Nashville Church More Than Ready for Prime Time

by ,

Founded in the basement of Pastors Henry and Alex Seeley as an outreach to Nashville’s touring music community, The Belonging Co. (TBCo.) originally welcomed four members. Since those first services in 2014, the church has grown exponentially to welcome thousands of worshippers each week, both in person and online.

Up until recently, TBCo. was a portable church, meeting in a rented space in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The rapid growth, however, mandated the need to find a permanent home that could accommodate its expanding reach, as well as annual conference and even a ministry college. This led to the acquisition and build-out of a warehouse space on the city’s north side for a 24/7 ministry hub.  

“They say ‘we desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position, and Jesus over everything,'" says Diversified's Tim Corder of the strategic thinking behind The Belonging Co.'s extraordinary worship experience.

Music City impact

With such a strong reputation for the quality of its live services, TBCo prioritizes excellent live production as an important tool to create an experience where people can connect with God. “They have a unique take on how and why they deploy technology as a tool for their church. It is an integral part of their services and events, but always through the lens of supporting the content of the songs and the message rather than as an actual central focus itself,” says Tim Corder, director of strategic accounts, House of Worship at Diversified, a global technology solutions provider headquartered in Kenilworth, N.J., and the company that headed up the audio, video, and lighting design and integration for this project. “They say ‘we desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position, and Jesus over everything.’ I love this because it keeps the main thing in the forefront, driving innovation in a fresh, authentic way you can recognize from the moment you visit online or walk through the doors.”

Corder explains that this DNA required an emphasis on providing AVL systems for the new facility that would meet the highest standard of quality while also supporting ever-changing configurations and also managing the aggressive budget of a young church. “ ‘Flexibility’ really wasn’t just a buzzword; it was something that, from start to finish, we had to consider in the forefront of the entire approach to the space,” he says. The stage, for example, is a touring-style platform that enables the production team to alter its size, shape, and even position in the room. Camera positions and lighting positions can be relocated all over the space based on the programming needs.

Converting a former warehouse space into a production-savvy environment presents a number of challenges, especially when it comes to ceiling height, structural weight limits and locations, as well as columns that threaten to hinder sightlines. “[We had] to sight things properly so that everyone in that auditorium would see the stage properly––there were a lot of things in the way, and we had to work around those,” says Gina Emmanuel, principal at Centric Architecture in Nashville, Tenn., which headed up architecture and design for this facility. “[It] was a pretty big puzzle to get to where it looks seamless once you’re in the space.”

At the heart of the AVL system is an LED video wall manufactured by THOR AV, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Comprising THOR’s EDGE 3.4 LED panels, the video wall is driven by the Tessera S8 LED processor, developed by Brompton Technology, based in London, U.K.

It was determined early in the project that a premium LED video wall would be a critical, central component of the visual brand for the new space. “The LED wall is front and center on stage in just about every camera shot. The quality of the LED wall components are critical to making a great picture on camera - the two go hand-in-hand,” Corder explains. “Brompton’s Tessera platform provides best in class picture quality and calibration options to ensure the LED wall always looks its best.” He also notes that the church’s cinematic shooting style was another key factor that came into play in the design process.

“Brompton’s Tessera platform provides best in class picture quality and calibration options to ensure the LED wall always looks its best.” Tim Corder, Director of Strategic Accounts, House of Worship, Diversified, Kenilworth, NJ

“The church has one of the most beautiful cinematic broadcasts on the internet today. However, cinematic cameras, such as the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6k G2 that the church selected for this system, have rolling shutters - typically a nightmare with direct view LED walls because of pulse width modulation dimming. When done wrong, the cameras will interact with the LED wall causing a number of negative artifacts such as banding and color inaccuracies that are nearly impossible to fully eliminate. This is where THOR and Brompton really shine, giving us a solution that was specifically designed to excel on-camera. It didn’t even enter into our minds to worry about how the cameras and LED wall would fit together – we had confidence it would look amazing and it did not disappoint.”

Focus and professionalism

“Our primary goal from a worship and production standpoint is to eliminate distraction for people to encounter a real and living God,” says Sean Loche, executive creative pastor at The Belonging Co. “In order to do that, you need a product that only adds to the overall system without taking away from the reason why we are gathering, to worship Christ. THOR and Brompton stood out in both excellence and quality. The system is powerful enough to create big moments when you need it but does not sacrifice in the quality needed for the subtle moments. We have been thrilled with the versatility of this technology implemented into our services.”

A number of well-known Nashville-based artists make the church their home, and some even regularly lead worship. Lead Pastor Henry Seeley is a Grammy Award-winning producer and engineer. Unsurprisingly, Nick Geiger, audio lead for Diversified’s team, notes that achieving a high-performance audio experience in the room was an equal priority to video. “The choice of loudspeaker system and its design is so personal and we had to get it right,” he says. During the project build-out, the Diversified team assisted the church in a comparative demo of three different potential solutions, ultimately selecting a KSL loudspeaker system by d&b audiotechnik. “It’s an amazing system. The impact, detail, and beauty of such amazing vocalists and band members shines through every note.”

Tara Walsh, architect at Centric, notes that achieving a design that successfully housed such a high volume of technology required regular communication between the architects, interior designer, engineers, and technology specialists––as well as, of course, the church. “The client had such an eye to design and really cared a lot about the space, and this very modern, contemporary aesthetic was fun to be able to do,” she says. “Churches can really range from an aesthetic perspective, and this one was just a fun one with a great client.”

Like Walsh, Corder highlights this collaborative effort as the main reason for this project’s success. “The most special projects happen when you match a great client with professionals from varied perspectives. The sum of that collaboration is always better than what any of us would have been able to create individually,” he says. “This is reflected in the end result when you walk into The Belonging Co. and experience a service, or when you tune in online. We are so proud to be part of this team.”

Of Note: Staying on Cue

The heart and soul of The Belonging Co.’s services and events is a large group of volunteers who are led by a small full-time staff team. Tim Corder, director of strategic accounts, House of Worship at Diversified relays that in designing the AVL systems, it was necessary to take into account the varying knowledge and experience levels of those volunteer operators. This led to the integration of a Riedel Artist Matrix and Bolero wireless intercom system which maximizes communication and coaching between all team members during services and events.

“We have found that the intercom system is one of those unsung heroes that really makes a difference in the precision that the team onstage and behind the scenes is able to achieve together,” Corder says. “Beyond facilitating typical chatter among the team, the intercom system here is actually tied closely into the stage so that everyone can also hear all of the clicks, counts and cues that the band is generating. When the band gives impromptu cues on stage to adjust flow or service order, everyone behind the scenes can communicate back and forth with each other and those on stage in real time. The end result is more precision while maintaining an unscripted freedom of flow, a huge win for everyone.”

––C.H.

The Belonging Co. Equipment Highlights

Audio:

d&b KSL Loudspeaker System

Digico Audio Consoles

Shure ULX-D Wireless Mics

Sennheiser Wireless In-Ears

QSC Q-Sys System Control

Middle Atlantic Equipment Racks & Hardware

Screens:

THOR: Edge 3.4mm LED Wall

Brompton Tessera S8 Processing

Epson Laser Side Screen Projectors

PRG M-Box Media Server

Renewed Vision PVP Software

UHD Broadcast Video:

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 Cameras

Blackmagic Switching & Routing

AJA & Decimator Processing

Planar Commercial Monitors

Renewed Vision ProPresenter Software

Production Intercom:

Riedel Artist Matrix Intercom

Riedel Bolero Wireless Intercom

Stage & House Lighting:

GrandMA Lighting Console

Pathway Pathport sACN Control System

Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Spots, MK2 Washes, Ovation Ellipsoidals

TMB Power Distribution

Light Source LED Pendant House Lights

Chauvet LED Batten Fixtures House Effects

Interactive Technologies Architectural Control

Other:

Acoustical Fulfillment Acoustic Treatment

Cisco Network Switches

BSS Circulation Audio DSP

JBL Circulation Audio Loudspeakers

Planar Commercial Monitors Circulation Video

Learn more here: Brompton Technology