With a 20-year-old sound system combined with outdated implementation practices, Central Assembly of God in Houston, Pennsylvania suffered the challenge of working with a system that could not deliver consistent coverage across its octagonal-shaped sanctuary.
"With the old system, if it sounded good in the front, it was way too quiet in the back" explains Brandon Cecil, who is founder and head designer of church AVL integrator Fresh Tech. “They were opting to run their PA on the quiet side, which affected their congregation’s ability to hear the message and be moved by the worship band.”
Central Assembly’s Worship Pastor, Adam Brock was determined to improve the situation. He had already budgeted for a more traditional left/right configuration from d&b audiotechnik when Cecil invited him to hear a Soundscape demonstration at the nearby Allison Park Church. Upon hearing d&b audiotechnik Soundscape with En-Scene, Brock was a believer.
"I told Cecil that there wasn't another solution I'd be willing to install at Central Assembly of God,” he says. “I loved it and immediately called our leadership to say that for the modest price increase of a Soundscape system, it'd be a misstep if we didn't make this decision for the church."
Fresh Tech, known for their expertise in immersive mixing and d&b audiotechnik systems, worked closely with Central Assembly of God to design a Soundscape system that would meet their specific needs, while maintaining the established budget. The new system includes a DS100 Matrix Processor with En-Scene spatial processing which brings consistency across the uniquely-shaped sanctuary and provides an immersive worship experience at every seat.
“Because of the depth and consistency of d&b’s product offerings, we were able to design a cost-effective solution. Our goal was to squeeze every bit of performance out of every dollar to deliver what they wanted, full immersion via Soundscape,” says Cecil. “Because of the nature of the technology, you install more speakers in a room, but they’re much smaller. Yet, designing in ArrayCalc enabled us to achieve full coverage for the room with the minimum number of speakers needed. ArrayCalc combined with d&b’s flexible rigging hardware also simplified the install by allowing us to use existing fly points from their previous system. Plus, d&b’s amplification is so efficient, we can run that system with less power requirements than on comparable installations. All of these contributed to managing the cost.”
Cecil says the new Soundscape system with the En-Scene module provides Central Assembly of God with spatial audio capabilities that accurately positions each instrument and vocal within the sound field, giving the church a more dynamic and detailed sound environment that feels natural, and giving each worship performance new depth and presence.
"Early on, someone on the tech team exclaimed, 'I've never heard that back-up singer before, in fact, for the first time, I can hear everybody,” Brock relays. "With our old system it was hard for anybody on stage to stand out, but now with En-Scene, each performer has their distinct place in the mix, which is remarkable when you consider we have 14 musicians and 7 singers on Sunday morning."
“Spatialization and immersion are great, and they’re synonymous with Soundscape, but another huge benefit is the clarity and consistent coverage it brings,” comments Cecil. “I can't think of anything better for houses of worship. The audio system should complement the ultimate message being conveyed. You want everyone to experience the same thing. A shared experience builds community and by bringing Soundscape to Central Assembly of God, we’ve provided a consistent experience to their entire congregation.”
The results of the Soundscape installation have been overwhelmingly positive. Brock reports that the church has heard many comments that, “This is the best the band has ever sounded,” which he expected, but comments from the older generation of the congregation took him by surprise. “They said they more than ever understood the message during teaching time. I knew that musically we'd have a big jump in quality, but I didn't expect the improvement in voice intelligibility."
“Our new d&b audiotechnik system is a gigantic leap from where we were,” says Brock, when asked if he recommends d&b audiotechnik to other houses of worship, “Many churches might think it's a big hurdle to get into Soundscape, but it's not as costly or difficult as it might seem, and well worth it when you consider the benefits."
“Soundscape is a product that is simple to configure and deploy, and arguably easier to mix with than other immersive systems. It’s easy for tech volunteers to use,” adds Cecil. “When you add Soundscape, it elevates the worship experience to a higher level.”
