Unsplash.com; Zan Ilic
The InfoComm Show 19 (June 11-14, 2019 in Orlando, Fla.) saw 44,129 registered attendees pass through the portals of the huge Orange County Convention Center. Attendance set a new record, higher than the nearly 43,000 that visited the event in Las Vegas last year and the previous record of 44,077 registered attendees two years ago in Orlando. They saw nearly 1,000 exhibits spread across some 75 aisles, in addition to almost two dozen demo rooms off the show floor, which accommodated some of the largest live-sound systems on the market, underscoring this trade show’s recently established status as the premier North American event expo for live sound.
... attendees [witnessed] a marked shift deeper into networked and cloud-based territory.
At the same time, attendees were witnessing a marked shift deeper into networked and cloud-based territory. For instance, Audinate's Dante, following the path blazed by enterprise software developers, announced at the show the Dante Embedded Platform, which enables manufacturers to add full Dante functionality in software running on Linux for x86 and ARM processors, and the Dante Application Library, which allows software developers to seamlessly integrate Dante functionality directly into their PC and Apple applications; and digital-signage maker BrightSign’s new BSN.cloud network and player management platform, which further underscored pro-AV’s move to cloud-based content distribution, with its potential implications for the distributed-church model.
In fact, while we’ve largely become inured to an AV industry that seems to evolve incrementally, with this year’s model simply the 2.0 version of what we saw at the last trade show, the InfoComm Show 19 may be looked back on as actually somewhat disruptive.
1-One noticeable trend: more AV systems developed for the corporate environment are being adapted for the church market. Shure’s Microflex wireless conferencing system was developed for the boardroom but thanks to the demand for more aesthetic options can also be just as at home on the altar.
Shure’s Microflex wireless conferencing system
“The influence of architects in conference-room design is becoming increasingly evident, and the same goes for house-of-worship design,” says Chris Lyons, senior manager of integrated systems marketing at Shure, told Church.Design at the show. “In particular, white, wireless microphones are proving excellent for that market. They blend in aesthetically with their surroundings, and you don’t have to drill into an altar or other point of worship. This combination of color choices and wireless make more and more AV products intended for the corporate or education markets also appropriate for house-of-worship applications.”
2-Smaller, yet still very powerful, installed line-array sound systems will bring even better live sound into the church. A number of such new systems were on display at the show, including d&b audiotechnik’s new A-Series Augmented Arrays; L-Acoustics new A-10 and A-15 components, introduced at this event and part of its existing ARCS product line; Bose Professional’s ArenaMatch; and the next generation of Electro-Voice’s X‑Line compact line-array series, among several others.
d&b audiotechnik’s A-Series Augmented Arrays
“As churches multiply and individual locations vary more widely in size, there’s a market out there for sound systems that can scale at the low and mid-levels,” explained Marc Lopez, director of marketing/Americas at d&b audiotechnik. “Also, the use of more fan-shaped auditoriums also means those same systems are going to have to have much better midrange [frequency] directivity control, in order to have intelligible speech reach every seat at the same level of volume. Smaller, more flexible PA systems that can cover 200 seats to 2,000 seats are showing increased demand in churches.”
"Smaller, more flexible PA systems that can cover 200 seats to 2,000 seats are showing increased demand in churches." Marc Lopez, Director of Marketing/Americas, d&b audiotechnik
3-The return of the wedge monitor? In-ear monitors have virtually taken over stages in houses of worship in recent years. And for good reason: they put the monitoring onus (and its costs) on the musician instead of the church; in a growing number of instances, churches are opting not to purchased separate audio consoles for monitoring applications, further saving capital costs. Those reasons remain valid, but some PA system manufacturers are seeing demand increase for wedge monitors again, although they’re also seeing demand for ways to keep them out of sight, such as behind grilles on the floor downstage.
Danley Sound Labs wedge monitor
“It’s the larger choirs that are driving this,” says Mike Hedden, president of Danley Sound Labs, who adds that it’s part of a larger trend back to smaller churches in general, where the notion of communal takes precedence over the trendier shift to immersive. “The era of the megachurch is over, and so we’re seeing a return to how smaller churches do things,” he says, noting, ironically, that the trend is also driven by the increased availability of affordable broadband, which is letting churches focus on multiple locations instead of massive central locations.
4-Starting the service before entering the church. Digital signage and more video screens in general are going to be part of house-of-worship design going forward. Steve Capling, director of marketing at Christie Digital, says that digital signage in the form of displays in areas around the main platform, be they the concourses in sports stadiums and arenas or the courtyards and common areas of churches surrounding the sanctuary, is being used more often to extend the experience ahead of the main event and directly after it, as a way to create a more immersive experience that isn’t limited to a specific space.
Christie Digital Core Series
“The trend in a number of AV verticals has been to encourage visitors to come early and stay longer, using digital signage—including video walls—to keep them informed and engaged.” Steve Capling, Director of Marketing, Christie Digital
“The trend in a number of AV verticals has been to encourage visitors to come early and stay longer, using digital signage—including video walls—to keep them informed and engaged,” he says. Christie also introduced the next generation of the Christie Core Series, the Christie CorePlus, a budget-conscious version of its MicroTile.
5-The Immersive Church. A number of immersive-sound technologies were on display at the show, all of which had their HOW applications touted to some extent. Martin Audio’s 3D-immersive Sound Adventures; L-Acoustics’ L-ISA—the acronym is for Immersive Sound Art—can scale from a minimum of five L-Acoustics sound sources across the performance zone, and can go up to as many as 64 sources; and d&b Soundscape, from d&b audiotechnik, which is based on its Dante-enabled DS100 Signal Engine and two software modules: d&b En-Scene (for sound object positioning) and d&b En-Space (a room emulator that will add and/or modify a space’s reverberation signatures).
These technologies likely aren’t for every church, but those that choose to deploy them will benefit if provisions are made as early in design and construction as possible. Marc Lopez, vice president of marketing, Americas at d&b audiotechnik, notes, “When the immersive topic comes up, people tend to imagine several different aspects of the concept from sound effects flying over your head to reverberation effects. There are many other aspects to immersive sound that can increase the engagement of a congregation without being perceived as a sound effect. For instance, the d&b Soundscape has a positioning system called En Scene that allows the audio to localize with the pastor's position on stage.”
"There are many other aspects to immersive sound that can increase the engagement of a congregation without being perceived as a sound effect." Marc Lopez, Vice President of Marketing/Americas, d&b audiotechnik
Special mention: DPA Microphones new 4097 CORE Supercardioid Choir Microphone provides the same sonic qualities as the brand’s d:vote CORE 4099 instrument microphone, but adapted specifically to capture dynamic choir sound, with both wireless or wired configurations. The new 4097 Choir Mic features DPA’s flat off-axis supercardioid pattern and thus has a very high-gain-before-feedback. And due to its off-axis characteristic, it makes the entire choir sound natural from all angles. This makes using multiple mics on the choir easy for the sound engineer since he or she can easily mix the various parts of the choir and blend it all together without having to fight the artifacts created from uneven mic pattern pick-up.
