsion, it operates more quietly.”
ETC Sensor IQ relay panels and Paradigm lighting control system provide versatile lighting control and house lighting and environmental effects are accomplished with The Light Source RGBW LED house lights. “We’ve been using house lights from The Light Source for over five years in several buildings,” notes Bentley. “They provide for great color temperature control that allows us to do a lot with the look and feel of the room. We can create pools of light in each section without hanging extra features or gels and its simple to flip it back to light the entire room. That’s great flexibility.”
For general stage lighting and to support broadcasts, 18 ETC Source Four LED Studio HD fixtures allow for variable color temperature adjustments without having to gel fixtures. To match the look of previous Elevation broadcasts, Bentley uses 16 De Sisti LED Fresnels to provide an even field of light from several angles. He currently uses the De Sisti Super LED F 10 tungsten and color corrects with gel. “We are anxiously awaiting shipment of the new De Sisti Super LED F 10 VW, which is the variable white version that will allow us to change color temperature on the fly,” he adds.
For production effect and scenic design, Bentley relies on 150 Martin VDO Sceptron 10 one-meter LED fixtures that provide unique video effects. “They act the same as a 1x100 LED tile,” he says. “Martin Professional did a great job with this fixture. Rigging and mounting are convenient and processing with the P3 system processors and software is friendly, flexible and reliable. They are great for scenic design and, with the ability to rig them in different orientations, shapes, and angles, you can’t run out of ideas.”
For lighting control, MA Lighting’s GrandMA 2 lighting console was chosen for both its ease of operation and reliability. Poole also points out that it’s easy to rent features to augment the console to handle more fixtures and capabilities for special events. “They are a popular console,” notes Poole, “which makes it easy to walk in with a file and get things going quickly.” Elevation employs two lighting programmers on staff, as well as adding outside help when needed to handle programming to aid campus producers.
Bentley and his lighting team had the opportunity to gain experience with the MA console having made the purchase well before the Ballantyne campus opening. “Our lighting team walked in knowing the infrastructure,” he recalls. He also appreciates the ability network multiple MA consoles, making media server programming and lighting programming more convenient and efficient. “It’s incredibly useful to be able to work on two different aspects of programming simultaneously, without having to ‘merge’ back to one console at the end of the day. With MA consoles, everything is done seamlessly in the background.” he says.
Volunteer training plays an important role in the weekly operation of the Ballantyne campus. The church has 65 volunteers on the production team roster at Ballantyne, with 25-30 typically serving each weekend in various roles. Contractors are used for critical lighting control positions in lieu of volunteers due to the increased demands of that role at the broadcast location. Everywhere else, one or two volunteers are used each weekend for lighting programming and operation. More volunteers are employed for seasonal lighting plot and set changes.
Improving Video Production
Video productions originating at the Ballantyne campus are supported by six Panasonic AK- HC3500 studio cameras, four with Canon DigiSuper 22 xs lenses and two with HJ14ex4.3B IRSE HDxs lenses (for jib and overhead dolly). In addition, other ENG lenses are employed as needed. “We keep a tight shot on Pastor Steven at all times,” offers Poole, “using a Fisher dolly at the center of room to get wider, moving shots of pastor on stage and any content presented on LED wall behind him.” A Jimmy Jib Triangle is located in back of room for establishing shots and crowd context and MAT (Mad About Technology) AeroDolly with an integrated TowerCam spans the overhead from the back of the room to the downstage edge where two handheld cameras on either side of stage are employed to capture the pastor as he moves throughout the room, as well as to capture dynamic worship shots.
Video signals are processed by an Evertz EQX video router (integrated with the EMR MADI router) and a Ross Acuity 3ME switcher along with Evertz VIP multiviewers. Every video signal passes through the EQX frame where audio can be embedded or de-embedded via the EMR. The video can then be routed to the Acuity frame, multiviewer, recording platforms, or anywhere else in the building via tie-lines. “One of the key reasons we chose the EQX/EMR platform (aside from the heavy A/V integration),” Poole notes, “was because of Evertz’s proprietary X-Link connection that feeds signals to the VIP multiviewer cards without taking up costly SDI outputs on the switcher frame.”
No projection is done in the main auditorium at Ballantyne. Instead, video screens are created using Absen lightweight LED tiles that connect using a panel locking system. Side screens are Absen A3 Pro tiles that are built as close to a 16 x 9 format as possible. The center screen is comprised of Absen C7 tiles and its format and shape change periodically. Most often, the center screen is 40 x 8-foot format located just upstage of the proscenium.
Future Growth
According to Poole, the biggest challenge for the build out of technology at the Ballantyne campus was to stay within budget while not impacting growth. As an example, he cites the decision to buy fewer cards for the media router, but invest in a chassis that could be expanded when the need arises. Another example was to design the room to support broadcast, but redeploy an existing Midas Pro9 console for that purpose. “It’s about making right calls,” says Poole, “and putting the money in the right places so that, in the future, we’re not paying to upgrade, but to expand. Our mission is to reach people far from God, so the technology we choose must represent the most effective ways to widen our reach."
