In February 2020, Eagle Brook Church was the largest church in the state of Minnesota and one of the largest in the nation. With nine locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area connected for worship via weekly broadcast from the church’s Lino Lakes main campus, worship was being shared by an estimated 24,000 people attending the weekly services, while an estimated 20,000 more joined the services online.
“Their knowledge of AVL systems is only second to their hunger to see the vision for their church become a reality.” - Cameron Fries, Project Manager, Summit Integrated Systems.
With a constant eye toward technical excellence, the church’s production teams work hard to ensure a common experience for all attendees at all locations. So when Horizons Church in Ham Lake, Minnesota, decided in mid-February 2021 to reopen as an Eagle Brook campus, targeting Easter weekend as the grand reopening, Eagle Brook’s technical teams needed to respond quickly.
Steve Tye, the church’s production systems and support manager, recalls the challenge. “To bring Ham Lake in as an Eagle Brook campus presented us with a tight timeline to say the least,” he states.
After approvals for the critical aspects of the upgrade, there would be just 45-50 days to design, purchase, and acquire the necessary gear for a 600-seat worship space—and then just 12 days from the last service to Easter weekend in which to install and commission the new systems. “It represented a huge effort for all the production staff and volunteers, as well as coordinating with integrators to make it happen,” Tye adds.
Selecting the sound system, creating a workflow
In the course of his work to improve the audio experience at all of the Eagle Brook Church locations, Audio Systems Engineer Matt Beckstrom had worked closely with Louisville, Colorado-based Summit Integrated Systems’ project manager, Cameron Fries, to arrange a loudspeaker shootout. That effort, completed months earlier, involved four top manufacturers.
“We did everything possible to level the playing field,” recalls Beckstrom. “We wanted to hear all the boxes side-by-side and provided the manufacturers a SMAART trace of pink noise to graphically display the basic tonality we were looking for. Keeping all boxes at the same level, we played different tracks to put them through the paces.”
The result, Beckstrom recalls, was surprising: “L-Acoustics loudspeakers were the clear winner for us. They performed at a level that we are always trying to get systems from other manufacturers to sound like.”
According to Beckstrom, deciding on L-Acoustics meant great sound for the Ham Lake campus and less work for church audio engineers to get the right sound for the Eagle Brook Church worship experience.
The loudspeaker shootout ultimately resulted in establishing a new audio standard for Eagle Brook campuses. It also facilitated the rapid design and ordering of the new sound system for Ham Lake, streamlining the process of getting the doors open. Working with Summit Integrated Systems, an L-Acoustics A10 system was installed along with KS21 subs to support the low end. In addition, Reach Communications in Champlin, Minnesota, was brought in for cable pulls and terminations throughout the building.
The Eagle Brook Church audio team was one of the first to implement Digico’s new Quantum225 console, as well as the very first installation of the even newer Dante-specific Digico DQ-Rack.
The Eagle Brook Church audio team was also one of the first to implement Digico’s new Quantum225 console, as well as the very first installation of the even newer Dante-specific Digico DQ-Rack. The compact six-unit DQ-Rack provides 48 mic inputs and up to 24 line outputs with a design that allows the last four outputs to be switched between line outputs and stereo AES/EBU outputs to add up to eight AES/EBU output channels.
“With Digico, it’s great sound, of course, but for our services Digico also provides real advantages for our workflow,” says Beckstrom. “Macros on the Quantum225 console both save time and give us the right level of detail to make changes quickly and efficiently. For example, our simple pre-service macro sets up the service, turning off talkback mics to the PA, turning off Copy Audio and Solo-In-Place, and sending FOH mix to the lobby, etc.—all the steps an engineer would do manually, just in one shot. It creates a clean slate to start off the service and helps us to avoid simple mistakes.”
The band at Ham Lake is provided with an IP-based QSC Q-SYS IEM Mixing System (using a design file built and developed in-house) with Shure wireless PSM900’s in-ear monitoring systems and Shure ULXD Wireless mics. Switching in the system design is handled by a Cisco SG350. QSC Q-Sys systems were also installed to supply user control and signal processing in youth ministry areas and lobby spaces.
“The move from a three-screen format to [a] large, centrally installed LED screen provides the base of the experience. It is a centerpiece of visual design and especially powerful for the message as it is the only screen.” Nate Nohling, Production Director, Eagle Brook Church, Centerville, MN
An LED Wall is central to the visual experience
For video, a Ross Ultrix video router was installed along with a Ross Carbonite Ultra video switcher. A Ross Tria Express Duet acts as a message delay and clip server. Video and audio transport from the Lino Lakes broadcast campus is handled by the Evertz Scorpion Smart Media Processing Platform.
The LED wall “can change with the music, of course, but it is also often used as an element of our scenic design. Having it centrally located helps to mesh everything together.”
Tommy Clark, Lead Lighting Designer, Eagle Brook Church, Centerville, MN
A production feature that has become central to the Eagle Brook Church experience in newer locations is a large, centrally installed LED wall. For Ham Lake, a ROE Carbon series CB3 wall is matched with Brompton Technologies processing. The 16-foot by 9-foot wall with 23.6-inch by 47.2-inch by 3.0-inch panels at a 3.75mm pitch offers worshippers a full 140-degree viewing angle. The move to the video was a strategy that the church has deployed in recent years and one favored by Production Director Nate Nohling. “The move from a three-screen format to [a] large, centrally installed LED screen provides the base of the experience,” he says. “It is a centerpiece of visual design and especially powerful for the message as it is the only screen.”
For video, a Ross Ultrix video router was installed along with a Ross Carbonite Ultra video switcher. A Ross Tria Express Duet acts as a message delay and clip server.
The screen serves to keep everyone looking in the same direction with lyrics, and is even employed by lighting designers for lighting effects. “You are looking at the worship leader and band to see the lyrics,” Nohling continues. “A single screen is not only cost effective, but makes for a very integrated design and cohesive experience. It increases engagement and helps provide focus in the room.”
The features of the LED wall are also regularly employed by Tommy Clark in his role as lead lighting designer. “There are many ways to use it,” he remarks, “as it can be whatever we want it to be. It can change with the music, of course, but it is also often used as an element of our scenic design. Having it centrally located helps to mesh everything together.”
For lighting control, the lighting designer at Ham Lake relies on a GrandMA2 lighting console and high performance Green Hippo Hippotizer media server for real-time video playback, manipulation, and pixel mapping. Traditional lighting installed at Ham Lake included Martin moving light fixtures, German Light Products (GLP) intelligent lighting components and ChromaQ LED lighting products, as well as a reliable MDG Atmosphere Hazer. Connectivity for lighting devices is handled with Luminex Network Switches and Pathport DMX Nodes. Lighting integrator Monkey Wrench Productions of Golden Valley, Minnesota, was engaged to assist the church teams with installation, including the mounting of fixtures onto XSF trusses equipped with an SRS digital hoist control system and motors.
Teamwork ensures that systems support the brand
Even with a drastically compressed time frame for design and installation, the teams—bolstered by volunteers and integrators—were able to complete production upgrades in the Ham Lake worship space in time for Easter. “This project definitely had a uniquely expedited timeline,” recalls Cameron Fries, who managed the project for Summit Integrators. “It required a good deal of shared responsibility between the Eagle Brook Church team and our Summit team.”
While Fries agrees that teamwork brought the project in on time, he also attributes the project's success to the church’s expertise with production systems. “Their knowledge of AVL systems is only second to their hunger to see the vision for their church become a reality,” he says. “I can't say enough good things about the team at Eagle Brook Church.”
What was achieved at the new Ham Lake campus is very much in line with the church’s overall strategy to create a uniform experience for worship. “Our designs are not gear-centric,” notes Nohling. “It's much more about the experience. They might not know why, but for anyone attending Eagle Brook Church it should feel like the same experience at any of our campuses or online—that is our hope—and our design ethos. As designers and production leads, we try to focus on the core of the brand and our systems should support the brand.”
