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Edenton Street United Methodist Church youth worship team & youth leaders.
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To maximize use of the space, the ceiling was left unfinished. The metal truss work that supports the floor above is exposed and painted white to create a cleaner look.
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A low ceiling and reflective walls posed a challenge for Raleigh-based RMB Audio. The company specified a Martin Audio MLA Mini ultra-compact powered line array system.
In 1811, Edenton Street United Methodist Church (ESUMC) in Raleigh, N.C., was planted at the corners of Edenton and Dawson streets. Now, more than 200 years later, ESUMC occupies most of that city block, having faithfully served the city of Raleigh at the same location for all that time. Over time, the church has experienced significant growth, recovered from a tragic fire that claimed its entire sanctuary, and acquired an adjacent office building to enable ministry expansion.
One of those office buildings now houses ESUMC's youth ministry and a worship venue called the Bulla Center, which recently underwent a major renovation. “This used to be a very bare-bones space,” says Dave Clemmer, sole proprietor of Dave Clemmer Productions and ESUMC's part-time technical steward. “It was a small, unadorned space, with the original industrial fluorescent lighting. While it was a space dedicated to the youth program, it didn't draw the kids in by any means. It always felt old. The church wanted to turn it into a space that the kids would look forward to going to.”
Clemmer came to work at ESUMC through a roundabout way. He runs a production company based in Raleigh, managing venues and artists for 20-plus years. He was called upon by ESUMC to solve some PA system issues, and was then asked to come back and work with the church's volunteers on Sunday mornings. This led to the church contracting him for 30 hours per week to be their “technical steward,” responsible for the ongoing maintenance of equipment, supporting the services, and training the AVL volunteers.
“I've always been a church-going believer,” says Clemmer. “As I went out on the road earlier in my career I was increasingly immersed in the secular world, but still attended church when I was home. Over the past 10 years, however, as I let go of the secular touring environment, opportunities just opened up to serve the church through technical production ministries. I'm very happy to now be working with churches and having the added benefit of listening to so many sermons and messages.”
The remodel of the Bulla Center involved increasing the size of the room to better accommodate the 100+ youth who attend each Sunday evening, creating a slightly raised platform for a stage, and adding a tech booth in the back corner of the room. The 13.5-foot-high ceiling of the space created some challenges in AVL configuration, limiting the options in speaker systems and video displays. To maximize use of the ceiling space, the ceiling is left unfinished, and the metal truss work that supports the floor above is exposed and painted white to create a cleaner look. This also allows the speaker cluster and LED lighting to be placed between the trusses instead of below, gaining some precious height.
Cooper Cannady, owner of RMB Audio headquartered in the Raleigh, N.C., area, was contracted for the design and installation of the audio and lighting systems. “I've worked with RMB Audio for many years,” comments Clemmer, “and their customer service is excellent. It's important that you know your contractors, and RMB has always had a great attitude, [is] very smart, and [is] conscientious in [its] work.”
"This used to be a very bare-bones space. The church wanted to turn it into a place the kids would look forward to going to."
Dave Clemmer
Technical Steward, Edenton Street United Methodist Church, Raleigh, NC.
Audio System Specifics
RMB specified a Martin Audio MLA Mini ultra-compact line array system with MSX Mini-sub and control system to meet the challenges posed by the venue's low ceiling heights and reflective walls. “We had several challenges with the PA system design,” states Cannady. “The youth pastor, wearing a DPA headset mic, stands out in front of the PA for most of the teaching time in order to be closer to the kids. And we wanted to avoid hitting the rear wall as much as possible. The challenge was how to get something with sufficient height into a room with a 13-foot, 6-inch ceiling.”
The Martin MLA Mini is normally installed with the array mounted to the underside of the MSX Mini-sub, but the ceiling height would not allow for that. Instead, Cannady positioned the sub behind the array, and compensated for this position using the Martin Audio Vu-Net design and configuration software. “The MSX Mini-sub contains all the DSP needed for loudspeaker management,” notes Cannady, “as well as nine channels of amplifiers—one for the sub, and eight for bi-amplification of up to four MLA Mini line array cabinets. And it is very power efficient. Being an older [structure] with a pre-existing power service to the building, we were limited to one 20-amp circuit for the entire PA system. Even with the system running hot, we're probably only using nine of those 20 amps.”
With a 100-degree horizontal pattern, the MLA Mini is able to cover the width of the room with one center cluster, and the vertical coverage pattern of the four boxes enables them to shape the sound to keep the coverage on the people and off the ceiling and walls. “The pattern control is the critical part,” Cannady says. “If you get that right, you're in good shape.”
“The sound of the Martin Audio rig is really nice,” adds Clemmer. “And the subs add that solid ‘thump' to the music and videos that the kids want.” For FOH, a Behringer X32 gives solid digital audio control over the mix with plenty of built-in effects processing. ESUMC is in the process of moving from floor wedges to Behringer personal monitor mixers, which will eliminate most of the stage volume and provide an even cleaner mix for the room. “It's not a complex system, but the quality and sound is there,” Cannady adds.
The microphone complement is largely Shure with SM57s and SM58s, and some Sennheiser Evolution e835 microphones for vocals. Most instruments are put through the sound system through direct boxes; the acoustic drum kit is mic'd for kick, snare and one overhead.
"The Martin Audio rig sounds really nice, And the subs add that solid ‘thump’ to the music and videos that the kids want."
Dave Clemmer
Technical Steward, Edenton Street UMC, Raleigh, NC.
Lighting Choices
Much of the focus on the lighting system was on eliminating the need for using the industrial fluorescents during the services and events, and letting the students dim the lighting to whatever level they needed. Ten Elation ePAR QW LED fixtures were chosen for both front and back lighting for the platform for their color-changing abilities, energy efficiency and lower price tag. “The students begged for some options for visual effects,” laughs Clemmer. “So we added in a couple of Elation E Spot LED II moving head fixtures.”
“Control is handled via an Elation Show Designer 1,” Cannady adds. “It's cost effective and provides all the control the students need for this space.” The Show Designer 1 can be rack-mounted into a 3RU space, so booth space is kept to a minimum. “We have a variety of presets programmed into the controller,” says Clemmer, “and the students simply pick the preset they want for any given part of their service or event.” House lighting is provided through incandescent PAR fixtures.
Video Particulars
Clemmer designed and installed the video system himself, choosing two Sharp Aquos Q LC-60EQ10U 60-inch televisions for the displays, mounted upstage on the platform.
“Again, the low ceiling height limited us on display options,” states Clemmer. “Projection would not work because of sight line issues between where the projectors would need to be mounted and the space on the platform for the screens, and there's no room behind the platform for rear projection. A couple of consumer TVs mounted from the beams works well for the space and kept us within budget.” Renewed Vision's ProPresenter running on an Apple iMac is used for media and video playback, run through an HDMI splitter to feed both televisions.
“Cooper was great to work with,” states Clemmer, “and we're very happy with the new AVL systems. We were able to stay within the fixed budget we were allocated for the project, and the church is very pleased with the results. And the kids are excited to come here on Sunday evenings.”
