It's not uncommon these days to hear about churches choosing to self-install. When done with the appropriate amount of precautions, it can save a church a significant amount of money. But Cary Church of God (CCoG) in Cary, N.C., takes self-installation to the extreme in its new 900-seat sanctuary.
CCoG didn't stop at merely self-installation, however. All aspects of the audio and video systems were designed and managed by members of the media team as well. "Jeff Creasy and I have both been involved in the design and installation of church worship centers at several locations across the United States," says Marshall Kay, multimedia team member at CCoG and president of Audio Artistry Inc. in Raleigh, N.C. "Jeff provided operational audio and computing knowledge and project/finance management skills to [the] program. Ben Hockaday brought professional mechanical design skills and a long history of audio experience. The three of us provided the core design for the sanctuary multimedia systems. Jay Hobb led the recording studio design, and Chris Addair led the network/voice/computing portion of the program."
And as if designing the systems wasn't enough, the church's media team took it a giant step further: they designed the loudspeakers themselves.
Loudspeaker challenge
?"In our initial investigations we studied many of the commercially available line array solutions and their specifications, configuring systems based around these products," Kay explains. "In order to control low frequency directivity, the line needs to be long and the numbers of cabinets add up quickly in terms of dollars. It became obvious that we would not be able to provide a solution offering the performance level we wanted within budget."
Having been a professional home loudspeaker designer for over 20 years, Kay chose to explore designing a loudspeaker that would meet the church's needs.
"I began researching every publication I could find on line arrays, exploring all the references cited in those papers," Kay says. "In all this research, I was unable to find an answer that offered a simple solution that eliminated the uneven sound often associated with line arrays.
"One Sunday morning, Rick Craig (another speaker designer in our church) pointed me to an article in Voice Coil Magazine that included an interview with Dick Small, one of the pioneers of modern speaker design," Kay continues. "Dick mentioned one of the greatest recent breakthroughs in speaker technology was a new constant beamwidth transducer (CBT) loudspeaker array concept pioneered by Don Keele and based on sonar transducer research by the United States Navy. I downloaded Keele's CBT papers from the AES [Audio Engineering Society] website and read each one. After all my investigations, this was the only line array solution I found which not only precisely controlled the beamwidth, but could maintain this control over the entire audio spectrum. And if you stay within the bounds of the theory, it completely eliminates lobing."
However, no commercial solutions using CBT technology were available at that time. But Kay wasn't ready to give up on the CBT concept just yet.
Kay invested significant time studying both Keele's and the U.S. Navy's papers on CBT arrays, and he also performed hundreds of simulations as part of understanding the mathematics of the design. Once he felt he understood the science, he began modeling speaker designs using EASE, a speaker design simulation software package.
On reaching a design Kay felt would work, he proceeded to source components for the speakers. That also presented challenges-primarily finding a source for drivers that would fit in the budget.
"It was beginning to look like the cost of speaker drivers would make it unfeasible to proceed with the project," recounts Kay. "I approached Dayton Audio in Springboro, Ohio, and they agreed to have some sample drivers built in China for the project. The samples arrived in about two weeks and their performance exceeded some of the more expensive drivers I tested."
Using volunteers from the church and tools including a CNC router at Kay's company, Audio Artistry, they worked on their prototype cabinet ensuring that the physical design would be structurally sound to handle the speaker's anticipated 500 pounds.
The final design of the speaker is 13 feet tall and contains 56 four-inch drivers and 22 ribbon drivers. Three of these are used for a left-center-right (LCR) configuration for the house, with three smaller arrays hung facing the platform to act as stage monitors for choir and those not wanting to use the Aviom personal monitor system.
Kay also designed the subwoofer system to match the CBT arrays. Two subwoofer enclosures were constructed and hung to either side of the center CBT array.
"The subs consist of 16 15-inch drivers configured so that the mechanical forces [of the drivers responding to input signals] cancel," describes Kay. "We opted for lower-efficiency long-throw drivers mounted in a sealed enclosure to get better bass extension down to 20 Hz. The system crosses over to the subs at 80 Hz, and the subs are driven by two QSC Audio RMX2450 amps."
Feeding the speakers?
The remainder of the audio system is built upon an Aviom Pro 64 digital audio distribution system backbone, distributing 64 channels of digital audio from the stage to the front of house (FOH) and recording positions, and then back to the amplifier racks. Since the CBT arrays require no complicated signal processing for steering the beams, no DSP is used in the system-both reducing complexity and overall cost.
A Yamaha M7CL digital audio console was selected for its ease-of-use and support of the Aviom system. QSC amplifiers drive the speaker systems, and were chosen for their value/price points and reputation for reliability. An Aviom personal monitoring system provides most of the stage monitoring for the band, with Shure wireless in-ear monitors used by most members of the worship team. Shure microphones are utilized for sound pickup, as well.
Lighting concerns
?To light the facility, a Strand A21 architectural dimming and Strand Palette 500 control system were installed, chosen for balance between network-based control, versatility and fit with the budget dollars. ETC Source Four ellipsoidal and PAR fixtures make up the bulk of the lighting plot, and LED lighting was also added to bring console-controllable color to the platform.
Video goes the distance?Video plays a significant role at CCoG, both in live services as well as in the Internet streaming of services. The 19-foot by 43-foot wall behind the platform is painted with a video screen paint, turning that entire wall into a video screen for graphics and motion backgrounds. "Our video wall provides a backdrop for all stage activity," states Kay. Side-mounted 9-foot by 12-foot projection screens placed to either side of the platform provide image magnification (IMAG) and ancillary images.
The Panasonic PT-D5700 is CCoG's projector of choice, with four of the 6,000-lumen devices used in a 2x2 edge-blended matrix to project on the video wall, and the three used for the two side screens and rear confidence monitor.
For multi-media software, the team uses Media Shout for lyrics and video playback.
Broadcast capabilities?
In the broadcast/recording room that sends the service to the rest of the facility and streaming to the Internet, a Yamaha O2R is used for audio recording and the broadcast mix. And like the M7CL used in the sanctuary, it interfaces directly with the Aviom digital snake for its input signals. Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) 24i/o units are used to do a 64-channel multi-track recording.
All the video equipment used in the broadcast area was moved over from the church' previous facility.
Several JVC GY-DV500 SD (standard definition) video cameras are used for a multi-camera shoot of the service, with a Global Stream 8000 switching the video inputs. The service is streamed out to the public via the sermon.net video streaming service, and the church averages about 100 weekly viewers at this time.
Remote control
?Another forward-thinking aspect of the system design is the remote-control aspects of the installation. "The M7CL, lights, Media Shout, projectors, etc. ... can all be controlled by an iPad," Kay reports. "We can do an independent stage mix via an iPad while sitting at the stage, or drive a slide show from the pulpit." This provides enormous flexibility and allows the techs to control the system while located where they can best ascertain the results of their changes at the time-without having to jog back to the booth to make adjustments. And since the booth was purposely designed to be inaccessible from within the auditorium (to prevent attendees from "advising" the tech team while a service is in progress), this greatly facilitates setup and operation.
Staying in budget ?
Through the use of volunteers and designing the systems and speakers themselves, CCoG saved significant amounts of money in outfitting its new facility. "The complete audio, video, lighting, studio recording and computing/network/voice installation was designed and installed with a budget of only $325,000," states Kay. "This compares to in excess of $1 million it would have taken had we contracted everything out."
And Kay continues, "The ultimate determining factor in our volunteers undertaking this project was the strong support and confidence of the senior pastor, pastoral staff and the congregation. The media team was allocated funds at the beginning of the program and allowed full decision-making in how to best utilize those funds in building the new environment. The multimedia team worked closely with the overall building program leader and pastoral staff throughout the building program."
The results speak for themselves. As this writer lives in the same town as CCoG, I had the pleasure of listening to the system in person, and the sound coverage and fidelity are outstanding. Audio Artistry, Kay's speaker company, is considering commercializing his design, so that other facilities can benefit from the quality of this speaker system.
