Charis Bible College, Woodland Park, CO
Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colo., at the base of Pike's Peak, was founded in the early 1990s by Andrew Wommack Ministries, an international teaching ministry. From that time until today, the college has added more than 70 extension and satellite locations around the globe.
When the leaders of Charis Bible College decided to build a new venue, they zeroed in on creating a set up for the best audio, video and lighting experience possible.
The new space in Woodland Park, which is simply called The Auditorium, is now the focal point of the main scenic campus. At 150,000 square feet, it’s used for worship, performance and teaching, and it hosted Charis Bible College’s 25th anniversary celebration in September 2019.
AV design partnership
According to Nate Carter, Charis Bible College's lead AVL engineer, Charis's leadership selected AV design, installation and consultation company AcousTech based in Franktown, Colo., to make the AVL-centric Auditorium a reality.
Of the company's president, Roland Dutzmann, Carter says this: “He’s worked with us for a long time and he’s always turned out consistent results.You have to understand, I’m an uber-perfectionist....”
Dutzmann’s work on The Auditorium was done in two sections. The first portion included work on 14 classrooms and a large music room for classes and rehearsals. It was completed in fall of 2017 and also involved the creation of offices, conference rooms, and other spaces to allow the staff to work from Woodland Park (they previously worked out of Colorado Springs).
The second phase was the 3,200-seat Auditorium itself, which went into service about a year ago.
The Auditorium project also included Dutzmann’s work on a production area with two rooms—one that houses video control and production and switching equipment for projection, as well as camera CCU control, switching, routing, streaming and video recording/editing. The other room is an audio production room for audio-for-video mix using a Yamaha CL5 Digital Console, a duplicate of the front-of-house CL5 console in the auditorium itself.
AcousTech’s collaboration with Charis Bible College started in 2011, when the firm was hired to handle the acoustical design for a performance space that hosts classrooms, concerts and conferences.
“They call that space the Barn, which is kind of a misnomer because it looks like the most gorgeous mountain lodge inside you ever saw,” Dutzmann says.
The Barn seats about 1,100 and has a full stage, with sound, lighting, video projection and a camera system designed by AcousTech. The Barn also has 16 classrooms, a multi-use space for up to 800 seats, and office and work space. The 800-seat space can be sub-divided into five separate classroom spaces. By the time the project was completed in early 2014, Dutzmann and his crew were already working on The Auditorium, completed in early 2019.
The Auditorium is equipped with state-of-the-art audio, video and lighting concert-level systems, with AcousTech also handling the acoustical design, Carter says. In addition to the Auditorium space, the school has more than 35 classrooms, all with audio-video capabilities.
AV intricacies
“[Our] involvement [was] everything from the ground up—building and design issues, acoustical treatment recommendations, designing walls for certain STC ratings to keep sound from passing between walls,” Dutzmann says, adding that production rooms needed to be protected sound-wise from hallway noise as kids walk from classroom to classroom.
For monitoring, Dutzmann and Carter chose Klang systems.
“Our worship arts department practices a great deal of diversity in style and ensemble size and type," Carter notes. "We do everything from classic and modern gospel to more modern worship styles and artists, and we’re also moving to include classical liturgical styles ... for certain events. So in terms of our technical needs, flexibility is key. The ability to cascade three Klang:vier units for 24 input channels, the Dante integration, and the ability to create configuration presets have been vital. I use a combination of Shure PSM 900s, RedNet AM2s, and the direct headphone outputs on the Klang:viers to accommodate all of the IEM locations needed, and I couldn't have done that without the array of I/O options integrated into these units.”
Prior to The Auditorium’s completion, Charis’ worship services were held at The Barn, where vocalists shared floor wedges and musicians used another popular brand of personal monitor mixers.
“With the new Klang:vier units, we have now given each vocalist and musician control of their own individual mixes, which has made everyone happy,” Carter shares. “The ‘positional panning’ available in the Klang system is a big hit as it allows them to get a great deal more clarity in their mix, and the proportional volume function—turning other channels down when a channel is at max volume—is very useful to them as well. Also, the improvement in audio quality was instantly apparent and appreciated over the former system we were using at The Barn.”
If necessary for any reason, the IEM mixes can be monitored and controlled at any time from an iPad located adjacent to the Yamaha CL5 front-of-house console, or via a laptop on the church’s dedicated AV network/routers. But as a general rule, each of the singers and musicians on stage are controlling their own mixes via the Klang:app on their own personal iOS and Android devices.
Although this was AcousTech’s first project using Klang:technologies products, Dutzmann notes that the implementation and adoption were quick and simple: “We felt it would be a good fit because it provided excellent flexibility in control. Plus, the ability to actually position sources in an immersive soundscape is a fascinating approach that, along with Klang’s superior sound, really helps the worship team deliver their best performances. And from a front-of-house and audience perspective, it’s fantastic to have no floor monitors, which both clutter the stage and often create undesirable sound reflection issues in the house.”
Finishing results
“I don’t tend to use things where I’m told, ‘Wow this is the latest and greatest thing,’ and then it flops later on,” Dutzmann says. Instead, he and the Carter kept their eyes and minds open throughout the design and installation processes.
"The technology keeps getting better--and better really quickly,” Dutzmann adds.
Carter says Charis Bible College is pleased with the results, and with the partnership.
“There are a lot of people who are aware of things going on in the industry and are good with technology, but not many of them will partner with you as a ministry,” Carter closes. "[The AcousTech team was] flexible, and they helped [us] get the job done.”
