A blend of contemporary and traditional worship, the musical set up at the Salvation Army Temple in Atlanta is quite complex with a 35-piece brass band, 40-voice choir, six-piece contemporary band and three to four lead vocalists.
The Salvation Army’s southeast territory is the largest of territories with 15 states stretching from Maryland to Texas. The headquarters has several performance spaces equipped with Yamaha consoles and a full recording studio that regularly records performances and events.
Recently, Wirebox Media of Smyrna, Georgia, installed a Nexo Geo S12 line array system, replacing a 20-year old cluster in the temple sanctuary. The new system for the 1,000-seat facility consists of seven GEO S1210s and one S1230. In addition, the company installed a Yamaha QL5 Digital Audio Console with five Tio Dante input/output boxes, Yamaha IF2108 monitors, a Yamaha DME24N Digital Mix Engine, and Yamaha SWP L2 Network Switches.
“The QL5 offered the best flexibility for the space,” says Wirebox’s Tim Harrigan.
“With the often complex worship service, all of the special events for the regional headquarters, and outside clients’ event rentals, the QL5 is very close to fully loaded in handling the stage inputs which are routed through a tech room downstairs along with the five Tio1608-D units, all of the stage monitors, and a full Aviom system run from an MY card in the QL5.”
On the stage, Wirebox installed 14 custom panels with a total of 64 inputs to the Tio1608s, CAT5 for the Aviom, NL4 for the Yamaha IF2108 monitors, and special patching to/from guitar isolation cabinets backstage. Processing is handled by the DME24N fitted with a Dante MY card that feeds to the Nexo NXAMP4x4 amplifiers via Dante. The Dante system is run redundant with a pair of Yamaha SWP L2 switches that network everything together. The DME is programmed to offer both full mix “console” modes and "unattended operation” modes for simple events using just a few microphones. A dedicated WiFi network was installed for the Wirebox-provided iPAD to assist house engineers and volunteers with sound system operations.
In addition to the PA system, Wirebox installed a dedicated Dante patch in a backstage room for the client’s portable recording studio. “The Yamaha SWP L2 Dante switches made this an easy addition,” notes Harrigan. “Currently, we are in design consultations to deploy the Dante system across the campus so they can use the studio to record events in the Temple.”
Harrigan assisted Bernie Dake, the Salvation Army’s assistant territorial music secretary and director of music publications production and marketing. “We worked with Bernie on the design, and after reviewing multiple NEXO NS-1 software configurations, we believed the GEO S12 would be perfect for the space, and, it ended up being perfect. We initially thought there would be need to add some front fill and out fill for the raked side seating, but the S12 system coverage was made for this space; all we needed was the eight flown boxes. Another reason the GEO S12 system was selected is that the space hosts religious touring acts who would be accepting of the system, therefore, saving the client the need to rent a separate system.”
“We are so grateful to the folks at Wirebox Media, particularly for their meticulous attention to detail,” says Dake. “The equipment recommendations were offered with a/b tests to insure our satisfaction, and the wiring that was done is so clean you would think it was done robotically. The sound in our sanctuary is now focused and tuned correctly so that we actually need less volume to fill the space thanks to the NEXO line array. The console training that Wirebox offered was done in a way that made our volunteers feel like they were capable of handling anything that the Yamaha QL5 could do. Wirebox has a great team of consumer-oriented people, and I have recommended them to a number of friends since having worked with the staff.”
The Salvation Army Temple renovation was part of a multi-year technology upgrade that also includes a full lighting package that is completely LED. They are now moving toward revamping the video systems in the not too distant future.
