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"Too often, infrastructures that were once able to meet the demands for which they were designed fail to advance with technology—and ultimately fail to meet standards." - Ben Swaby, Director of Media Communications and Information Technology, First Baptist Hendersonville, Hendersonville, TN
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Twenty al-8 three-way line array boxes from Vue Audiotechnik were deployed, 10 per side, to cover both the floor and the balcony. Above each array, three al-8-SB18-inch subwoofers were installed in a cardioid configuration to handle the low end.
With over 9,500 members, 23 active ministries and a building that measures close to a quarter of a mile long, First Baptist of Hendersonville, Tenn., hosts upwards to 5,000 events every year including a week-long Southern Baptist Convention that occupies every corner of their multi-venue campus.
A solid technology infrastructure and a strong team of technicians and trained volunteers are key to making it all work. Central to the success of its many programs and home to the church's own worship community is a 2,200-seat worship center where Director of Media Communications and Information Technology Ben Swaby and his team saw an opportunity that would improve every service. “If we believe the studies, like those of prominent psychologist William Glasser, that indicate audiences only retain a small percentage of what they hear and see, we need to do everything we can to make worship an experience,” says Swaby, “so people will remember more.” To that end, Swaby and his team followed a unique analytical process to guide them in their efforts to improve the role of audio in Hendersonville's worship experience.
Swaby came to First Baptist Hendersonville almost four years ago as a volunteer, but with a strong background in information technology and experience building communications infrastructures and, just as often, rescuing infrastructures that were in trouble. “Too often,” he notes, “infrastructures that were once able to meet the demands for which they were designed fail to advance with technology—and ultimately fail to meet standards.”
Swaby's journey to communications director began in college when a switch to programming introduced him to networking. He immersed himself in work for a start-up just a few weeks after graduation and never looked back. “That was work for a small company,” he recalls. “We'd be working constant, 70-hour weeks. That's where I learned to build reliable networks.” Swaby's start-up grew to 10,000 employees and his responsibility grew along with the company. He learned many lessons working with critical applications and networks in commercial data centers and health care operations. “You become smarter,” he notes, “with every new opportunity.”
The Road to Hendersonville
Swaby didn't initially come to Hendersonville for a job. In fact, he didn't envision his efforts there extending past his volunteering. “I really wasn't considering a job here,” he recalls, and kept putting off the inevitable. “At one point,” he recalls, “ I realized that it wasn't about me, but about growing the Kingdom, a calling from God, and not just about helping First Baptist.” In addition to coordinating the technical work at the church, Swaby provides technology assessments for other churches. Often culminating in a 20- to 30-page document, Swaby's comprehensive assessments include advice on all areas of technology to growing churches that they will use to meet the demands for everything from security cameras to streaming services to other venues.
An important part of Swaby's job at Hendersonville is leading the technical team that provides support and creative services for the church's many productions. It was the pooling of the talents of this diverse group that guided a significant audio upgrade and framed the analytical approach that the team would use to improve the church's worship; increase the value of the spoken word and music as part of the service; and significantly mitigate the risk of a major upgrade.
The Team and its Training
"Vue [Audiotechnik] ultimately won out. The more we looked at our data, the more we found that we were comparing all of the systems to the performance of Vue."
Chris Forte
Chief Audio Engineer, First Baptist Hendersonville, Hendersonville, TN.
Swaby's audio expert, Chris Forte, is a veteran at the church coming on full-time seven years ago. He joined the church as a musician, but liked the idea of a media group. He recalls his early experiences at the church learning audio by hauling the only sound system around to support the youth group. It led him to return to school at SAE Institute, Nashville and, ultimately, to a job with a recording label. Today, in addition to his responsibilities for audio production, Forte works training the church's group of 45 volunteers. “Chis has a heart for the ministry,” notes Swaby, “he takes the time to organize training presentations. It's great to see volunteers who want to learn more. If they do better, on Sunday morning things will go better.”
Taylor Valarik, who heads up the visual production team, learned his trade setting up shows everyday for a band he toured with and working behind the scenes with a video production company. As a result, Valarik can create innovative projection and video aspects to events that, as Swaby says, “... take our ministry to new levels, and [he] is responsible for tremendous growth in youth programs at the church.”
John Hogan, the team's most recent addition, only graduated high school in 2012, but has devoted himself to the media team after an internship. He is studying audio engineering in college and is using his newfound skills to train others.
Together, Swaby, Forte, Valarik and Hogan leveraged their varied perspectives and talents to systematically analyze new audio systems, one of which would replace the sanctuary's aging mono center cluster and analog console. According to Swaby, “We all agreed that, while much of our equipment is past its prime, improving our sound system to better support spoken word and improve musical quality has the greatest impact. So, that's where we started.” The old analog FOH console and mono center cluster of loudspeakers in the worship center provided frustratingly spotty coverage and very limited control to support modern worship. According to Forte, even traditional worship with choir and orchestra was difficult. “We had so little control and definition,” he recalls, “it was even hard to hear the changes we were making on the console.” Walking the room revealed just how uneven the sound was in the seats. “Working with the old system would make you tired,” he recalls. “You'd be straining to hear.”
With the direction from church leaders to start the search, the team began auditioning audio systems to find the best fit for the room. Swaby and the team had created criteria for the new system, but most valuable to them was the spreadsheet approach that helped analyze what the team documented as critical factors. Scoring each factor from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest score) the team noted what they liked about each system: How did the un-tuned high end, mid and low-end sound in their space? How was the system's intelligibility for the spoken word? What is the cost and life expectancy? Was the design forward thinking? What could they expect for support? In addition to sound, how did each of the proposed systems look in the room? Each factor was discussed and recorded, but the questions were also weighted by importance with intelligibility being the most important factor.
Analytical Selection
In the end, the Vue Audiotechnik clearly won out in Swaby's analytical selection process. “Price was part of our decision process and Vue stood out there, but we recognized that there was some risk going with a company that was barely three years old,” recalls Swaby. “Vue ultimately won out.” Forte recalls, “The more we looked at our data, the more we found that we were comparing all of the systems to the performance of Vue.” After the initial demonstration of the Vue Audiotechnik loudspeakers, the church staff rented a complete system for their Christmas Cantata. The results confirmed their decision to move forward with the young company.
One difference that Vue contributed, which helped their ranking, was the stereo approach they proposed to cover the room. “We really liked the fact that Vue was more aggressive in terms of design,” said Swaby. “We believe that is a benefit of engaging with a young company and, in the end, their design proved to be the best for our room.” Swaby also offered that the young company's personal involvement and effort gave church a good feel for the level of support that the media team could expect after the installation completed.
For the church's permanent installation, Technical Innovations engineer, Scott Clark, was tasked to provide an initial room analysis and audio system design along with active participation from Jeff Taylor, Vue Audiotechnik's VP Americas and Eric Elwell, Technical Innovations of Nashville, NC and Norcross, GA who provided all the necessary installation services.
The room analysis and design was accomplished with a variety of software tools, including EASE focus and Sketchup, to help validate the design concepts and demonstrate acoustic mapping to the room's interior. The design called for strategically placed wall treatments using 12 Acoustics-in-a-Box two-inch down-sloping acoustical wall treatment packages to prepare the worship center for the installation of a stereo system employing Vue Audiotechnik al-Class line array systems. The Vue al-class boxes are intelligent line array components that combine highly scalable acoustic elements with system-optimized amplification and next-generation networked DSP technology. The transducers feature Truextent beryllium diaphragms, Kevlar cones and neodymium magnets, as well as Vue's unique acoustic shades. “The use of beryllium plus a physical design that delivers a consistent horizontal image gives this system the ability to deliver greater clarity and allowed for critical placement further back on stage. That was very advantageous to get the best sound at Hendersonville,” recalls Taylor. To make set-up straightforward and help to achieve optimal performance in a variety of settings, Vue employs integrated, rack-mount Vue V Series amplifier/DSP systems engines that are factory-configured.
Gear Specifics
Twenty Vue al-8 three-way line array boxes were deployed in tall arrays of 10 per side in order to cover both the floor and the balcony. “The wide and tall space required some tweaking,” recalls Taylor, “in order to get a good stereo image and consistent quality.” Above each array, three Vue Audiotechnik al-8-SB18-inch subwoofers were installed in a cardioid configuration to handle the low end in the room. 10 Vue Audiotechnik al-4 two-way line array loudspeakers provide front-fill for seating near the lip of the stage and, to complete room coverage, two a-10 loudspeakers were installed on each side to cover the balcony stairway area. On stage, six a-8 speakers replaced the church's previous 12-inch floor wedges for monitors. Four Vue Audiotechnik V4i Systems Engines along with six Vue Audiotechnik V6i Systems Engines provide power and DSP control for the entire system.
With all the events and programs that involve media at First Baptist of Hendersonville, volunteer support has become key. “Our media department couldn't run without our volunteers,” says chief audio engineer, Chris Forte, who organizes ongoing learning sessions and training for 45 avid volunteers. Because technical skills of the media team volunteers vary dramatically, the audio console for the system needed to support operation with presets, as well as have full-control capabilities for expert engineers to support everything from choir and orchestra performances to progressive praise music. A Soundcraft 5042680 Vi3000-48 Digital Console Surface was chosen for both its sound quality and ease-of use. The console is equipped with a Soundcraft CSB Compact Stage Box with installed RS2497SP Aviom and RS2426SP MADI cards. Forte and Taylor agree that the console selection is ideal to drive the Vue system, as well as meet the team's expectations of a mixing console that would deliver professional sound quality and be easily operable by volunteers when required.
While Taylor wasn't aware his company was being “rated” during the selection process, he recognized that Swaby's media team's efforts throughout the process marked them as good stewards and diligent in their search for an audio system that would represent the best choice for the church for both quality and performance. For Swaby and his media team, their analytical approach to selecting a sound system vendor paid off. “We now have a system that can handle all of our events from traditional worship with choir and orchestra to modern praise music, concerts and large productions,” says Swaby. Most importantly, the media team has a system that delivers the clear audio that they believe is key to worshipers experiencing, understanding and recalling the Word.
