1 of 6
Images courtesy of the Church at Liberty SquareSquare.
2 of 6
The Church at Liberty Square reused its old FOH console, a Yamaha DM2000, by moving it to the off-stage monitor position. The old loudspeaker and floor monitors provided an upgrade to a satellite campus.
3 of 6
After evaluating a number of loudspeaker options, the church selected Renkus-Heinz Varia modular loudspeakers that can be configured into vertical or horizontal arrays. Integrator Kent Morris of Atlanta-based Cornerstone Media says they offer a good building-block approach that is ideal for mid-range churches.
4 of 6
To implement the move to digital, the team installed the popular Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console and Dante MY16-AUD mini-YGDAI cards networked to two Yamaha Rio 3224-D Digital Stageboxes with 32 inputs and 16 outputs.
5 of 6
The church outfitted its new Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console with Dante MY-16 mini-YGDAI cards networked with two Yamaha Rio 3224-D Stageboxes. Two Cisco SE300’s provide switching for the digital audio network.
6 of 6
Rev. Nathan Roach, Cody Miller and Church Audio Engineer Ben Tomlinson
It's not an uncommon problem. To accommodate growth, the Church at Liberty Square in Cartersville, Ga., added seating to increase the capacity of its sanctuary to 1,700. But despite regular attempts to tweak the existing audio system after the remodeling, there seemed to be no end to the complaints about inconsistent coverage and poor intelligibility. According to Technical Director Rev. Nathan Roach, “It got so that we expected to leave our Monday staff meetings with a ‘laundry list' of sound problems.” Determined to find an affordable solution, Roach and the church's audio engineer, Ben Tomlinson, combined their diverse talents and a shared penchant for reuse—upgrading the audio system with technology that will move the church forward and end the complaints, once and for all.
Roach and Tomlinson make an interesting partnership, with Roach being the administrative force and Tomlinson being the technical powerhouse, but it's far from a typical relationship. First, Roach's path to technical director is an unusual one. At the church for six years, he was a lay leader for three years and the children's pastor for two years, but was always interested in what he describes as “the production side.” Roach seems to have a passion for communications in any form, helping the church with branding and other communication. But what he may have lacked at the beginning was some technical know-how.
Enter Tomlinson, who Roach describes as “the gearhead of gearheads.” “I had a rough idea of how to technically convey a message,” Roach says, “but Ben has taught me a ton.” Tomlinson was into audio and video as early as his middle school years when he was active in the church's youth group. “AV and technology,” he says, “ simply became a vocation for me.” Tomlinson works part-time at the church and part-time as an IT professional, which he claims has given him a leg up on technologies like networking and computers that have crossed over heavily into worship settings.
http://Convergence of talent and product
Both in their early thirties, Roach and Tomlinson make an impressive team, and each had a good idea of what needed to be done to upgrade the audio system. But to validate their expectations and their system design, they brought in a 35-year veteran audio integrator, Kent Morris, president of Canton, Ga.-based Cornerstone Media.
Morris, with a background as a pastor and years of experience solving church audio issues, immediately understood the problem. “The Church at Liberty Square has an impressive, fan-shaped sanctuary that hosts an orchestra and a choir. It's wide with a short throw to the back wall and balcony,” he explains. “And while the old system worked well at one time, it was not designed to cover the room as it evolved.”
To reduce monitor spill from the stage, a problem with the previous system, the church invested in Shure PSM900 in-ear monitor systems.
Morris describes the old system as being excessively bright in some areas on the main floor, while the balcony seats were getting almost no high-frequency content. To further complicate the scenario, the mix position in the balcony area made it very difficult for the engineer to mix. The challenge would be for Morris to recommend a system that would cover the room evenly and not violate the aesthetics, but still work within the church budget. Morris found a number of solutions, but none as flexible as the new Varia modular point-source line array system from Southern California-based loudspeaker manufacturer Renkus-Heinz. The Varia systems offer a modular design the company says can be easily configured into vertical or horizontal arrays for nearly any situation. Besides their flexibility, Morris reports, “They are also aesthetically pleasing, making them a good choice for a building-block approach—and so ideal for many mid-range churches.”
Varia VA101 (self-powered) and VAX101 (externally powered) cabinets are available in 7.5-, 15- and 22.5-degree enclosures for long vertical arrays or tightly packed horizontal arrays. The enclosures offer waveguides in 60-, 90-, and 120-degree patterns, as well as proprietary progressive waveguides that can transition from 60 to 90 and 90 to 120 degrees seamlessly within each cabinet. Each self-powered VA101 enclosure is equipped with a Class-D digital biamplifier, delivering 500 Watts RMS to its woofer and 250 Watts RMS to its high-frequency drivers. Each amplifier features integrated Renkus-Heinz Audio Operation Network (RHAON) electronics to connect and network multiple powered loudspeakers using standard Ethernet cabling and switches, as well as to control digital signal processing.
What made the Varia ideal for this application is its highly configurable enclosures and multiple waveguides that made it possible for Morris to assemble a system with focused high-frequency dispersion that could evenly cover the entire sanctuary floor and balcony areas. The team installed a total of 16 VA101 cabinets in two vertical “J” hung configurations with two 7.5-degree enclosures with 60-degree patterns at the top. They transitioned downward to four 7.5-degree enclosures with 90-degree patterns, and four 7.5-degree enclosures with 120-degree patterns—followed by four 15-degree enclosures with 120-degree patterns and, finally, two 22.5-degree enclosures with 120-degree patterns. Morris likens the dispersion characteristics of this configuration to a Christmas tree that tapers down to cover the wide room more effectively. In addition, two Renkus-Heinz PN212 dual 12-inch subwoofers were located on the floor, while two VA15s 15-inch subs were flown at the top of the hang. Three smaller Renkus-Heinz CF61 series enclosures were installed as front fill.
“Varia represented a great off-the-shelf solution,” says Morris. “That gave us a tailor-made, [yet] still affordable, system for the room.” In addition, Morris feels that RHAON software provides audio engineers with a good overview of the system at all times. “With RHAON you can solve problems locally or remotely so you can make an immediate response,” he reports. A simple example Morris offers is the ability to tweak high-frequency response when the room fills.
Tackling intelligibility
One nagging audio problem that the new loudspeakers could not address was the lack of intelligibility in the first few rows as the result of monitor spill from the stage. While the church retained a few wedges for on-stage use, performers made a major change to Shure PSM900 in-ear monitor systems. The church purchased six Shure P9TRA complete wireless monitor systems for use with SE215 and SE535 sound-isolating earphones to solve the problem along with four additional P9RA rechargeable bodypack receivers.
As the house audio engineer, one of Tomlinson's technical requirements was that the new system remain digital from A/D conversion at the stage to the output at the speakers. To implement the move to digital, the team installed the popular Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console and Dante MY16-AUD mini-YGDAI cards networked to two Yamaha Rio 3224-D Digital Stageboxes with 32 inputs and 16 outputs. Two Cisco SE300 provide switching for the digital network. Tomlinson reports, “After some investigation, we chose to implement CobraNet from the AES output option on the console into a Peavey Electronics MediaMatrix CAB 16d Series CobraNet Audio Bridge for transport.”
Tomlinson was able to resolve digital communications issues in the network by setting up Dante and CobraNet traffic on separate VLANs so the protocols could use the same physical network, but remain separate. The move to digital also facilitated the relocation of the front-of-house (FOH) mixing console from its previous location in the balcony to a more optimal space on the main floor.
“What really allowed us to pull the trigger on this project was that we planned for reuse,” says Roach. “That saved us money in other places and made the move to digital financially feasible.” The team reused its old console at the monitor mix position, and the old speaker system and monitors provided an ideal upgrade for a satellite campus. The team was even able to recycle its two long copper snakes as raw materials to make smaller cable runs at other campuses. “We're big on reuse,” Roach adds. “We found a home for just about everything we pulled out.”
After five months of planning, the upgrade at the Church at Liberty Square took place over a week and came off without a hitch. Roach and Tomlinson agree that good planning is the key to a successful upgrade, and they are happy to share their experience. “We learned a lot from other churches and especially from attending trade shows and conferences,” Roach says.
Tomlinson adds that churches should make use of all the guidance and training they can find, heading to trade shows with a plan to get the information they need. “Think through all the details,” he says. “Keep asking questions—as we did—to make sure nothing is a better fit than what you've planned.” While Roach readily admits that the team had a lot of divine help on this project, he wants other churches to know that they, too, can make big changes without breaking the bank. “Just remember,” he says, “an upgrade requires a good deal of research and a strong commitment to doing things right.”
