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Energy, sense of purpose and talent converge at Highland Park Baptist Church. As the church's worship arts pastor states, "There is a lot of talent here…. Even the amateur musicians are really good."
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Technical Director Dean Bailey and Bobby Taylor, vice president of business development at Pensacola, Fla.-based All Pro Sound both had extensive experience with the Digico SD8. The SD8-36 Special Edition Live Package was chosen for its flexibility. "Expanding the SD8 is as simple as adding a rack," according to Bailey.
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Technical Director Dean Bailey and his team accepted the audio console, as well as a Jands Vista L5 lighting console (above) several months early and introduced them to volunteers at their previous campus.
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To control audio, All Pro Sound provided a Digico SD8-36 Special Edition Live Package that included the SD8 digital mixing console with expanded I/O capabilities.
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Highland Park Worship Arts Pastor Jeff Beech (left) jokes that he’s been leading worship for as long as new Technical Director Dean Bailey (right) has been alive. Beech relied heavily on his young technical director to help create a vision for the technology in the new space.
For more than 70 years, Highland Park Baptist Church has served the community of Muscle Shoals, Ala., a landmark for those who study popular music. “There is a lot of talent here,” says Highland Park's worship arts pastor, Jeff Beech. “This area just has a great culture of music,” he says, “even the amateur musicians are really good.”
It's no wonder. Since the 1960s, hits recorded here by top artists like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Alicia Keyes, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon have made the area a mecca for artists looking for the Muscle Shoals “sound.” As a result, Highland Park has remarkable music and a creative energy flowing on Sunday mornings that includes having Rick Hall, founder of one of the Muscle Shoals' most highly regarded landmark recording facilities, Fame Studios, engaged in worship with the congregation.
The energy and sense of purpose at Highland Park have kept the church on a steady growth curve over the past several years. Recently, when four Sunday services at the church's former 450-seat worship center were reaching capacity, the church's lead pastor, Brett Pitman, guided the church to acquire 40 acres nearby to develop. While the church clearly needed more space and planned for a new, 1,000-seat worship center, there were concerns about moving to a larger space.
Keeping Close to Purpose
“We needed more space, but wanted to carry with us the sense that we were still all together,” recalls Beech. In addition to the environment, Beech looked to his young technical director, Dean Bailey, to help create a vision for the technology in the new space.
They wanted to build a room for music and worship that had been acoustically considered from the beginning—and where people were as closely connected to worship as they were in the old worship center. Beech recalls, “We felt that a wide room design would help keep seating closer to the stage.” Both Beech and Bailey see intimacy as being key to the success of Highland Park. Intimacy has guided them in their vision and design of the new worship center, but it has also played a large role in how each of them came to find their place in church.
Bailey didn't grow up going to church with any regularity. In fact, it was only when a friend who had asked him to help run sound invited Bailey (then 15 years old) to a bible study that the future technical director had any real awareness of church. When a classmate became the victim of an accidental drowning, it was Bailey's church community that helped him comprehend the fragility of life. “I was trying to resolve what happens when you die,” he recalls, “when I heard someone testify that without the Lord they would simply be dead somewhere.” That touched him and he began regularly attending bible study at Highland Park. Hearing testimonies there, Bailey came to faith. He immersed himself in the church's technology, and on a mission trip with the youth group just six months later, he dedicated his life to ministry. “I was on fire,” he recalls, “wanting to help in any way I could.”
"Our goal was to get away from the 'bigger is better' mentality, and use technology to bring people close to worship."
Dean Bailey
Technical Director, Highland Park Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, AL.
Following his calling, Bailey became actively involved with the youth group technical ministry for several years and continued immersing himself in technology. He ran lights and sound for church events after local football games where he developed the skills that would ultimately allow him to tour professionally as a lighting tech. Bailey rose steadily in the ranks of a local sound contractor, Icon Live of Florence, Ala., while working part-time at the church until, at 26, being appointed full-time technical director for Highland Park's new worship center.
Worship Arts Pastor Beech jokingly remarks that he has been leading worship as long as technical director, Bailey, has been alive. Like Bailey, church was not central to his life growing up or even as a teen. His calling would come later. While pursuing his career as music educator in the small town of Hohenwald, Tenn., his girlfriend introduced him to the community's small, growing church. He started there offering his musical talents and was soon asked to take over for the departing worship leader. “As a Christian, I had been seeking for a while,” Beech recalls, “but once the spirit spoke to me that was it.” With no formal preparation, Beech claims that he learned to lead worship by watching others in that intimate setting. “It was an amazing experience,” he recalls. The small church experienced unprecedented growth miraculously swelling from 80 to over 300 worshipers in two years with mostly new believers. From there, Beech was called to lead worship for three years in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., followed by nine years in a larger church in Owensboro, Ky., with about 1,000 in attendance each week before coming to Highland Park seven years ago.
For the design of the new worship center, the team entrusted its vision for Highland Park to church construction experts, Cosco & Associates of Crestview, Fla., who handled the formal design and construction of the structure with All Pro Sound of Pensacola, Fla., engaged to implement audio, video and lighting designs. In addition, Bailey's former firm, Icon Live, would handle loudspeaker system design and installation working closely with All Pro Sound. While having two contractors working on audio for the same location could complicate a sizable installation, according to Bobby Taylor, vice president of business development at All Pro Sound, the installation at Highland Park went very smoothly. “From the beginning, we developed a great working relationship with Icon Live,” he recalls, “and the coordinated effort provided a great result for the client.”
For the Love of Gear
Icon Live was challenged to produce a loudspeaker design for Highland Park's worship center. “At 120 feet,” says Bailey, “the new room is extremely wide, but not very deep. That puts everyone close to the stage, but presents a challenge for audio coverage.” Bailey's research led him to Meyer Sound's JM-1P powered loudspeaker design to meet the unique demands room. Given the layout and specifications, Meyer Sound provided a design with array clusters of four JM-1Ps hung at positions left and right with a center cluster of three JM-1Ps hung at the center. Three Meyer 700-HP ultra high-power subwoofers were loaded into a 30-foot wide bass enclosure built under the stage. For front fill, 12 Meyer MM-4XP self-powered miniature loudspeakers were added along with two MPS-488HP eight-channel power supplies to supplement sound for the first two rows. In addition, a Meyer CQ-2 narrow coverage loudspeaker was installed as a choir monitor. A Meyer Galileo 616 loudspeaker management system drives and aligns the system. “The JM-1Ps provided just what we needed; great sound with clear highs and an extremely smooth transition—within one dB as you walk across the room,” says Bailey. “It’s the cleanest system to mix on, almost like studio monitors.”
To control audio, All Pro Sound provided a Digico SD8-36 Special Edition Live Package that included the SD8 digital mixing console. The SD8's local I/O supports eight mic inputs, eight outputs, eight mono AES I/O, and two MADI connections. An Aviom D-16c A-Net module was installed in the system's MaDiRack to drive Highland Park's existing Aviom monitoring systems. The console comes with one MaDiRack, an 8U fixed 48 input unit with eight analog outputs and the ability to increase to 24 with any combination of analog AES/EBU or Aviom options. Bailey's and Taylor's extensive experience with the SD8 console and its abilities made it the clear choice for the room's current needs and future expansion. “Expanding the SD8,” notes Bailey, “is as simple as adding a rack.”
At 120 feet, the new room is extremely wide, but not very deep. That puts everyone close to the stage, but presents a challenge.
Dean Bailey
Technical Director, Highland Park Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, AL.
Completing the audio installation, four ASG-1.5 Aurisonics in-ear monitor systems were added along with Audio-Technica Wireless M3 Stereo transmitters and receivers. Taylor says, “We've had good experience with them and they have great bass response.” Two Shure MX202B/C overhead cardioid mini-condenser microphones and two additional Audix MB5050 microphones (M1250B cardioid) with 50-inch carbon fiber booms were also added to the church's stock of microphones, along with a DPA d:fine single-ear omnidirectional headset microphone. “This headset,” Bailey states, “is absolutely the best representation of the natural voice in a headset microphone. It's stellar.”
Services at Highland Park typically employ five volunteers under Bailey's direction who needed to be trained on the new equipment. “We encourage clients to start training on mixing consoles as soon as possible,” offers Taylor, “to promote an easy transition on day one.” Bailey and his team accepted the audio console, as well as a Jands Vista L5 lighting console (installed in temporary road cases) several months early and introduced them to volunteers at their previous campus, as well as off-site events. All Pro Sound frequently recommends user-friendly Jands lighting controls. “It doesn't matter if you get the laptop edition or the prime L5,” says Taylor. “It's the same intuitive graphic software across all the platforms.”
To illuminate the very wide stage with even coverage, 10 ETC Source Four conventional PAR fixtures were installed in vertical trusses for backlighting along with 24 Element Source Four Jr. 25-degree to 50-degree zoom fixtures for spotlighting. Eighteen Chauvet Pro compact COLORdash Par-Quad 7COLOR LED fixtures were installed (suspended and on stage) along with 32 Chauvet Pro COLORado 1 Tri-7 Tour LED fixtures to create an even color wash on stage. In addition, 30 American DJ Mega Bars were installed in Plexiglas light boxes on stage and two HazeBase Base Hazer Pro-1200 Watt Quite DMX water-based hazers were added for lighting effect and even hazing at either side of the stage. For moving lights, All Pro Sound added eight Elation Professional Rayzor Q7 and four Platinum Beam 5R fixtures along with two Platinum Spot 5R Pros.
Completing the lighting design and to integrate video, a custom-built ArKaos MediaMaster Pro media server was installed. “The ArKaos server integrates well with the Jands Vista L5,” notes Taylor. “You can easily combine environmental projections and your primary screens,” he says, “allowing you to theme an entire room. It goes well beyond the limits of conventional presentation software and promotes creativity.” “Media selections appear on the L5 as thumbnails, so it’s easy to cue media right along with our lighting scenes,” adds Bailey.
In order to meet Highland Park's design criteria for a 4K video system, All Pro Sound installed a fiber optic infrastructure with two Blackmagic Design Studio Camera 4K (CINSTUDMFT/UHD) with Blackmagic's ATEM Studio Converter 2, Broadcast Panel and Production Studio 4k video switching. Additional video is captured by three Panasonic AWHE60SN HD/SD PTZ cameras with supporting video equipment including a Panasonic AGHMR10PJ Compact AVCCAM Field Recorder/Player, Matrox TripleHead2Go expansion module and Extron video conversion and distribution units. “We were happy to be able to provide Highland Park with the best 4K video solution available,” says Taylor, “but our main objective was to build them a solid infrastructure to build upon.”
Projection is handled by two Panasonic PT-DW640US 6,000-lumen and three Panasonic PT-DW11KU 11,000-lumen DLP, 16:9 (WXGA) projectors and three Da-Lite 11x20-foot custom screens. The screens are suspended by a 12-inch flat truss above Plexiglass light boxes and each screen is flanked on stage by 22 1/2-inch, scrim-covered, vertical box trusses. Both of these dramatic elements can be creatively lit, giving the lighting designer the freedom to 'paint' the stage for any setting. In fact, Bailey describes his overall goal for the stage as having it be a blank canvas that can be fluid, where everything is movable and can be changed as needed.
Bailey and Beech are pleased with the new worship center, but insist that what they think doesn't matter as much as what the congregation thinks. “We didn't want to build the room for us,” insists Bailey. “Rather, we hope it reflects our commitment to both our younger and older generations here.” He states clearly that they were not looking to build a concert environment. “Our goal was to get away from the 'bigger is better' mentality,” he says, “and use technology to bring people close to worship. I love that Highland Park has 1,000 seats and is still personal and intimate.”
