Good Shepherd RC Church in Holbrook, New York has a new sound system and the project took only 24 hours over 2 ½ days. The work caused no disruption to the church’s services including daily mass and a funeral. Monte Bros. Sound of Ardsley, New York specializes in audio-visual design and installation of sound systems for worship spaces and was hired for the project.
“Monte Bros. was not the original sound system installer when the church was originally built; however, they were contacted in 1995 to reassess our needs after we decided we needed a better sound system to achieve the desired performance in our space, which up to that point consisted of only two sound columns – one on each side of the reredos wall. Steve Minozzi of Monte Bros. proposed a distributed loudspeaker approach – three speakers on each side at specific mounting points - and this served us well for 25 years,” says James Marino who is the Music Director at Good Shepherd RC Church.
In 2017, Good Shepherd embarked on “Three Year Repair and Renew Fundraising Campaign” to address aging infrastructure needs including mechanical, electrical, architectural as well as upgrades to liturgical furnishings and the sound system. When the campaign was complete in 2020, Steve Minozzi of Monte Bros. was called upon to again assess and recommend a new sound system that would enhance the sound and bring the facility up to date with current technology.
Built in the 1980’s, the church has a fan shaped main sanctuary seating layout, which was designed to promote unobstructed connectivity between attendees and those leading worship. Most of the ritual actions of the mass are performed at the altar, which is placed on a raised platform. The space is bright and airy with a four-way sloped ceiling that rises up to a cupola approximately 25 ft. above the altar.
The distance from the altar to the last row of pews in the two center sections is only 55 ft., and only 45 ft. to the last row in all other seating areas resulting in a more intimate experience from all 630 seats. That said, the space is wider (approximately 110 ft across from one side to the other at the median point of the seating area). This, and the drywall finishes on the walls and ceiling present some challenges from a sound design perspective.
Monte Bros. proposed a similar distributed loudspeaker approach and installed (2) CAMM DT-800 and (4) DT-400 loudspeakers in the main sanctuary, CAMM DTC-1T ceiling speakers in the daily chapel, narthex and prayer chapel, and new electronics in a main rack including a Forte AVB-A1 12x8 DSP processor that provides “Critical Zone Digital Delay Technology” and “Dynamic Low Frequency SPL Management,” Powersoft Mezzo amplifiers, and a Biamp Tec-1 Controller that allows user control of the sound system feed to each or all of four zones as desired (Main Sanctuary, Daily Chapel, Narthex and Prayer Chapel).
Marino says, “Our new sound system incorporates DSP technology, which enables the digital signal processor to control and tune audio signals in a variety of ways to optimize the sound quality of our sound system within a given space. Each input channel that receives the initial audio signal from a microphone, CD player, instruments, etc. can be tailored individually to optimize the sound of each input as it projects out from a loudspeaker.”
Marino says the sound is impeccable and they are elated. “Good Shepherd's recent sound system upgrade provides a much-improved worship experience for our parishioners and their friends and families. Our reputation of being a welcoming community is widely known and attracts people from outside our parish boundaries. Our worship space recently completed upgrades to mechanical, electrical, architectural and liturgical elements, and our most recent sound system upgrade project has greatly improved the quality and intelligibility of the sound in our space.”
