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Volunteer-Friendly AV

A new production environment for Tennessee’s RockPoint Church Chattanooga serves as the backdrop for a conversation with integrators about the importance of balancing needs with budgets and long-term scalability for houses of worship. Plus, learn how RockPoint has embraced its new, volunteer-centered workflow to create a seamless experience for both in-person and online audiences.

At Issue

Industry experts from Absen, AtlasIED, LynTec, and Riedel discuss how the use of volunteer crews impacts house of worship AV design and product selection.

Download the Integration Guide to House of Worship.

Read the July issue of Systems Contractor News.

For houses of worship of all types, installing a high-quality audio system that delivers clear speech from the altar, supports musical performances, and accommodates live streaming is often the most critical component of a new build or retrofit. Achieving the right balance between speech intelligibility and musical reinforcement can be challenging—particularly if acoustics, architecture, and aesthetics are not carefully considered from the outset.

The specifics of an effective audio system depend heavily on the space itself, as well as the technologies selected to support it. Two recent projects—one a modern chapel in Texas and the other a historic church in New York City—illustrate how thoughtful system design, collaboration, and planning can overcome acoustic challenges in vastly different worship environments.

Modern Problems

Located on the campus of St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, TX, Hasley Chapel was designed to be as visually striking as it is acoustically refined. Designed by Dallas-based architectural firm GFF, with audio system specification and installation by local integrator Clear ProAV, the chapel overlooks a pond and wooded area and hosts traditional worship services, weddings, memorials, small conferences, and other events.

Compared to the church’s main worship hall, which accommodates both contemporary and traditional services, Hasley Chapel is more intimate, seating approximately 120 people on the main floor, with a balcony for overflow seating or a modest choir. Despite its smaller footprint, the space presented significant audio challenges: The area behind the stage is entirely glass, the stone side walls feature multiple windows, and the chapel’s 35-foot ceiling and high-pitched roof further complicate sound control.

While the chapel embraces a traditional aesthetic, its modern execution demanded that technology be seamlessly integrated. “The aesthetics are huge,” explained Chad Fuller, systems designer at Clear ProAV. “Everything we did, especially with the audio, had to fit into the design. The look and feel of the chapel are beautiful, but there are a lot of reflective surfaces to contend with. We really had to think carefully about the system as a whole and how it fit into the space.”

The floor-to-ceiling glass walls limited speaker placement options and increased concerns around reflections and glare from natural light. Working closely with church leadership and the architectural team, Clear ProAV focused on minimizing the visual impact of technology while maintaining consistent, intelligible coverage.

A custom-designed L-Acoustics audio system was selected for its sonic performance and its ability to visually blend with the chapel’s stone walls. Subwoofers and front-fill speakers were also discreetly integrated into the stage and surrounding steps, while an additional pair of L-Acoustics speakers supports the balcony. All audio is managed via a Q-SYS control system and a Yamaha digital mixing console.

The result is a system that delivers “natural, even sound” throughout the room, according to Fuller. “Anytime we’re designing audio in a traditional space, reflective surfaces like stone and wood are a major concern,” he added. “We also had to account for the balcony to ensure coverage to the back of the room while minimizing reflections.”

To address these issues, Clear ProAV collaborated with the architect to slightly tilt the glass balcony panels downward, redirecting reflected sound into the audience rather than back toward the stage. Speaker placement was also carefully calculated to minimize energy directed at the glass wall behind the altar.

Equally important was preserving the chapel’s visual integrity. “They don’t want to see a big PA hanging in the room,” Fuller explained. “In a space like Hasley Chapel, the audio system must become part of the architecture. So, we’re taking our technology and making it part of the room.”

While acoustic treatments such as wall or ceiling panels can help control reflections, they are not always acceptable from a design/aesthetic standpoint. “If we can find treatments that match the aesthetic, we’ll recommend them,” Fuller said. “But sometimes the client wants a nice, clean look with no visible treatment at all.”

Retrofitting History

If new builds pose challenges, retrofitting audio systems in historic worship spaces can be even more complex. Michael Walker, director of engineering at system integrator IVCi, in Hauppauge, NY, recently worked on a major audio upgrade at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.

Preserving the church’s architectural heritage was paramount. Over nine months, the church collaborated with reseller AudioPros, design consultant Salas O’Brien, and IVCi to deploy a new audio system—including an Allen & Heath AH-SQ-5 digital mixing console, Shure microphones, and Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) AC6 ADAPTive column loudspeakers, all on a Dante network.

“One of the biggest challenges is that St. Bartholomew’s has the second-largest pipe organ in the world. There are thousands of pipes throughout the building, so you can’t just drill wherever you want," Walker noted. "Everything must be planned very carefully.”

In some cases, the installation team drilled through more than a foot of limestone to route new fiber cabling to the basement. Structural engineers were also brought in to confirm that mounting locations could safely support the selected loudspeakers.

The team chose EAW AC6 speakers for their “steerability,” which allows sound to be precisely directed to a specific area of the room, using EAW’s Resolution software. “You install the speakers, then steer the audio so it goes where you want it and nowhere else,” Walker explained. “That’s critical in a space with long reverberation times.”

EAW's Resolution software (specifically Resolution 2) is free-to-use simulation software for audio engineers to design, model, and optimize EAW loudspeaker systems. It can accurately predict coverage and performance in venues using EAW's proprietary F Chart acoustics modeling software engine for precise acoustic and mechanical analysis, which includes interactive array adjustments and real-time feedback for systems like adaptive audio.

Resolution enabled Walker and his team to use detailed sound mapping, whereby individual lobes of the loudspeaker could be focused on specific seating areas. The approach helped maintain sonic clarity while reducing reverberant buildup caused by the church’s soaring cathedral ceilings.

“Directional control in loudspeakers is extremely important in these environments,” said Bryan DiFabio, application and support engineer at EAW. “It keeps sound on the audience and off reflective surfaces like walls and balconies.”

No Substitute for Planning

DiFabio noted that EAW’s proprietary design tools such as Resolution and F Chart allow system designers to model performance in advance, experimenting with different arrays, heights, and coverage patterns before installation. “That reduces guesswork and helps ensure a consistent, high-quality experience for worshippers,” he said.

Maintaining speech intelligibility while delivering adequate sound pressure levels remains one of the biggest challenges in worship spaces. “You want a strong direct sound-to-reverberant ratio at every seat,” DiFabio explained. “High ceilings, reflective surfaces, and long decay times make that balancing act especially difficult.”

Modern IP-based audio systems rely on software tools to fine-tune performance. At IVCi, Walker’s company has developed custom internal applications for project management, system design, and pricing, alongside industry-standard tools such as sound pressure level (SPL) meters and real-time analyzers to identify and correct problematic frequencies.

Ultimately, both projects underscore the importance of planning and communication. “Everyone has to be on the same page well before you step on site,” Fuller said. “You have to understand the space and have a clear plan for how you’re going to fill it with sound.”

Whether designing a modern glass-walled chapel or retrofitting a centuries-old landmark, successful audio installations in houses of worship depend on careful coordination between architecture, technology, and acoustics—ensuring clarity, consistency, and reverence for the space itself.

North Point Ministries has implemented DigitalGlue's creative.space to support its expanding media production environment. North Point installed a partially populated 60-bay creative.space Storage system to address immediate needs and allow room for uninterrupted growth. The fully managed solution includes hardware, creative.space OS workflow software, and ongoing support that is fast, scalable, secure, and simple for their team to operate.

[Pro AV: By the Numbers 2025]

“creative.space lets our team stay focused on creating content instead of managing storage,” said Bradley Davis, operations and export director at North Point Ministries. “We now have a platform that grows with us, performs reliably, and doesn’t interrupt our workflow when it’s time to scale.”

To ensure compatibility with North Point’s environment, DigitalGlue worked closely with the church’s creative services, production, and IT teams to evaluate their physical footprint, networking infrastructure, and workflow requirements. The resulting configuration is optimized for fast ingest and large file transfers originating from Sunday services, conference programming, community stories, and testimonial content.

“DigitalGlue helped us evaluate every detail to make sure the platform would perform at the level our team requires,” added Davis. “Their support throughout the entire process has been exceptional.”

Even when working off-site and relying on local bandwidth, North Point’s team can connect to creative.space and work directly with their media without downloading or reuploading large files. This hybrid workflow eliminates duplicate copies, transfer delays, and traditional cloud roundtrips. It also saves significant time by allowing users to work in real time within the same single source of truth, regardless of their location.

North Point is rolling out creative.space in phases. During the initial stage, key administrators are building Spaces, folder structure templates, groups, and roles aimed at long-term efficiency. As part of the platform’s built-in support, DigitalGlue is providing ongoing guidance to ensure the system aligns with North Point’s workflow, creative goals, and organizational standards. The full production team will begin using the platform in January, supported by a workflow that has been thoughtfully organized to ensure smooth collaboration and fast, consistent performance.

“North Point’s thoughtful rollout shows how creative.space adapts to a team’s workflow while providing the performance and accessibility their creators rely on,” said Tim Anderson, CEO of DigitalGlue. “We’re proud to support their mission and empower their team with a platform designed for future growth.”

Since 1973, Young Nak Church of Los Angeles has been offering services in both Korean and English over its past five-plus decades in becoming one of the most prominent Korean churches in the United States. Earlier this year, Young Nak Church took on a new kind of illumination, in the form of nearly three dozen new elektraLite lighting fixtures in the church’s sanctuary. These were installed by the church’s longtime systems integrator, Orange County-based Solid Sound Solution, which had recently added lighting system design and installation to its services in a serendipitous move that saw the company, which specializes in live sound systems for church clients, becoming fully proficient in lighting just as YNC needed new radiance in its sanctuary.

[The Heat Is Off]

“Ironically, I think the main challenge of this project was in communicating to the church leaders that Solid Sound Solution would be able to provide lighting services for them at the same level that we have done for them with audio for years,” said Troy Choi, the company’s founder and president. “As a company long recognized as an audio specialist, we’ve enjoyed an excellent reputation in that field. But in lighting, we had to build credibility from the ground up, one installation at a time. Through consistency and sincerity, we gradually earned trust in this new area. What also helped tremendously was having elektraLite as a partner, not only for this project, but for helping us create our lighting division and providing credibility.”

In addition to his lead crewmembers Sung Kim and Sky Kang, and freelance lighting designer Emma Boisselle, Choi also credits elektraLite’s Norman Wright and Brandon Tsaptsinos, plus Steve McNeil at elektraLite rep firm Mac West Group, as huge helps in that endeavor. “elektraLite has been an invaluable partner,” he said. “From the time when I knew almost nothing about lighting, Norm patiently taught me and guided me. His ideas, support, and encouragement have been essential to my journey, and one of the biggest reasons I chose elektraLite.”

In fact, elektraLite makes up 80 percent of the entire lighting installation for the Young Nak Church project, which features five new Aero moving head fixtures, 15 Stingray Profile Cast RGBW, 10 Stingray Fresnel RGBW, and five Stingray Fresnel VW ("Variable White"). These were chosen to achieve the church’s mandate to create a single lighting solution that could best illuminate all three of the celebration types in its 1,400-seat, 30-foot-high sanctuary: one a conventional Mass, another a contemporary service with drums and electric instruments, and a third a hybrid of both types.

“They go from very traditional to rock concert every week,” said Choi, who for two decades previously did tour sound for artists and events including Herbie Hancock, Toto, La La Land in Concert, Coachella, and the LA Philharmonic. “Plus, they have a lot of events, and also rent the space out, so they really needed a lot of flexibility,” he said. He further added that since the completion of the YNC project last April, which also saw the renovation of the sound system’s console, wireless microphones, and monitors, the sanctuary has already hosted three major concerts, all of which received excellent feedback on color consistency, clarity, and operational reliability.

Choi said each fixture brings its particular capabilities to the lighting design. “The Aero has a very smooth and warm color, and the gobo is especially good—we can use it as a spot or a wash in one—and the Stingray profile RGBW produces extremely accurate colors,” he said. “The elektraLite fixtures gave us everything we needed.”

Also, he pointed out, the brand does that in a way that’s more cost-effective than any other. “As great as elektraLite’s fixtures are, I think it’s how they deliver so much effect so relatively inexpensively that really sets them apart from other brands,” he stated. “And on top of that, the support is fantastic. elektraLite really is the whole package.”

Bethlehem Baptist Church, located in Greensburg, KY, is a small, rural Christian congregation in a community where faith and tradition hold deep significance. Its interior is reflective of a traditional Baptist style, with pews arranged in rows facing the pulpit and a sense of reverence and intimacy in the service. Although open and airy, the parishioners struggled to hear and understand the sermon at times. Amplifiers from LEA Professional were installed to increase headroom during musical worship and provide better intelligibility for spoken liturgy.

[When It Comes to Streamlining Workflows, What's the New Reality?]

Church staff contacted Alex Peake, a project manager at JCA Media, to design a new audio system for the sanctuary. Peake recommended the LEA Connect Series of two, four, and eight-channel amplifiers to meet the church's goal of high intelligibility.

“Most amplifiers are being commoditized and sold at almost the same price,” Peake said. “But then LEA adds in DSP capabilities, a control system [WebUI], and remote connectivity [LEA Cloud], essentially all for free. Those are huge benefits and a lot of the reason LEA is the primary amplifier I'm installing these days.”

Peake installed Connect Series 354 amplifiers to power the church’s new monitors as well as existing mains. The IoT-enabled 4-channel 354 provides 350 watts per channel into 2, 4, and 8 ohms, and 70Vrms and 100Vrms. It supports Hi-Z (70V or 100V) and Lo-Z selectable by channel and features Smart Power Bridge technology. The integrated 96kHz DSP effectively eliminated the need for unnecessary equipment in the rack, ensuring the overall job cost was kept to a minimum.

WebUI functions as a simple on-site control interface, offering integrators and end users an easy-to-use platform to view and adjust channel settings, ranging from load monitoring to EQ adjustments, through any standard web browser. For AV companies like JCA Media, WebUI streamlines on-the-spot testing and modifications, enabling efficient system setup and fine-tuning during system installation.

The difference between the old and new audio systems was immediately apparent. Parishioners no longer needed to struggle to understand the sermon, and the musical worship reproduction was crisp and clean.

“Being able to mix and match four ohm, eight ohm, 70 volt, and 100 volt on the same amplifier is great,” said Peake. “And my favorite fact is that you don't lose channels when you want to do that. Top it off with cloud connectivity for remote support, and that’s why I use LEA amplifiers every chance I get.”

Many of the recent advancements in audio production for houses of worship have been driven by the pandemic. During lockdown, churches were forced to bring their services online. While some were doing this prior to COVID-19, many found themselves scrambling to upgrade their systems to support productions that would engage worshippers who were dialing in remotely from their homes.

Initially, the focus was on making significant improvements to production lighting, video, and signal distribution technology, noted Michael Garrison, president and owner of Michael Garrison Associates (MGA), a design and integration firm that serves faith-based organizations. However, as time went by, houses of worship turned their attention to audio quality.

“Ideally, this is accomplished by a dedicated mix to engage the remote audience as participants with the live, in-person community, not just as spectators,” he explained. To achieve this, engineers include a blend of ambient elements in the worship space, such as laughter and clapping, in addition to the spoken word, musical performances, and congregational singing.

From a manufacturer’s perspective, there is a shift toward delivering an entire audio ecosystem that enables integrators and their customers to benefit from the ability to source technology—such as loudspeakers, amplification, and calibration software—from the same company. Josh Maichele, applications project director for house of worship at L-Acoustics, argued that this results in higher quality systems.

“If you buy a BMW car, you don’t expect there to be a Kia engine in it and wheels from Ford, and BMW has no control over the end result,” Maichele illustrated. “The [AV] manufacturers that are providing premium audio experiences for churches are the ones who are adopting this full ecosystem approach to everything.”

Jake Hartsfield, live sound and touring manager at Allen and Heath USA, observed that loudspeaker quality continues to improve, which, in turn, results in better speech intelligibility in the house of worship environment. “There are a lot of high-end systems, but there are more and more mid-range line array and point source audio systems that just sound phenomenal,” he said. “It sounds like you’re using studio monitors in a room.”

When a worship facility has good acoustic treatment combined with a quality sound system, Hartsfield said there is no reason for the spoken word—or vocals in a musical performance—to be unintelligible. “I don’t tune systems differently for spoken word or music," he added, "because music is heavily vocal-centric and you need to have intelligibility in the vocals.”

FOH in HOW

When it comes to selecting audio consoles, Hartsfield advises that churches and their integration partners who are discussing channel count requirements build in a margin for growth. He conceded that this can be difficult for smaller churches with no current plans to add new band members and vocalists to their worship teams.

However, Christmas and Easter productions, regardless of the church’s size, usually demand more channel count. While renting consoles that can support these events may make financial sense, that can start getting expensive during rehearsal periods that last a month or longer. Plus, Hartsfield said when operators are already familiar with the console they’ll be using for Christmas and Easter productions, it removes a layer of stress.

“My recommendation would always be [for the console to] support any events that you’re going to have at your facility,” he said. “Ideally, if you have a system that can be modular, then you’re not changing the console out. You’re just adding I/O if you need to add inputs.”

Hartsfield also counsels simplicity when it comes to broadcast mixes, which he said people tend to overcomplicate. While large churches may have separate broadcast systems operated by a dedicated engineer, he doesn’t view this as necessary in small or medium-sized houses of worship.

“There’s no reason you can’t use your front of house mix for your broadcast and just add in audience mics,” he suggested. “If it sounds great in headphones, it’s going to sound great on someone else’s headphones, and that extends to people listening in cars and on home theater systems.”

That said, Hartsfield urges churches to prioritize the house mix. “If you want a great-sounding broadcast mix, you have to have a great-sounding mix in the room first,” he said. “You’re really not doing your congregation a service if you have a good broadcast mix, but it sounds terrible in the room. You really want to serve [the people that are there] first.”

Lance Eddleman, application engineer at DiGiCo, noted that one challenge that for engineers who grew up in the analog world has been adapting to AV over IP workflows. He said there is a need for training and encourages church techs to earn their Dante certification (at least) to gain a better understanding of networking.

Moving Toward Immersive

In the worship environment, immersive audio offers the opportunity for churches to build a stronger connection between their congregations and what is happening up on stage. “What we’re doing is breaking down a barrier to allow for a more open level of communication between the worship pastors and the lead pastor and the people who are sitting in the audience,” Maichele said.

He added that L-Acoustics’ latest upgrade to its L-ISA Immersive spatial audio solution extends this connection to remote worshippers, thanks to sound spaces that enable operators to more accurately represent what’s happening on site, in the physical environment.

Alan Johnson, business development lead for house of worship at L-Acoustics, said this stronger connection turns worshippers into active participants, not just a passive audience. And churches want members of their congregations to be engaged.

"As Americans—or as humans in general—we’re used to being entertained, we’re used to being spectators," he said. “[With immersive audio] they’re less of a spectator and more of a participant.” When houses of worship can extend immersive audio to those viewing their live streams, Johnson said it helps bridge the gap between in-person and remote worshippers.

At Faith Community Church (FCC) in Tucson, AZ, Garrison’s firm integrated an immersive audio system comprised of EAW’s line of ADAPTive loudspeakers, including 19 AC6 column loudspeakers (nine positioned in the front of the worship center and 10 surround sound cabinets). Three Otto subwoofers, as well as 13 MKD526 2-way full-range dual-woofer loudspeakers for stage-lip front fills, round out the system. MGA collaborated with Flux:: to incorporate its SPAT Revolution immersive control software to create a mix that would deliver sound coverage across the space.

According to Garrison, deploying a solid live spatial audio system requires high-quality loudspeakers, uniform long-throw dispersion for coverage across the room (either front-to-back or side-to-side), uniform wide-throw dispersion (to optimize overlap between array points over seating), and the best possible coherency so sound quality is consistent at all seats. Unfortunately, in many cases, fulfilling these requirements isn’t possible with traditional point-source or line array systems designed for assembly spaces.

As churches (along with other performance venues) express increased interest in deploying immersive audio capabilities in their facilities, Garrison believes that manufacturers will start rolling out solutions that address this. "The good news is that there are a few loudspeaker products available that meet these needs," he added.

Get even more insights: Download SCN's Integration Guide to House of Worship.

Designing for Volunteer Operators

Because churches rely heavily on volunteers to operate their AV production systems, the technology needs to be easy to use. Tech directors and their full-time colleagues are often spread thin, which means they don’t have a lot of time to train volunteer team members on these systems. For this reason, Josh Maichele from L-Acoustics encourages integrators and houses of worship to determine whether the solutions they’re considering follow the three-click rule, wherein operators only need to click through three choices on the user interface to find what they’re looking for.

Allen & Heath USA’s Jake Hartsfield echoed the need to select tools that are easy for training volunteers. While church tech directors have the responsibility of being good stewards of the funds they’re given, it’s also important to consider who will be operating this equipment. “From an operator standpoint, it’s about reliability and ease of use,” he said. “And does it sound good?”

Maryville, TN-based Front Porch Media recently updated a solely wedge-based monitoring setup with a Shure PSM 1000 wireless in-ear monitoring (IEM) system at the growing New Life Saint Louis Church in Bridgeton, MO. To guarantee uninterrupted wireless performance, Front Porch Media chose to optimize the Shure IEM system with RF Venue COMBINE6 HDR transmitter combiners.

[SCN Installation Showcase 2025]

“This is the first time the church has had access to a full IEM system, and the results have been transformative for their team,” said Ben Patten, director of installation at Front Porch Media. “They now have 12 stereo mixes sent from their Avantis console, allowing for personalized and reliable monitoring every week.”

The installation includes six dual-channel Shure PSM1000 transmitters (12 channels total). The transmitters’ RF outputs are combined through two cascaded half-rack space RF Venue COMBINE6 HDR combiners to feed a single helical antenna mounted on the front edge of the stage, all interconnected with LMR400 cabling for additional signal integrity. The COMBINE6 HDR’s innovative built-in passive expansion circuit allowed the second unit to be easily added with a single pair of jumper cables to scale the system to accommodate an entire worship ensemble and large special events. The advanced design of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) circuitry delivers superior linear headroom and low noise to maximize multichannel performance by reducing the potential for interference artifacts from intermodulation distortion and external noise sources while simultaneously enhancing the performance of wireless mics sharing the same spectrum.

“We chose the COMBINE6 HDRs because they allow us to support 12 channels in just one rack unit with a single antenna,” Patten explained. “RF Venue's gear offers dependable performance, and the compact footprint made it a strong choice for this project. Our motto is that our projects live at the intersection of first-class service and solid technology, delivering premium audio/video systems that exceed expectations every time. We personalize each audio, video, and lighting project to ensure that the system fits the client’s unique vision. RF Venue is a key component of our workflow, helping us deliver reliable, high-performance wireless solutions. We’re all about building lasting relationships and taking care of our clients before, during, and after the sale.”

Patten noted that while price was certainly a factor in the decision-making process, the COMBINE6’s competitive pricing ultimately took a back seat to the system’s performance, reliability and space-saving design. “Our goal was to deliver a clean, consolidated setup that would be easy to maintain and operate on a day-to-day basis,” he explained. “We needed a solution that not only fit within the technical requirements of the space but also streamlined the workflow for church staff and volunteers. The RF Venue components helped us achieve that balance, and the church is absolutely thrilled with the result.”

The Cathedral of St. Helena has undergone a transformative audio upgrade with the installation of a d&b audiotechnik sound system, featuring xC-Series column speakers including the 24C-E, 24C, and 16C models, and xS-Series point source speakers including the 4S and 5S models. This upgrade, designed and installed by Montana Pro Audio, has successfully overcome the inherent acoustic challenges of the highly-reverberant 116-year-old church to achieve vocal clarity and intelligibility for its congregation. As preserving the cathedral's historic aesthetic, which features stone walls and scagliola columns, was paramount, it required specialized mounting and integration, with a customized paint and finish solution from d&b.

[Unheavenly Acoustics]

For the church, the audio upgrade wasn’t merely an improvement, “If people can't hear well in the cathedral, they can't understand the message of the gospel, and they can’t respond in faith,” explained Father Marc Lenneman, pastor/rector of the Cathedral. “This audio upgrade was absolutely necessary and the easiest money I've ever spent.”

Built in 1908, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Helena evokes the "awe and beauty of European cathedrals,” with architecture, featuring tile flooring, stone walls, scagliola columns, stained glass windows, and a nave ceiling estimated at 60 feet high, creating a highly reverberant environment.

The previous sound system, installed in 1985, attempted to remain unseen by hiding speakers within chandeliers, a creative solution for its time, but one that offered poor clarity and sound quality. Montana Pro Audio faced a daunting task of achieving high intelligibility in the space. To achieve the desired results, Montana Pro Audio utilized a distributed audio approach, "We opted to use more speakers with less amplitude,” describes Aaron Fisher, business development manager for Montana Pro Audio. “By having the sound emanate from more points within the space, we ensured consistent coverage and intelligibility.”

The proposed d&b audiotechnik solution features xC-Series cardioid columns (six 4C, two 24C-E, and ten 16C) and xS-Series point sources (fourteen 4S and two 5S). Having seen the effectiveness of column loudspeakers in similar European churches, Father Marc was immediately receptive to the xC-Series based design.

Prior to the installation, a critical step in gaining acceptance for the audio upgrade was winning over the congregation. Father Marc insisted on the congregation buying into and “understanding what they were planning...after all, this was their church and the money they donated.” Montana Pro Audio demonstrated this by switching between the existing system and a subset of the planned system.

"I began speaking the psalm from our most recent mass and switched over to the new system. There was shock, everyone gasped, then they started clapping,” Father Marc recounted. “We also demonstrated the system with a cantor and organist and after that, there was no clapping, it was silent. The beauty of the human voice lifted in prayer to God, so clearly and beautifully augmented so that everyone in the cathedral can hear, helps others pray. That's the purpose of our cathedral and that’s what the power of a good sound system can do.”

Once the sound quality and intelligibility challenges were addressed and the church agreed to the proposed solution, the next objective to solve was to keep the installed loudspeakers unnoticeable. To achieve this, Montana Pro Audio worked closely with the d&b audiotechnik Custom solutions team. Committed to fulfilling unique requirements, d&b Custom solutions specializes in fabricating special hardware, weatherization, and unique aesthetic features for d&b loudspeakers to meet particular demands.

"d&b's custom shop was the key to preserving the cathedral’s appearance,” said Fisher. “They were able to provide the loudspeakers and hardware in a custom vintage white color that matched the hand-painted columns resembling marble. The custom shop did such a great job, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can’t even tell there are speakers in the space.”

While the system design and color matching was relatively straightforward, the physical constraints of working within a historical building with areas affected by past structural damage (a 1935 earthquake and a train derailment in 1989), proved to be the most challenging aspect of the installation.

“The installation process was quite difficult, “commented Fisher. “Running wire to each speaker involved going into the basement and drilling up into the interior cavity of each column for every speaker location. This required connecting nearly eight feet of drill bit extensions together.” In addition, the unique shape of the pillars posed another challenge that necessitated custom hardware to create a flat surface for mounting the d&b loudspeakers.

Once the cabling was run and the hardware mounted, the rest of the installation process went smoothly thanks to d&b audiotechnik ArrayCalc software. "The accuracy of ArrayCalc software for design and time alignment is remarkable,” said Fisher. “It made the tuning of the system seamless and efficient. We were able to turn the system on and get it going very quickly once the physical installation was completed.”

With the new audio system fully functional, congregation feedback has been consistently positive. "People are so thankful that they can hear clearly now, regardless of where they are in the cathedral, from the main level, to fill areas like chapels, the altar, and the choir loft,” said Father Marc, who also noted that during record attendance at Easter, “even people standing outside the great front doors could still hear, thanks to speakers in the narthex.”

The new system has also impacted Father Marc’s preaching. "With our old system there was such a lack of clarity, people constantly said they couldn’t understand what I was saying,” shared Father Marc. “I was forced to speak slowly and deliberately but now I feel I can communicate more naturally and dynamically, knowing that people can understand me. Now even when there’s the normal distraction of little kids or other people around them, people do not lose the message, and that makes all the difference in the world.”

The “heard but not seen” objective of the audio upgrade was also successful. "Our bishop wasn’t present when the installation occurred,” said Father Marc. “I sent him photos and he asked, ‘where are the speakers?’ and I thought ‘Perfect. Mission accomplished.’ Even my mother doesn't know where the speakers are. She can't find them.”

Cincinnati-based Crossroads Church has built its reputation on creating immersive worship experiences that draw people deeper into the message of the Gospel. So when the tech-forward congregation opened its eighth location this Easter—transforming a 90,000-square-foot former Sears department store at Dayton Mall into a vibrant community space—they knew conventional audio wouldn’t suffice. The result: the first house of worship to combine an L-Acoustics L Series concert sound system with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal technology, creating a true 360-degree spatial audio environment in the 1,560-seat auditorium.

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

HouseRight, a national house-of-worship integrator, designed and installed the system, which pairs L Series loudspeakers with A Series out-fills and X Series surrounds. The configuration creates a fully immersive sound space for worship services, concerts, and theatrical productions—a strategic choice for a church that has always valued technology as a tool for engagement.

The system features five L-Acoustics L2D enclosures as the Scene arrays, with far left and right Extension arrays of A10i. Six KS28 subwoofers are flown in two cardioid hangs of three boxes behind the center L2D, bolstered by groundstacked SB15 subs. Thirteen coaxial X8i spread across the stage lip provide spatial front-fill, while A15i systems handle out-fill duties.

The immersive experience extends throughout the house with X8i and X12 enclosures serving as surrounds and fills, creating a true 360-degree sound field. An L-ISA Processor II and Controller at FOH drive the room’s object-based mix, giving engineers creative control.

Luke Hesher, HouseRight general manager, church relations, said the Crossroads installation was unique in deploying 28 X8i speakers as a comprehensive immersive surround system. “The speakers positioned beside and behind the audience spread sounds and effects throughout the whole space, creating a very dynamic environment and stretching the sound stage much wider than a traditional house system,” he said. “It’s very impressive.” The room’s geometry—not too wide—brings the full immersive effect to every seat. But equally important, Hesher noted, is how immersive sound aligns with Crossroads’ engagement strategy.

“Crossroads is always looking to push the boundaries technologically, asking, ‘how can we create an experience that really draws people in?’” Hesher explained. “Knowing their desire to leverage technology to create excellent, amazing experiences, immersive is the next big thing for churches, which is why we originally recommended L-ISA to them.”

But technology alone wasn't the deciding factor. L-Acoustics’ sonic performance proved equally crucial. “We love the clarity and the SPL we’re able to get from this system,” Hesher said, “while also not having too long of a line-array length that would impede sight lines to the LED screens. L-ISA delivers an amazing immersive experience.”

Patrick Buescher, AVL leader of the church’s Experience Team Operations, said immersive audio has been part of Crossroads’ DNA from the start. “Since the beginning of Crossroads, we’ve valued immersive experiences,” he said. “At all of our sites, we deploy surround speakers that we’re able to matrix off the mixer to create a more engaging environment. We’ve always been a firm believer in the value of creating amazing environments where people can experience a sense of wonder in the message of the Gospel. So it just made sense as we continue to evaluate how we can do that well, and L-Acoustics L-ISA fit that goal here.”

L-Acoustics and L-ISA are also part of a long-range technical strategy that will eventually see the church install similar systems throughout its other locations. That will offer worshipers a consistent experience no matter where they choose to attend and bring the church’s technical staff a familiar workspace on every campus.

“We are driving towards a world where every room is consistent, and we can have the exact same experience across every site,” stated Dave Kendall, Crossroads Church director of site audio. “When you walk into a Crossroads site, the audio experience is going to be uniformly excellent. It’s going to be impactful, and you’re going to be able to feel it in your chest. First hearing the L-ISA technology was an amazing experience, and it’s going to be part of that effort going forward.”

Luke Stickford, site audio engineer for Crossroads Dayton, is finding that L-ISA technology functions as an instrument itself in the church’s music. Placement of vocals and instruments imparts a new dimension to the worship experience, with vocals now positioned within the congregation to bring unprecedented audience engagement to services.

“I’ll take a vocal mix with reverb from the console into L-ISA and place the left and right channel as far back and as wide as it can go in the spatial field, as to engage a portion of the surround system,” he explained. “During larger parts of a song, I’ll ride that fader, and what it gives you is this really cool, massive vocal feel. You have the huge frontline vocal coming across the frontal system, followed by the reflections of the room engine mixed with that rear vocal mix. It just envelops you.”

Another technique involves subtly panning key elements—a tambourine or organ pad, for example—slowly across the front scene system, subtly encouraging worshipers to follow along and drawing them deeper into the music. “It’s been a lot of experimentation so far, but the possibilities are really tremendous,” he said.

Stickford has discovered he can rely far less on conventional processing thanks to L-ISA’s spatial capabilities. By placing vocals at 15% distance from the front of the spatial field and engaging the room engine through surrounds, he creates natural reflections without console reverb. “The room engine itself is incredibly powerful,” he said. “For intimate moments with just vocals and piano, or when the congregation is singing together, I can create this full, enveloping sound that brings everyone into the moment.”

L-ISA fits another unique aspect of Crossroads’ vision: keeping service content fresh and its delivery impactful each week. Instead of simply delivering new content through a conventional PA system, the L-ISA system itself becomes part of both the music and the message thanks to its ability to position objects in a sound field.

“For instance, one of our creative team members will have a vision for a production, and they’ll say, ‘I want this script element coming from the left rear,’” Kendall explained. “The process before L-ISA was cumbersome and difficult to execute. What we’ve found now is that it’s just so much easier to achieve almost anything like that.”

“In a sense,” he concluded, “we’re perpetually a creative startup looking for fresh experiences every week, and L-ISA makes that a much more intuitive process.”

The community of monks at Saint Michael’s welcomed a recent upgrade of the Abbey’s AV, IT, and security systems, a project led by specialist systems integrators Whitwam AVI. Brother Michael, a resident of Saint Michael’s Monastery responsible for overseeing the community’s operations, reached out to Whitwam AVI following a visit he made to Saint George’s Chapel in Windsor.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

“I appreciated the attention to detail which had been taken to respect the surroundings when installing the technology at Saint George’s,” recalled Brother Michael. “On seeing the custom-colored loudspeakers, I knew this would be a great solution for Saint Michael’s Abbey.”

While the original enquiry was focused on upgrading the Abbey’s sound system, the project scope quickly grew, thanks to the commissioning of a full restoration of the Abbey. “Originally, we were designing for a new audio system, new microphones and a camera and video system to improve visibility for the Abbey’s organist,” recalled Ray Clarke, operations and engineering manager at Whitwam AVI. “Following the restoration work, the project was then expanded to encompass the original requirement, plus a broadcast streaming system, CCTV and the integration of a site-wide networking solution across the Abbey and the Monastery.”

Given the historic and sacred nature of the environment and the architectural constraints of installing new technology in a heritage building, the Whitwam AVI team spent time carefully designing and commissioning various custom bracketry solutions and RAL color-matched enclosures for both loudspeakers and cameras to ensure that the new tech would blend into the historic surroundings. Furthermore, the venue’s limited cable routes required Whitwam AVI to install multiple equipment racks throughout the Abbey, some of which needed to be IP-rated enclosures due to the environmental conditions in the basement and crypt. Twisted pair and fiber extenders were utilized in the full system design to link the racks and minimize cabling, whilst custom-colored trunking was installed along the Abbey walls to ensure any cable runs were neatly contained.

The audio system, which covers the nave, the high altar and the side chapels, consists of pairs of Bose MA12 modular column array loudspeakers, ensuring even audio coverage throughout the Abbey. For the video side, five Panasonic AW-UE50 PTZ cameras, also custom colored, are installed at key locations throughout including the high altar, side crossings and at the rear of the nave to capture all proceedings during Abbey services. A portable camera offers an additional perspective for special events such as weddings. Aside from the live streaming functionality, the Abbey’s organist also benefits from an improved view of the venue via a 10-inch Lilliput video monitor, improving the accuracy of timings for musical elements of services.

“We are pleased to see our technologies installed in spaces as unique as Saint Michael’s Abbey,” commented Alan Head at Panasonic. “The team at Whitwam AVI have taken great care to integrate five of our AW-UE50 cameras seamlessly with the surrounding architecture. Given their skill and expertise, we allow for their in-house customization to ensure the integration at the Abbey not only looks great but also gives the user peace of mind in terms of system performance and longevity.”

To ensure accessibility, a Sennheiser MobileConnect system was chosen for its ease of use, allowing hard-of-hearing users to listen to services via a smartphone app. A combination of Sennheiser gooseneck microphones and an Audio-Technica boundary mic for the high altar ensures crystal-clear speech pick-up. Bespoke T-bar brackets at the lectern and pulpit ensure that not even the microphones detract from the elegance of the worship space.

[Industry Experts Share Secrets for Better House-of-Worship Audio]

One of the key requirements was for Saint Michael’s to have the tools to stream its services online on platforms such as YouTube, as well as allow for events such as weddings to be shared with an extended audience.

“We wanted to connect with our community through broadcasting our services and make Sunday Mass available to a wider audience for several reasons,” said Father Abbot of St. Michael’s. “Firstly, to enable those far away to participate, secondly, for intellectual access and finally, to reach those who might be looking for a vocation within a monastery.”

The broadcast system is based on Blackmagic Design hardware and an Epiphan Pearl Nano streaming solution. To maximize the technology and save on additional resources, Whitwam AVI proposed incorporating the broadcast cameras into the CCTV system. Using Antrica video encoders, the Abbey’s camera footage is sent directly to a HikVision NVR, which allows for smart monitoring of activity both within the Abbey and the wider monastery buildings. For video distribution, a networked solution via Lightware VINX encoders and decoders enables CCTV multi-view on an NEC 32-inch large format display in key locations, such as the Abbot’s office.

“It was important to deliver a system that will serve the Abbey well into the future; therefore, having the network infrastructure in place now will allow the system to grow as the needs of the monastery evolve,” said Clarke. “We’re proud to have been on board since the very beginning and to have had this opportunity to work with Brother Michael on a project that encompasses many different elements.”

The feedback from Saint Michael’s community of monks and worshippers has been wholly positive, especially in terms of the quality of the technology and how it is discreetly installed to respect the architecture of the Abbey. The services at Saint Michael’s are now successfully reaching a worldwide audience, with followers in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Australia regularly watching the live stream broadcast of Sunday Mass.

In need of an audio upgrade, La Croix Church introduced a d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system to its facility. Installed by Panavid, the solution featured En-Scene and En-Space software and A-Series augmented arrays to address the acoustical challenges of the church’s sanctuary and create a more engaging environment for the congregation.

[Now Available: The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

For years, the church struggled with an aging sound system and an acoustically “dead” sanctuary, the result of an overly aggressive acoustic treatment. The consequences were uneven sound coverage, poor speech intelligibility, and a lack of congregational participation during worship.

“Due to their 19-year-old sound system, the experience for the congregation wasn't consistent from seat to seat, and because of the lack of reflections in the Sanctuary, the congregation was less comfortable singing in times of worship," explained Rob Allen, Panavid’s senior director of business development. "La Croix came to us and asked if we could fix it with a beefier, more modern system. When a higher-end system is asked for, d&b audiotechnik is our first go-to and with the acoustic challenges that they had, Soundscape was a no-brainer."

An old sound system and poor acoustics weren't the only challenges faced by Panavid. "Their room has tiered seating, so vertical arrays would have introduced site line issues. Above the stage, there was existing acoustical treatment, HVAC, catwalk, projection, and lights that we had to install around." said Mike Cirrito, the lead technician on the project. "It was complicated. We were limited to using their existing fly points in the previous speaker locations. That's why A-Series was perfect for this installation and ArrayCalc simulation software was indispensable."

"For the front stage, we went with A-Series because they can fly horizontally, are a third of the size and weight of the preexisting system, yet still drive comparable output levels," continued Cirrito. "And the hardware accessories offered by d&b audiotechnik provide flexibility in installation. We placed the A-Series where they needed to go, without introducing site line problems, and we did so efficiently. We were able to hang the three-cabinet center cluster from a single fly point, where the previous set up required three points."

Cirrito also explained how ArrayCalc ensured a smooth deployment. "Knowing that there were heavy limitations in speaker placement, we put the exact measurements into ArrayCalc along with the components that we wanted to install. The way ArrayCalc displays coverage patterns and frequency responses in a scenario like this was instrumental. All of that was done ahead of time and then imported into the R1 management software at install. It never ceases to amaze me how close everything is to the prediction, once measured."

In addition to the loudspeaker deployment, Soundscape offered multiple benefits for the installation. The mix separation and depth of field provided by En-Scene, along with the overall improvement in clarity provided by the d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers, resulted in much better vocal intelligibility for the congregation. The acoustic dryness of the Sanctuary was addressed via En-Space room emulation and further enhanced through the implementation of a voice lift configuration where Panavid hung microphones over the congregation and fed them through En-Space to create a more engaging and participatory experience during worship.

"We chose the voice lift application to improve ambience during worship elements, but we're discerning in how we use it," Paul Smollen, La Croix Church’s technical director, explained. "During the speaking part of the service, we switch En-Space off to give maximum clarity and focus to the pastor or presenter on stage, then when the worship band comes on, we enable En-Space to bring the entire congregation into the experience.

“The results of the installation have been overwhelmingly positive,” Smollen concluded. “Our d&b audiotechnik system has elevated the quality of our weekly church services. The clarity is much improved, the power and punch of the music reproduction is better and overall coverage seat-to-seat is noticeably better, particularly the bass coverage thanks to the eight flown subs. We can now comfortably run our weekend services at higher volume levels because of the smoothness of the system, and when you add in the immersiveness from Soundscape with En-Scene and En-Space, it's truly engaging.”

In keeping up with modern technology, which they have long been known to do, First Baptist Church of Jonesboro recently installed a pair of DiGiCo Quantum consoles. A Quantum8⁵² has replaced the previous DiGiCo SD10 at front of house, while a Quantum3³⁸ is now at monitors. Both were purchased through Atlanta-based integrator Clark.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

Like it did for many churches, COVID changed everything. First Baptist Jonesboro media and IT director Tom Gobebo pointed out that the church’s traditional orchestral/organ and choir worship style was expanded in the wake of the pandemic to include electrified instruments, as well as backing and click tracks. Along with more outside concerts and increasingly complex holiday event productions, the channel count and processing needed to follow suit. The Quantum8⁵² console was the right choice for this moment in the church’s media evolution. It’s also notable that First Baptist Jonesboro is the world’s first house of worship to install a Quantum8⁵², which came along at the perfect time.

“The 144 channels on our SD10 were no longer enough,” said Gobebo, whose arrival there coincided with the pandemic, a pivot point for the church’s media infrastructure. “We already had a 30 to 40-piece orchestra and an 80 to 100-voice choir, and that was just for regular Sunday services. We added more wireless microphones as well as a six-piece band with electric guitars and drums,” which currently share worship music duties with Jonesboro’s 3,000-pipe organ.

Further, the church at that time also changed how it handled its online streaming of services, making them fully live and thus requiring additional channels. That’s where the Quantum8⁵² was the game-changer. “We have literally more than doubled our inputs now, and that leaves us lots of extra channels for special events when needed,” said Gobebo.

The Waves processing that was integrated into the SD10 consoles is still there, but now split between the new desk’s A and B engines, adding a layer of failover protection. And the processing load has shifted to the console, itself. “Before, the SD10 was doing about 40 percent of the processing onboard; today, the Quantum8⁵² is doing about 80 percent of it,” he estimates, pointing to the desk’s Mustard Processing channel strips, Spice Rack plugin-style native FPGA processing options, and Nodal Processing. “There’s just so much more there now.” The church also doubled the number of stage boxes, as well, adding two more SD-Racks, allowing up to 220 inputs at the stage. And they are currently operating the church’s audio at full 96k resolution, up from 48k before.

“The audio staff at First Baptist Jonesboro has certainly loved the DiGiCo platform they’ve been using for years, but the arrival of the Quantum8⁵² gave them the chance to also have the channel count they needed while still standardizing around the console they’ve come to know and use,” observed Clark business development manager Noah Hawley. “More I/O, more horsepower—those were all the things they were looking for as their worship style evolved. They get exactly that with the Quantum8⁵².”

The addition of the Quantum3³⁸ at monitors has wrought equally tectonic changes for the church’s media workflow, said Gobebo. “Having three screens on the console makes it so much easier to work on,” he added, adding that it also greatly aids in training the church’s mostly volunteer audio crew. “It makes a huge difference now that we have the band and so many more microphone inputs and the tracks,” he said, noting that as many as 21 of the vocalists can now be on stereo IEMs, with wedges for the choir. “With the Quantum3³⁸, all the patching can be done internally in the console. In terms of workflow, monitors are much easier to manage these days.”

And of course, then there’s the sound. “People have noticed, especially the musicians,” he said. “There’s more space and depth to the sound. So the sound quality is improved and the workflow is really enhanced. The Quantums have been a real step up for everyone.”

For years, Church Unlimited has sought to create powerful worship experiences that resonate with every person in the room. But as its Corpus Christi campus grew, the church found itself working around the limits of a 20-year-old PA system that could no longer deliver the clarity, consistency or impact needed for modern worship. Determined to overcome those challenges and elevate the experience for its congregation, Church Unlimited turned to its long-time integration partner, Messenger AVL, and ultimately found the solution with an Eastern Acoustic Works’ (EAW) ADAPTive sound system.

[Now Available: The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

Messenger AVL, a Georgia-based design-build integrator specializing in worship spaces, knew that traditional systems would struggle to meet the church’s goals without compromising aesthetics, budget or coverage. EAW’s ADAPTive technology offered a uniquely powerful solution: a software-controlled system capable of even coverage all the way to the back of the room from a short, visually unobtrusive array.

“Church Unlimited wanted to create a feeling of width and immersion,” said Parker Gann, senior systems engineer.at Messenger AVL. “They had a fixed budget and specific sonic goals. EAW’s ADAPTive series gave us the performance and flexibility we needed without compromises.”

To bring the vision to life, Messenger AVL designed a left-center-right configuration with four Anna loudspeakers as mains, four Anya loudspeakers providing out fill and two AC6 column loudspeakers adding additional horizontal coverage. For powerful low-frequency reinforcement, the system features 12 SBX218 subwoofers, six flown and six on the ground, meeting the church pastor’s request for musical, full-range bass throughout the room.

“I was floored at what the AC6s can do and the amount of space they can cover,” said Gann. “The system has so much headroom and power while barely touching the boxes. It’s incredible how the PA just disappears above the trim height of the production lighting. The church loves the clean aesthetic that EAW offers.”

EAW’s ADAPTive technology allowed Messenger AVL to fine-tune the coverage throughout the entire room, ensuring intelligibility and balance even in difficult seating areas. The result is a system that seamlessly disappears into the architecture while delivering crystal-clear sound everywhere.

“Even when seated far off to the sides, the intelligibility and sonic consistency are remarkable,” added Gann. “We were blown away by the low-end performance of the Anna and Anya boxes. The result is an extremely engaging experience for every seat in the room.”

The installation process was efficient and tightly executed, with Messenger AVL and EAW working closely to ensure optimal results from the first system model to the final tuning pass. Thanks to the ADAPTive platform’s scalability and control, the entire process remained within scope while delivering far beyond expectations.

“My team loved working on this project,” said Gann. “EAW’s ADAPTive system performed beautifully, and I can definitely see us using it for more system designs in the future.”

With this upgrade, Church Unlimited has stepped into a new era of worship. One where every message, every song and every moment is delivered with clarity, emotion and connection. Powered by an EAW ADAPTive system, the church is now equipped to reach its congregation with greater impact than ever before.

Morrison Heights Baptist Church has a refreshingly current take underlying its traditional services. Its otherwise conventional worship style, complete with an instrumental mixture of traditional orchestra and modern band, has an advanced technical foundation. thanks to the integration of an array of technology platforms from DiGiCo, KLANG, and Fourier Audio.

[Industry Experts Share Secrets for Better House-of-Worship Audio]

Installed by Franklin, TN-based Integrated Production Solutions (IPS), the church now has a pair of DiGiCo Quantum3³⁸ consoles at front of house and broadcast; Fourier Audio transform.engine plug-in interfaces, seamlessly integrating and enabling the use of any VST3 plugin within the audio workflow; and a KLANG:konductor paired with 16 KLANG:kontrollers to provide a comfortable yet completely new immersive in-ear monitoring experience onstage for its worship team vocalists and musicians. In addition, the DiGiCo consoles are each fitted with the new Pulse upgrade, which takes their capacity from 128 channels to 156 and from 64 aux/sub groups to 72.

Wade Russell, IPS executive director of integration, said he and Morrison Heights Baptist’s director of media and technical ministries, Eric Busby, have been working together for over a decade, helping the church walk the critical line between being at the innovative edge of audio technology without going into the “bleeding-edge” zone, which brings with it a higher level of training and operational intensity.

“It’s one of those situations where you want to be on the cutting edge, where the customer is one of the first ones who has a new technology, and but not where they have to say, ‘Great! I hope it works,’” said Russell. “That’s why this combination of systems was such a good fit for Morrison Heights—the technology is right at the edge and can do a lot, but it’s all centered around the DiGiCo consoles, which bring a high level of recognition and trust. You’re at the leading edge, but you also know it’s all going to work well together.”

Russell added that the Pulse upgrade was timely, allowing the consoles to better accommodate the more-elaborate event productions the church does at Christmas, Easter, and other times. The transition from an older IEM monitoring platform to KLANG matched that, allowing virtually everyone onstage to have complete control over their personal monitoring environment, delivering 16 immersive mixes and processing up to 128 input signals at up to 96kHz with an internal processing latency of less than 0.25ms. “The KLANG:kontrollers fit their needs perfectly,” he said. “Eric was like, ‘I have all these hands-on mixers that my people have been used to and I can’t imagine going away from something that’s a tactile mixer to just an iPad. I need the physical knobs and controls.’ So I pointed the KLANG:kontroller out to him and it fit the bill perfectly.”

In addition to audio, Busby has a significant background in IT, and he said the combination of the three brands into a single solution resonated for him in that manner. “First, we’re getting proven technology that’s at the leading edge of where the industry is,” he added. “Then, it’s all consolidated into a single integrated solution that makes it easier for me to manage. As an IT person, that means a lot to me. When you have several different platforms from different manufacturers, it’s not unusual in tech for one to blame the others when things won’t work together like you want them to. With DiGiCo, KLANG, and Fourier Audio, I get all the support I need from a single source. It makes everything so much smoother.”

He also noted that the KLANG:kontrollers have made things smoother onstage for the musicians as well. “Having a hardware interface, the ability to simply reach for a knob instead of an iPad screen when you’re trying to play and work other aspects of your rig makes it so much easier,” he said.

Busby has been a longtime Waves user; however, moving to Fourier Audio has been a rewarding paradigm shift for him, allowing seamless integration of his plugins into the consoles via the transform.engine. “We have two transform engines: one driving in-room FOH plugins and another for broadcast plugin needs,” he said. “This gives us a lot more customizability between our broadcast world and FOH.” Russell confirms that Fourier was the right choice, adding: “Eric texted me a couple of months ago and said, ‘Tell all your clients that if they’re considering anything else, they don’t know what they’re missing!’” An opinion that is shared worldwide with audio engineers.

As well as all of this new technology did fit together, it was still a lot of “new” to arrive all at once. Anticipating that, IPS assembled the entire ecosystem in its Franklin facility, giving Busby the opportunity to familiarize himself with each component and the system as a whole, off-line and without the pressures of having to first encounter it in the church.

“We’re a design-build integration company—we shop-build and test all of our systems in-house to make sure everything’s perfect before we deploy it,” he said. “It saves a lot of time on site and just makes sure that we have all the components needed and everything’s operating by doing our own QC. As part of that, I reached out to Eric and had him come up to our facility and load a session that he’d built and start getting familiar with it, running some tracks through a small PA in our shop and being hands-on with it. That way, he was not having to learn the console the week we installed it. We also brought in DiGiCo national sales manager Ryan Shelton, who lives nearby in Nashville, who came up and answered any questions Eric had. It’s really valuable to have that level of manufacturer support, as well as be able to learn the systems and how they work—and work together—in an environment completely free of pressure.”

Pennsylvania's St Luke Greek Orthodox Church is known for its breathtaking Byzantine architecture and elaborate iconography. The church serves as a spiritual and cultural hub for its congregation, offering a space where the community gathers for worship, celebration, and reflection. With its high-domed ceilings, expansive nave, and traditional Orthodox design, the sanctuary is visually stunning but posed significant acoustical challenges. A sound reinforcement system from Renkus-Heinz solved those challenges.

Poor speech intelligibility had become a growing concern, making it difficult for worshippers to fully engage with Fr. Christ. With a reverberation peak of 3.38 seconds, congregation members struggled to hear the spoken word clearly, leading to increased complaints. Seeking a solution that would preserve the church’s aesthetic and elevate the auditory experience, the team at Spinnaker, the project integrator, led by VP of project development Fenicia Redman, selected Renkus-Heinz following extensive EASE modeling.

[Industry Experts Share Secrets for Better House-of-Worship Audio]

“The congregation was vocal about the issue,” said Redman. “Many elderly members expressed frustration that they couldn’t clearly hear the liturgy. We knew we had to find a solution that provided pristine intelligibility while maintaining the church’s sacred atmosphere.”

To determine the best possible system, Spinnaker conducted an in-depth acoustic analysis using EASE modeling. Multiple manufacturers were tested in the space, but Renkus-Heinz came out on top. “The client preferred the Renkus-Heinz solution,” Redman explained. “The natural warmth of the sound was something that truly stood out, making the choice clear.” The final installation featured a single Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Gen5 Series IC24 column array, discreetly positioned between the front two windows.

“We needed a solution that would blend seamlessly with the church’s visual aesthetics,” Redman noted. “The IC24-RN was the perfect fit, as it provided excellent dispersion while being visually unobtrusive.” By leveraging Renkus-Heinz’s advanced OmniBeam beam-steering technology, Spinnaker focused sound exactly where it was needed, avoiding the excessive reflections that had previously muddied the spoken word. The ability to tailor the dispersion pattern ensured that every seat in the sanctuary received clear and balanced audio.

The system is powered by a Yamaha MTX5D processor and TF Rack, with simple, intuitive control via an iPad. This allows church staff to easily adjust settings as needed, making the system not only powerful but also user-friendly.

While the installation itself was straightforward, a particular challenge was protecting the church’s ornate interior. “The walls are adorned with 24-karat gold leaf,” Redman said. “We had to be incredibly careful during the installation process to ensure nothing was damaged. Our team took meticulous precautions, and in the end, everything went smoothly.”

Another consideration was ensuring that the new sound system complemented the church’s existing acoustics. “Rather than fighting against the natural acoustics, we worked with them,” Redman explained. “The Renkus-Heinz system allowed us to reinforce speech while still allowing the beauty of the choral music to shine through. It was about precision rather than force.”

The impact of the new system was immediate and profound. “One of the most touching moments came when a senior member of the congregation turned to her grandson and said, ‘I can finally hear Fr. Christ,’” Redman shared. “That’s why we do what we do. Sound is more than just technology; in houses of worship, it speaks hope.”

Since the installation, the church has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from parishioners of all ages. Not only has speech intelligibility dramatically improved, but the overall experience of worship has been enhanced. “Renkus-Heinz provided exactly what St. Luke’s needed—balance of clarity, warmth, and unobtrusive design,” Redman concluded. “The results speak for themselves. Every project presents its own challenges, but when you have the right tools and expertise, the outcome is always worth it.”

Watermark Community Church, founded in 1999 as a nondenominational evangelical house of worship, has since launched several new campuses, today serving over 9,000 weekly attendants. The church has always understood that the clarity of its message relies in large part on sound quality. For years it has been an L-Acoustics user, starting with a Kudo PA system that served them well for more than a decade. Ready for an upgrade, Watermark moved forward this past January with the adoption of L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology with L-Acoustics L Series loudspeakers, sold and installed by Clark, an integration company based in Alpharetta, GA.

[Unheavenly Acoustics]

“Watermark is definitely unique,” said Clark business development executive Noah Hawley. “The moment you walk in, you are riveted by the church’s nearly 100-foot-wide video wall. And that massive scale is indicative of how they approach music and video production—here’s a lot of creative horsepower at work there. But amazing visuals aside, the single most important element in a house of worship is the sound, being able to effectively communicate the message to everyone in attendance. This is why they stayed with L-Acoustics and chose L-ISA and L Series—for the exceptional coverage, consistency, and clarity that these technologies deliver.”

The church’s recent switch to L-ISA paired with L Series arrays has provided improved intelligibility and fidelity throughout the entire seating area. The main Scene system is comprised of five arrays of one L2 over one L2D. Four Extension arrays to the far left and right are made up of Kiva II, with eight enclosures per hang closer to the Scene system and seven enclosures per hang further out. Arrays of 10 Kara II each provide out-fill, with low-end coming from a center deployment of 10 KS28 subs flown in two hangs of five KS28 in cardioid mode.

Seventeen compact coaxial X8 enclosures are evenly distributed across the lip of the stage for spatial front-fill, while three KS21i subs per side are mounted into the face of the stage to supplement the room’s low end. Arrays of two A15i Wide per side provide extreme left and right over-balcony delay, while a dozen X8 serve as under-balcony delays. The entire system is powered and processed by 16 LA7.16i amplified controllers and three LA12X. These are driven via Milan-AVB with L-Acoustics LS10 switches, while an L-ISA Processor II with a 64-output license is driven over MADI from the church’s SSL L350 Plus FOH console.

Hawley said the sanctuary’s acoustics are magnificent. “Coupled with the acoustics and L-ISA, for the first time everybody could see, wow, this is how the room is designed to be heard,” he said. “This is what the intended experience was supposed to be. Now the room’s complete, the vision’s been accomplished.”

“While I think most people don’t really understand what a spatial system does, they do know that it sounds clear and amazing, which is what we were shooting for,” said Bekah Winans, Watermark Community Church’s audio director. “They’re now able to pick out distinct instruments instead of just hearing a wall of sound. For them to say that it sounds fantastic means we’ve accomplished our goal to become more engaging.”

She added that the use of L-ISA technology has dramatically expanded sound coverage in the room, with at least 80 percent of the seating areas getting a fully immersive experience. “One of the main things that we kept hearing from our leadership was that they wanted consistency of the sound. They wanted the largest number of seats in the house to have the same great, immersive experience as possible,” she said.

Operationally, L-ISA easily integrates into the church’s workflow, and can be controlled via either an external L-ISA Controller display or directly from a touchscreen of the SSL house desk. “Some of our operators prefer to use the L-ISA software interface, while others use the integrated L-ISA page on the console, so it comes down to preference, but the integration has been seamless,” said Hudson Horsley, the church’s systems engineer. “At first, I think it can be a little bit intimidating, but once people hear it and get used to working with it, it’s quite easy and intuitive. It has simplified the workflow, with less effects in the chain, by using the room engine. The team has adapted to it rapidly.”

The Barnert Temple in New Jersey, a 178-year-old congregation that has been in their synagogue for about 40 years, has undergone a renovation and integrated a new audio system utilizing 1 SOUND loudspeakers. The goal was to have great sonic clarity in every seat for spoken word from the lecterns and have the capability for versatile live music while blending in aesthetically to not distract from the architecture of the space.

[High Praise for Pro AV: The SCN Worship Issue Is Here]

ComNet Communications worked with Barnert Temple’s AV team to implement the new audio system, choosing 1 SOUND’s Tower Series as the main loudspeakers. The Tower LCC84 is a line array that has even sonic distribution in its field, covering wide with a long throw. Its true line-array arrangement means microphones are extremely less likely to feedback if they are in the field of the loudspeakers. The Tower LCC84 was the ideal loudspeaker for this application as its precise dispersion pattern is also narrow vertically, so the sound does not bleed into the cavernous ceilings. The Tower’s cardioid property makes this ideal for limiting the sound on the stage area. They have 20dB of cancellation in the off-axis/rear of the loudspeaker, limiting unwanted sound bleeding into microphones.

There was a left, center, right arrangement of Tower LCC84s, with four more as delays in the synagogue. For the low frequency, four SUB12s were recessed in the ceiling and concealed. 1 SOUND worked closely with ComNet to make sure they were satisfied with the color match of the loudspeakers so they would blend in seamlessly. This audio system is powered by Powersoft T304 and T604 amplifiers.

“The 1 SOUND speakers are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The customer was extremely pleased," said Ed O'Connor, AV systems designer, ComNet Communications. "I am pretty sure, since I started in 1981, that I haven’t heard anything that sounds this good."

When the First Christian Church of Somerset in Somerset, KY, first connected with JCA Media, recognized for its AV integration throughout Kentucky and houses of worship in particular, they did not foresee a significant AV upgrade in their future. They were primarily looking to repair their choir microphones and floor pockets.

However, the project quickly evolved into a comprehensive AV transformation once JCA Media took a closer look at the space. They quickly recognized the need for more thorough improvements that would enhance the experience for both service attendees and technology operators, all of whom are volunteers within the church.

“What started with choir mics and floor boxes turned into a request to replace projectors, house and theatrical lights, and completely redo the AV network," said Alex Peake, project manager for JCA Media.

Lights Out

Before the upgrades, the church relied on outdated technology, including a dimming system that was more than 25 years old. Its audio and projection setup was also quite antiquated, particularly the projector system, which provided barely adequate visibility during services. Although the PA system was operational, its infrastructure required significant improvements.

[Unheavenly Acoustics]

“We needed the upgrade because we had more lights not working than were working,” admitted Keith Kissinger, property chair, elder, and treasurer for the First Christian Church. “We usually dim the lights for prayers, and it got to the point where it looked dimmed all the time.”

Starting with lighting, JCA Media aimed to integrate an energy-efficient solution that would be easy for the in-house team of volunteers to operate. For lighting, 71 LED house lights were installed from The Light Source, along with 16 Chauvet Ovation E-260WW LED fixtures that offered bright output and smooth dimming. The ChamSys Quick Q10 compact lighting console was selected for its icon-based interface, simplifying operation for volunteers. Doug Fleener Design optical splitters and preset stations, plus a LynTec RPC remote control breaker panel, all contributed to the seamless control of the system.

According to Peake, the church was "not really technically driven in terms of lighting. It just needs to be super volunteer-friendly." That mindset remained during the integration, prompting the JCA team to concentrate on reliable, user-friendly solutions that wouldn’t overwhelm their volunteers.

Let's Hear It

While the PA system was not replaced, the amplification and control systems needed improvement. To provide a more professional audio experience during services, the amplifiers were upgraded to LEA Professional amplifiers, which feature cloud-based monitoring. Four Earthworks Choir microphones, plus Shure PSM 900 in-ear monitors and QLXD wireless units were also added.

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

Custom ACE Backstage floor boxes were designed to fit the church’s unique concrete slab configuration. “Their floor boxes had small conduits, so one of the things we couldn't do was load a lot of stage I/O into those floor boxes due to the limited size of the conduit,” Peake explained.

Due to the small conduit sizes, JCA Media had to pursue custom solutions to accommodate the necessary stage I/O. DSP tuning inside the LEA amplifiers were used to optimize audio performance, while an Allen & Heath GX4816 stage box cleaned up the FOH I/O and allowed for improved stage connectivity, with two DX ports giving the capability for two DX168 boxes to be placed on stage.

To address the outdated projector system, JCA replaced the two front projectors with Epson 13,000-lumen laser projectors, which deliver bright, crisp imagery for any location in the room. Additionally, two rear projectors were substituted with an 86-inch LG commercial display to cover the visuals on the rear stage.

An RTI control system provides centralized management, while enhanced power sequencing was implemented using Furman power conditioners. This safeguards equipment from power surges and ensures proper startup and shutdown procedures. In houses of worship, where technology may often operate for extended periods, this prolongs the lifespan of the equipment. “We always sequence things where the console comes on, the stage rack comes on, then amps come on, and vice versa on the way off,” added Peake.

A LynTec RPC system also offered DMX-controlled relay switching to provide efficient power usage and prevent premature wear and tear. "We love LynTec because it has multiple control protocols, and one of them is DMX,” said Peake. “With a preset station on the wall, I can hit 'off,' it sends the command via DMX to lower the fixtures, and powers them down completely—saving energy and extending their lifespan. We've seen numerous installations where LED fixtures run constantly—and within four or five years, they stop responding to DMX or fail entirely. Often, it's not the LED itself that fails but the control side. “

The new audio infrastructure also supports the church’s streaming needs by rerouting audio from the console for a broadcast mix into their existing streaming system.

Making a Difference

JCA Media completed the installation over three weeks, ensuring minimal disruption to church services, and the new systems were operational in time for Feb. 16 services. The installation process was relatively seamless, but one minor issue needed addressing. With the sanctuary ceilings reaching 36 feet, an atrium lift had to be used to install and adjust all the new lighting fixtures safely. “We were trying to eliminate moving pews, so we utilized an atrium lift and worked our way around the pews,” said Peake.

They also cleaned and organized the booth’s existing streaming and video technology. “Everything was shoved under their knees,” Peake added. “So, we cleaned and fixed that up as well.”

When all the church leadership first entered the sanctuary after the integration was complete, they couldn’t help but comment on the change. “Wow, what a difference,” said Kissinger. “It was beyond what words could describe.”

Now, JCA Media is training the church’s volunteer tech staff to fully operate the new AV network. “The sound system is so over the top compared to what we were working with, and as I stated before, we have only begun to use what we have to work with,” said Kissinger. “The sound booth crew are so looking forward to being able to overwhelm the congregation with the magic it is capable of.”

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

JCA Media often starts collaborating with clients on a small project. Once the client realizes the various upgrades and enhancements needed, they want them to stay and tackle them all at once, which is precisely what happened at First Christian Church. What began as a simple microphone replacement evolved into a complete transformation, with improvements that will enable the church to offer an enhanced worship experience for years.

UPPERROOM, a Dallas-based dynamic church with a global outreach, has redefined immersive worship experiences in their newly opened facility. The church recently installed a d&b audiotechnic loudspeaker system along with the company's Soundscape acoustic enhancement system, featuring the En-Scene and En-Space software modules.

Offering ministry 72 hours a week, UPPERROOM's vision was to create a more intimate and engaging worship environment to better draw attendees into the worship experience. The goals, however, were not limited to the in-person services. UPPERROOM is a content production powerhouse that connects with as many as 10,000 viewers per day on YouTube and there was a strong desire to enhance the quality of their online ministry, as well. In working towards a solution to address in-person and online pastoral care needs, it became evident that a d&b audiotechnik Soundscape solution could not only meet but, exceed the UPPERROOM requirements.

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The audio system, designed and installed by Epic Resource Group, transformed the acoustics of the church's industrial space, which was designed by Overland Partners, an architectural firm known for delivering transformative, innovative, and sustainable solutions. While Overland provided an impactful design, there were an array of acoustic challenges inherent in the space that needed to be overcome, including: an asymmetrical shaped room with a glass wall, an overhead circular “halo” over the congregation, an acoustically dead environment, and numerous structural poles that blocked loudspeaker dispersion.

A synergistic combination of d&b audiotechnik design tools helped provide a working plan. "Designing a system for a space this complicated wouldn't have been possible without d&b's ArrayCalc," shared Epic Resource Group founder Brandon Chynoweth. “The software enabled us to quickly envision how acoustic energy would fill the room and guided loudspeaker placement. Once the system was up and running, ArrayProcessing ensured consistent acoustic energy projection across the room. The design of the system’s loudspeakers and subwoofers with their inherent directivity patterns were instrumental in providing low stage volume resulting in clean, high-quality live recordings.”

The lynchpin of the installation was Soundscape, which helped solve the room’s most vexing acoustic problem, its 12 support poles. “Any stereo iteration I considered, always had a pole about 3 feet in front of at least one speaker. The En-scene module on Soundscape provided the only answer,” affirmed Matt Wheeler, Epic’s senior audio systems designer. “The elegance of the Soundscape’s object-based mixing means a single loudspeaker doesn’t have to do all the work. En-Scene minimized shadowing from the room’s support beams ensuring adequate coverage of the entire room. Now, you don't hear the obstruction from the poles, sound appears to pass right through them.”

[Industry Experts Share Secrets for Better House-of-Worship Audio]

With En-Scene addressing the room’s acoustic challenges, En-Space room emulation opened up further possibilities. “En-Space is the key to making everything sound as good as it does," UPPERROOM’s global audio director, Brandon Meyer said. "The natural reverb time of the room is less than half a second, but with the Basilica emulation, we can create an acoustic space with up to a six-second reverb tail. Although we’re not physically in a huge cathedral, acoustically we are. Best of all, front-of-house engineers can apply processing to specific elements or sources within the mix. Then when the pastor speaks, the message can be more tightly focused and sound like he’s speaking directly to you.”

The installation of d&b Soundscape has had a profound impact on UPPERROOM. Congregants report feeling more deeply connected and immersed in the worship services. As Jonathan Lewis, executive prayer and worship pastor shared, "It's like you're in the middle of the experience and you're part of it." Lewis also reports that the system's clarity, dimensionality, and low stage volume have elevated the quality of UPPERROOM's live recordings and online broadcasts. "We didn’t just get a new sound system, we’re thrilled to have a ‘recording studio,’ too.”The immersive nature of UPPERROOM's new location has also contributed to a growth in attendance. "Since we’ve opened the space, what's transpired since has been really special," said Meyer. "People don't know what they're hearing, they just know they like it. Sunday's services hit capacity and nearly doubled the attendance of our previous location. In fact, we’ve added another service on Saturday to accommodate everyone who wants to be a part of our worship experience."

“When you connect with people that deeply, your retention rate is much higher," Epic's Chynoweth concluded. "If you’re focused on what that means for growing your church, spreading the word, making meaningful experiences in people’s lives, and keeping them engaged, Soundscape is a relatively small investment for the outcome it helps provide.”

Architecturally, churches can range from elaborate cathedrals to converted retail spaces. Stylistically, they may strive to deliver professional concert-level musical performances or prefer more traditional, reserved worship. All of this means that when it comes to designing and integrating a solid audio system, there is no cookie cutter approach.

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While there is plenty of architectural variety, all houses of worship have one thing in common: Their congregants need to hear the message.

Prior to joining Meyer Sound, business development specialist Daniel Rivera spent 10 years as a church technical director. In the house of worship environment, he said speech intelligibility is the highest priority.

“The music is not the main event; the message is the diamond,” Rivera explained. “If you’re hearing your pastor—and hearing every word—you’re more than 80% there. Coverage is so important so that everyone hears the same thing at the same level. It’s the unicorn we chase.”

Part of that chase requires AV designers and integrators to get to know the church they’re serving. CTI's Robert Scott, branch director, and Scott Lopez, technical service director, believe that integrators can assume that houses of worship want to achieve clarity. Beyond that, it’s necessary for them to gain an in-depth understanding of that church’s worship style. How many musicians are on stage? How much does the pastor move around when he’s delivering the message? Is there a choir?

It’s also necessary for integrators to be familiar with different denominations—if they’re not, they need to ask questions and educate themselves if they’re going to make relevant recommendations.

The Universal Challenge

Whether it’s a cathedral, small historic church, or modern structure, acoustics are a primary issue. Josh Maichele, applications project director, house of worship, at L-Acoustics calls it the “universal challenge.” While companies have endeavored to keep energy off surfaces where it’s not wanted, there are a few reasons why the acoustics in many houses of worship are less than ideal—and there is only so much the technology can do to mitigate the problems found in a poor acoustic environment.

For example, in cathedrals featuring vaulted ceilings and marble surfaces, the architecture takes priority over acoustic considerations. “We just put speakers in Notre Dame [de Paris] and obviously, in an iconic and historical venue like that, there is no compromise for the aesthetics when it comes to the acoustics,” Maichele said.

Modern worship centers rely on donations and fundraising campaigns for their audio system deployments, and the expense of hiring a quality acoustician—and implementing the treatments they specify—can seem cost prohibitive. Instead, these facilities choose to invest in gear. “Acoustics is not a tangible thing that they can use," he offered, "so it’s hard for church leadership to understand where they should put their money.”

Zach Brady, business development manager at d&b audiotechnik, noted that even smaller churches can be “acoustically hostile” environments, with ornate features or glass, brick, and polished concrete surfaces. While it’s tempting to “tame” these spaces, it can become difficult to create engagement if you make the space too "dry" or quiet. When people can’t hear their fellow congregants singing along with them, they become self-conscious and tone down their participation. “This means we must strike a balance of a lively enough room to create engagement, but a controlled enough room to give us great direct sound without being drowned out by the reverberant field,” he explained.

Choosing the Right Loudspeakers

Highly reverberant worship spaces where aesthetics are prioritized often don’t require high SPL output. Achieving speech intelligibility is the fundamental goal in these environments; secondarily, they must support a choir and a piano.

In these scenarios, Maichele said column arrays work well because they don’t compromise the décor. “And they provide a bit more precise and direct sound to the listener,” he added.

Line source speakers are popular for their ability to direct the sound where it needs to be. While historically designated for large deployments, Maichele said nowadays there are line arrays that exist for almost any venue size. “All of them, in principle, are doing a similar thing, which is focusing the energy where we want it and keeping it away from where we don’t,” he explained. This applies to large worship centers, as well as shopping centers that have been converted into churches. He added that point source speakers complement line arrays, providing outfill, under-balcony, and front fill audio where wider coverage is required.

[Captivating Congregations]

Many loudspeaker manufacturers offer sound mapping software that lets AV designers and integrators model their speaker configurations prior to installation. The benefits of these tools are obvious, but Maichele warned that they’re only as good as the data they ingest.

“Our ability to verify and validate what we’re doing is crucially important,” he explained. “The accuracy of the room being brought in means a lot. If the room model is inaccurate, ultimately the end result is going to be erratic or not ideal.”

It’s also necessary for integrators to confirm that the drawings they’re working with are up to date, which merits an on-site visit. If an integrator hasn’t been to the church prior to modeling the worship space, they may be surprised to discover elements that weren’t included in the original drawing set during installation. It’s not uncommon for churches to install LED displays or ceiling clouds, for example, long after the initial construction phase and without updating their documentation. When this happens, the integrator is forced to recalibrate their loudspeaker design, which may result in the need for more speakers, fewer units, or even a completely different system.

“There is something to be said for integrators to be on site with their customer,” Maichele said. “There’s the obvious relational aspect of them showing up and showing investment in what’s happening, but then there’s the ability to validate everything that we think we know.”

Affordable Immersive?

At front-of house (FOH), church audio engineers are seeking simplicity. “Nowadays, all the boards sound great and they have all these fun tools inside of them," said Lance Eddleman, application engineer for DiGiCo at Group One Ltd., a New York-based AV technology distributor that represents the U.K.-based audio console manufacturer. "But it’s really the integration side—being able to limit the amount of things you have to touch and bring it down to one simplified ecosystem.”

Another challenge houses of worship face is standardizing systems throughout their facilities (and, for multi-site churches, across all their locations). “Whether it be the main sanctuary, or their aux rooms, or their Sunday school classrooms, having one central ecosystem that they’re working in [is important],” Eddleman said.

While facilities across all markets strive to achieve standardization, it’s especially relevant in churches, which rely heavily on volunteer engineers with varying skill levels. “It makes it easy for their volunteers to learn one workflow and then work all the way through their environment,” he added.

And then there's the added potential wrinkle of immersive audio. When people think of immersive audio, they tend to envision loudspeakers around and above the audience. Maichele believes that this perception is rooted in the sound systems that homeowners install, where the audio surrounds the listener.

However, for the majority of house of worship environments, Maichele argued that immersive audio should focus on connecting the worshippers with the message that’s coming from the stage. Traditionally, church attendees have been accustomed to the disconnect between watching the pastor on stage and hearing his voice coming from somewhere else. A good immersive loudspeaker design can remove this barrier.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

“It doesn’t require speakers all around us and above us,” he explained. “What it requires is the connection between the stage—and between the pastor and the worship pastors, and what’s happening in the room—and the congregation. To me, that’s immersion.”

Most importantly, accomplishing this doesn’t have to be more expensive than a more conventional loudspeaker setup. “And the return [on investment] for the congregation is huge,” Maichele added.

Founded in 2017, the Korean-American Joong Ang Church in Las Vegas recently left its existing premises to move to a new larger chapel building 10 minutes away from the city’s main strip. With a substantial stage in place, the venue’s main space seats approximately 600 and hosts a variety of worship services including spoken sermons, solo singers, bands, and complete musical shows. A FBT Mitus line array loudspeakers powered by MC² amplification was selected to power it all.

When the Church moved to the new venue, its sound system was outdated and unreliable. Pastor Im In-Cheol and his team decided to install a brand new audio system and engaged Troy Choi of Solid Sound Solutions to deliver the solution.

As a member of the Korean Church community, Choi is a trusted audio practitioner in both the installation and live sound sectors, as well as fixed installations into houses of worship, concert halls, and conference venues. With an abundance of different choices on the market, the Church trusted choi to deliver a system tailored to fit its exact sonic and budgetary requirements.

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He recommended the system powered by MC² amplification. Choi designed the system and chose the amplifiers carefully.:

"I was looking for an excellent amplifier with great DSP to level up the loudspeakers," he explained. "As sound guys, we know how much a good amp is necessary to obtain the best results from speakers. It can change mid-class speakers into first-class speakers and first class into low class,

“I’ve long been a fan of the XTA processor and have been familiar with MC² amps for a long time, having used them with Funktion One speakers before the DSP version, so I already knew they were great. This was the first time I’d used the MC² Delta Series with its XTA DSP and Globcon software as well. As soon as I connected the amps to the loudspeakers and played music without any tuning, I smiled. The FBT Mitus is a good small box as a self-powered/DSP version in its own right, but this was another sound altogether. I’ve done plenty of system design and front of house mixing, so I knew this was special from the start. It really is very impressive—MC²’s amplification with XTA DSP is super powerful, and to be honest I think the price is reasonable for the strengths it brings.”

[The Vegas Sphere—Go Inside with SCN]

News of the smooth, powerful sound that now supports events at Joong Ang church has travelled fast. “The Korean-American church community in Las Vegas is saying that this is now the best sounding church in town," Choi said. "I attended the first service with the new system and it sounded great—no wonder the client is 200% happy.”

The Church and Monastery of St. Francis, a landmark of Croatian heritage nestled in the heart of the seafront city of Pula, has served as a place of worship and cultural gathering for centuries. Recently, the church embarked on a transformative journey to elevate its acoustics and improve sound clarity. With its recent collaboration with Renkus-Heinz, facilitated by the brand’s new Croatian distributor, LAV Projekt, the church achieved an impeccable integration of  audio technology.

Dating back to the 14th century, the Church and Monastery of St. Francis combines Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles. Dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, the church comprises a central hall, elevated sanctuary, and apse areas, along with a gallery featuring a historic pipe organ. In addition to its role as a place of worship, the church frequently hosts concerts, exhibitions, and cultural gatherings, further amplifying the need for high-quality audio.

“St. Francis Church’s original sound system was unable to deliver the clarity and coverage needed for both worship services and events,” explained Patricio Valenta, audio system specialist at LAV Projekt. “With the expertise of Renkus-Heinz, we envisioned a system that would respect the church’s aesthetic while addressing the complex acoustics of this sacred space.”

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

The open and reverberant nature of sacral spaces like the Church of St. Francis presents notable acoustic challenges. Stone walls and high ceilings can often cause sound reflections and echoes that degrade speech intelligibility and audio clarity. For a structure that hosts both spoken word and musical performances, the task was clear: to deliver consistent sound coverage without disrupting the architecture or creating excessive reverberation.

“Our team knew that any system implemented here had to be meticulously planned,” said Valenta. “The objective was to keep sound clear and focused on the congregation without interfering with the church’s ancient aesthetic.”

To overcome these challenges, the project team recommended Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Compact ICC36/3 active digital beam-steerable loudspeakers for the nave and sanctuary areas. The ICC36/3 loudspeakers, known for their compact size and robust vertical directivity, provide powerful sound coverage in a form factor that blends effortlessly with the historic interiors.

“Given the unique challenges of this space, we selected the ICC36/3 for its precise digital beam-steering capabilities,” said Valenta. “This technology allowed us to focus the audio precisely on the congregation, reducing unwanted reflections and enhancing clarity.”

Two ICC36/3 units were installed between the sanctuary and nave, facing the congregation. Each loudspeaker utilizes Renkus-Heinz’s renowned beam-steering technology, which allows the sound to be directed exactly where needed, minimizing reflections from walls, ceilings, and other surfaces. The integrated 36-channel amplifier enables refined control over the sound field, ensuring that every word spoken during a service or event reaches listeners with clarity.

[Captivating Congregations]

For the sanctuary and apse areas, the team also incorporated two Renkus-Heinz UBX4 passive directional column loudspeakers. These compact units, mounted discreetly behind the ICC36/3 speakers, provide additional sound coverage to the altar. “The UBX4 was ideal for delivering the required sound reinforcement without visually intruding on the space,” noted Valenta. The UBX Series, utilizing Passive UniBeam technology, achieves asymmetric vertical dispersion, maintaining consistent directivity and reducing interference from side reflections.

An additional Renkus-Heinz UBX8 passive directional loudspeaker was installed in the atrium to extend clear audio coverage to the monastery courtyard. Like the UBX4, the UBX8 is designed to handle outdoor environments and integrates seamlessly into the exterior layout. “The UBX8 makes the liturgy audibly accessible in the atrium, allowing the sound to carry naturally across the courtyard,” said Valenta.

After installation, the system was calibrated to optimize the performance of the Iconyx Compact using Renkus-Heinz’s OmniBeam software. This powerful tool, which allows precise control over the angles of each sound beam, was essential in ensuring seamless audio coverage. Steerable columns are the preferred choice for challenging spaces, and Renkus-Heinz has made their solutions remarkably user-friendly. The calibration process played a pivotal role in achieving an impressive Speech Transmission Index for Public Address (STI-PA) score, exceeding 0.6 across more than 90% of the church—demonstrating excellent speech intelligibility.

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This first project for Renkus-Heinz’s new Croatian distributor marks a significant milestone, both for the brand and the Church of St. Francis. “This installation exemplifies our commitment to delivering precision audio in even the most challenging and historic spaces,” shared Michal Poplawski, export sales and marketing director at Renkus-Heinz. “The success of this project demonstrates how technology can enhance traditional spaces without compromising their essence.”

In Pula, the Church and Monastery of St. Francis now stands as a model of how heritage sites can evolve with technology, meeting modern audio needs while preserving historical beauty. This project not only celebrates Renkus-Heinz’s entry into the Croatian market but also sets a precedent for how sacred and cultural venues can benefit from premium sound solutions.

TNDV continues to be the live production team of choice for worship events in North America, including the annual Passion Conference that brings university-age students and campus leaders worldwide together for three days of inspirational speakers, educational sessions and musical performances. With preparations underway for the forthcoming Passion 2025 events next month, TNDV’s work on the recent MVMNT Conference skillfully applied TNDV’s experience in stadium and arena-sized worship event experiences like Passion to a much smaller-scale event in an unusually remote setting.

Staged in a modest rodeo arena in Montana’s Flathead Valley, the four-day MVMNT Conference featured a dynamic set of musicians and speakers that inspired youth groups and family groups to the extreme northwest part of the state. TNDV’s crew traveled to the site with two of its production trucks, treating an audience of hundreds to the same professional qualities that TNDV brings to its largest worship productions. That included a foundation to support all video and audio acquired by the TNDV and MVMNT Conference teams respectively.

[The Evolution of Virtualized Production]

“We originally built our Vibration audio truck 10 years ago to address a fast-emerging desire for dedicated audio production and multitrack recording capabilities for large events that primarily featured musical performances,” said Rob Devlin, President, TNDV. “We also have the flexibility to re-engineer Vibration’s infrastructure to support smaller events like MVMNT Conference, allowing them to bring their own crew and equipment onboard and in this case work under the direction of Tanner Freese, TNDV‘s Engineer-in-Charge assigned to the truck.”

Freese’s counterpart in charge of all-things video was Dakota Russ, who handled all EIC duties inside TNDV’s recently refurbished Aspiration truck. That included switching six wired cameras, two wireless cameras, a long lens slash camera, and a 20-foot jib to in-venue LED screens and an onboard server bank. The latter ensured that viewers around the world could live-stream lectures, performances and more.

“The staging of this event was highly impressive, capturing the enormity of Passion within a much smaller setting to unbelievable effect,” said Russ. “Our job was to capture the dynamics of the concerts and content that the MVMNT Conference staff planned and executed so well and translate that to audiences inside the venue and watching online. That’s not achievable through a flypack that would be the typical choice for an event with an audience of this size. We treated this production with the same approach that do all Passion events.”

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The multi-camera strategy was the key ingredient to capturing the excitement that attendees were treated to in the venue, including the professional event lighting the annual Passion Conference delivers every year. TNDV managed all video switching and graphics insertions from Aspiration through its Grass Valley K-Frame system, and provided the MVMNT Conference with a remote switching panel onboard Vibration. The broadcast audio mix for the live stream happened on board Vibration in synchronization with the front of house audio. Aspiration’s new Evertz NEXX routing system kept the two seemingly separate audiences in perfect harmony.

“This was a memorable team effort in a very unusual scenario that reminded us why we love what we do,” said Russ. “By feeding some multiviewers and adding a remote switcher panel onboard Vibration, they could add their own audio, and we could also use it as a B unit. It gave them the feeling of doing production work that was completely separate from our work yet came together to create something truly special.”

Custer Road United Methodist Church faced a challenge: its sanctuary's traditional architecture and high ceilings, while beautiful, were creating audio issues that prevented the congregation from fully connecting during services. Recognizing this, the church turned to EAW’s AC6 ADAPTive system to improve audio quality to foster a more engaging worship experience.

Custer Road UMC discovered the capabilities of the AC6 Column Loudspeaker during a demonstration in the sanctuary led by Clayton Mills, sales manager at Highway Marketing. “We needed a space for an AC6 training session, and the church graciously offered its sanctuary,” shared Mills. “It turned out to be the perfect setting. After hearing the AC6 system in action, the church immediately knew it was the right fit for them.

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

“The demonstration from Highway Marketing was all that it took from my end to know that we had found a solution to our problem,” ” Jim Carter, director of AV and computer services at Custer Road UMC, added.

With the AC6 system chosen, Electro Acoustics worked closely with Highway Marketing and EAW to implement a custom design. The solution included triple-stacked AC6 speakers on each side of the sanctuary, EAW’s MKD526 Loudspeakers for under-balcony fills, and SB828P Subwoofers to deliver rich, low-end sound. This design addressed the church’s technical needs while blending seamlessly with the sanctuary’s architecture. “One of the final touches that really impressed the church was the ability to custom paint the speakers to match the sanctuary’s new color scheme,” added Mills. “It was a small detail, but it added to the overall experience and integration.”

[Room with a (Wide) View]

The new AC6 system’s adaptive technology, powered by EAW’s Resolution software, provided precise tuning and exceptional sound coverage throughout the space. This solution solved acoustical challenges posed by the 43-foot-high ceiling and wraparound balcony, significantly enhancing audio clarity. According to Slocum, “The new EAW AC6 system has drastically improved the church’s audio quality. It brings the sound closer to the congregation, making it feel more intimate. The ADAPTive technology ensures that every seat in the sanctuary receives clear and consistent audio, which is a huge win for the church.”

Since the installation, Custer Road UMC has seen notable improvements in microphone gain before feedback and enhanced clarity for both spoken word and musical performances. “The renovation has been very successful in increasing the intelligibility of the spoken word in the room,” shares Carter. “With the positive feedback we continue to receive from the congregation and staff members, we have been able to accomplish our goals. Many thanks to EAW, as its products gave us the opportunity to have that success and take us into the future at Custer Road UMC.”

Westside Family Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Lenexa, KS, has consistently invested in technology to enhance its worship experience since its opening in 1976. Their latest advancement—the adoption of L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive sound technology paired with A10i loudspeakers—exemplifies this commitment. The new system delivers superior clarity and coverage while working within the auditorium’s architectural constraints.

“The design presented several unique challenges,” explained Marc Breda, project lead at Vantage Pro AV, the church’s integration and technology partner. “First, the main worship space has an unusually low ceiling for a room of its size. We also had to work around a centrally located catwalk that further limited our usable trim height. Additionally, the church uses a large 34-foot-by-14-foot projection screen for their services, so maintaining clear sight lines for important visual content throughout the seating area was crucial.”

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

Using L-Acoustics Soundvision 3D audio modeling software, the ideal solution quickly proved to be an L-ISA design utilizing A10i as the primary loudspeaker. A mixture of both Wide and Focus models comprises the main Scene array, buttressed by KS21 subwoofers, with everything powered by a pair of LA7.16i amplified controllers. Breda says the compact form factor of the A10i, combined with its power and precision coverage gives every seat in the venue excellent sound.

Per Breda the system fit the room's geometry, a moderate fan shape with stadium seating in the back. That would have been enough for almost any church, but Westside Family Church also wanted to enhance the audio experience, said Vantage Pro Audio team lead Duke DeJong—and that meant immersive. “Houses of worship are embracing immersive sound for both creative and practical reasons,” explained DeJong. “While many are excited about the enhanced mixing capabilities and more immersive worship experience, there’s also a practical driver behind this trend. Traditional line arrays can protrude ten feet or more from the ceiling, creating visual obstacles. Our L-ISA installations have consistently emerged as the ideal solution when churches need powerful, even coverage while maintaining clean sight lines."

The impact of L-ISA technology extends beyond better sound—it can transform how worship teams engage with their ministry. For Obed Castillo, Westside Family Church’s longtime AVL engineer, the difference was profound enough to bring him back to the mixing console. “With our previous system, I had stepped away from hands-on mixing because the lack of clarity made it difficult to distinguish frequencies,” Castillo explained. “But L-ISA completely changed that. The clarity is exceptional—even subtle EQ adjustments are immediately noticeable. Plus, the system's localization capabilities give me new creative options. Instead of relying solely on EQ, I can enhance elements in the mix by adjusting their spatial positioning. The results have been so inspiring that I’ve gone from mixing just three services a year to being at the console any time a volunteer is not available and I can step in at front of house.”

The intuitive nature of L-ISA technology has proven particularly valuable for Westside’s volunteer audio team. Castillo cited an unexpected success story: When one of the church’s video operators attended the training sessions and created a practice mix at home, the results were impressive. “Their mix had a unique visual perspective, making creative use of the spatial capabilities. Despite coming from a video background, they produced excellent sound. This really demonstrates how intuitive L-ISA is—making immersive audio mixing accessible to our entire production team.”

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On the creative side, L-ISA offers the church new capabilities that are changing the way it presents its messaging. “It has us thinking in a different way about sound and presentation,” said Derek Davis, worship and creative arts director. “Now, we have a variety of options that weren’t there before. For instance, we can pan any instrument or person to any part of the stage, and everyone listening will perceive the sound to be at that place onstage, no matter where they’re actually sitting. We can pan hard left or right, and everyone will hear it clearly.

“We’re taking a methodical approach, using weekdays to explore L-ISA’s extensive capabilities and fine-tune them for our Sunday services. The system offers so many creative possibilities that we’re discovering new ways to enhance our worship experience every week. The results we’ve already achieved are incredibly rewarding, and we’re excited to continue exploring L-ISA’s full potential.”

Rolling Hills Covenant Church (RHCC) in California was founded in 1957 and dedicated its first church building in 1959. To future proof the sound of its worship center—which was added after sustained growth of its congregation in the 60s and 70s—the church recently revamped things with a new CODA Audio system.
 
During the 1980s, RHCC expanded its emphasis on the arts as part of Christian worship, with a strong focus on the role of musical excellence in services. Setting high standards of music performance demands audio quality to match, and during a recent remodeling of its main gathering space, which saw new seating and stage layouts, the Church undertook an overhaul of its technical systems, including provision for a new sound system.
 
RHCC director of Technical Arts Ministries, Brian Johnson, engaged with Scott Ramsey of AV installation specialists Broadcast Support—which has been his local go-to provider for rentals and major installations for more than 10 year—to discuss a solution. “After taking into account our requirement for a premium sounding, lightweight solution, Scott recommended a CODA Audio system, specifically their new compact N-RAY line array,” Johnson recollected.

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

The main gathering space at RHCC is a fan-shaped auditorium which seats around 950 people, with a 40-foot wide stage approximately 70 feet from the rear seats. The modified layout of the space demanded that a system not only deliver premium sound and full coverage, but that it was lightweight enough to not overburden the room’s ceiling support structures.
 
“Scott connected me with Steve McNeil of MacWest, CODA’s rep firm in the region, who was able to line up a demo of the N-RAY for us at a nearby house of worship," Johnson explained. "I must be honest and say that I was skeptical that a compact line array could deliver, but after the demo I was thoroughly impressed. The system sounded full and the coverage was perfect—I wouldn’t have known it was a compact array if it had been hidden from sight.”

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Satisfied that the CODA Audio N-RAY was the right choice, Johnson worked in conjunction with Broadcast Support and the CODA Audio USA to design a system for RHCC. The team used CODA Audio’s proprietary prediction software, System Optimizer, to ensure complete and even coverage across the auditorium.

Broadcast Support installed main hangs comprising seven N-RAY units and two SCN-F 15-inch sensor controlled bass extensions per side. A further eight SCV-F sensor controlled 18-inch subwoofers were located beneath the stage, with six HOPS5 (double 5-inch high-output point source) deployed as front-fills.

“Unlike our previous system, the coverage is incredibly smooth across the seating areas, and everyone at the Church is super happy with the N-RAY," Johnson said. "It met our requirement for light weight without any drawbacks to the sound quality. The N-RAYs with the SCN-F bass units add a surprising amount of low frequency extension, and the mid/highs are super smooth. They transition well to the larger subs underneath the stage. The front fills also sound great while keeping a low profile.

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“For anyone doubting what a compact line array can do, I’d highly recommend giving CODA’s N-RAY system a listen. For a lot of small to mid-size rooms, it’s just perfect—anything larger would simply be overkill. We’re grateful to Broadcast Support for the recommendation and their expert help in delivering this excellent project.”

Like all houses of worship, crafting a clear and consistent message for visitors and members is greatly aided by having the right production equipment on the stage and in the house. The Crossing, a 1,400-seat Christian church in Columbia, MO, recently turned to a simple-yet-substantial improvement by upgrading an existing KLANG:vokal immersive in-ear monitor mixing processor with KLANG’s new :vokal+ software, while also adding a second newer unit similarly featuring the latest software.

Paired with KLANG’s latest KOS 5.6 operating system, the :vokal+ channel boost upgrade has enabled the church’s audio team to immediately increase the input-channel count of its :vokals from 24 up to 64 for all of worship team’s binaural mixes. Onstage, the singers and musicians continue to each have hands-on hardware control of their own IEM mix parameters via the usual presence of a dozen KLANG:kontrollers, which were added earlier this year.

[Singing the Praises of High-End Audio]

“The flexibility that KLANG’s :vokal and :kontroller bring to in-ear monitoring for large-scale worship music applications is really fantastic, and that’s only gotten better with the new :vokal+ upgrade,” said Jeremy Bagwell, who manages business development for Oklahoma City-based Skylark Audio Video, the church’s longtime AV integration partner, which also recently installed a new DiGiCo Quantum5 console and Fourier Audio transform.engine processing platform at FOH.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about having the right production tools that can be flexible enough to be anything that an engineer needs for them to be at any given moment,” Bagwell continued. “The fact that KLANG’s platforms and DiGiCo’s consoles are easily upgradable and scalable—often without even requiring new hardware—make them incredibly versatile as a church’s needs change and technical demands increase. And all the while the workflow stays the same, so when the church brings in freelance operators, they’re already familiar with these systems, regardless of their version.”

While he’s a fan of all of the audio systems at The Crossing, Brad Jenkins, the church’s production director, says the newly upgraded KLANG:vokal+ processors, which are connected to the consoles via MADI and to the individual :kontrollers with Dante, have had a particularly beneficial effect. “We had previously made the transition from analog to digital with another brand for our in-ear monitoring, but there was definitely an audible decline in audio quality,” he recalled. “We lost some fidelity and spatial elements. With KLANG, we gained all that back—and then some. Our musicians and singers can hear each other better, which helps them to be more inspired. Having a good mix onstage translates into a better performance, and that itself translates into a clearer, more inspirational message.”

[Captivating Congregations]

On a practical level, Jenkins says that the new KLANG software update, which increases the processor’s input-channel count to 64, will make a huge difference when the number of performers onstage increases for Christmas, Easter, and other special events, up from the typical 10 to 12 musicians and vocalists onstage most weekends. “With a lot of extra mics and other signals for holiday productions, we now have a way to bring them all into the team’s in-ear mixes,” he says. “We also purchased six more :kontrollers when we added our second :vokal+, so we’re now able to offer 18 hardware controllers and 24 binaural mixes to accommodate additional performers. It feels kind of like an unlimited channel count, really.”

Jenkins is also a fan of the new Fourier Audio transform.engine, which, as he put it, “lets me bring the studio onstage. We come from the studio world, so we like to be able to approach the worship sound in the same way that we approach recording music. We’re able to use the plugins that we love when we need them, and they sound great. We’re just slowly unlocking all that. We also have a college ministry of around 750 students that uses a full production crew, and they've been using it a ton and loving it.”

[High Praise: How Museum of the Bible Achieves 360-Degree Immersive Sound]

“Skylark has been absolutely great in helping us navigate our growing production needs over the past eight years,” he added. “And with our new tools from Fourier, DiGiCo, and KLANG, our worship team is sharing their talents and sounding better than ever.”

It’s widely known that Dante is the de facto industry standard for audio transport in Pro AV applications. With the recent additions of Dante AV, Dante Domain Manager, and Dante Director, Audinate now offers a complete AV-over-IP platform that is inherently interoperable across thousands of products from hundreds of manufacturers, seamlessly integrating audio, video, control, and management features—and is accessible and routable anywhere in the world.

[New Dante Media Encryption Feature Improves Security]

Dante provides a robust end-to-end solution that eliminates some constraints associated with closed manufacturer ecosystems. Within the Dante ecosystem, integrators can choose the best products for a particular installation from any manufacturer and use the suite of Dante control and management tools to seamlessly manage those devices.

Interoperability Evolution

Dante’s evolution from an interoperability standard for audio transport to a complete AVoIP platform has been a years-long strategy in the making. Initially, interoperability centered around the connector itself, whether an XLR, Phoenix/Euroblock, coax, Ethernet, or others. Many systems required multiple cable types that were distance-limited and bulky to install.
Now, interoperability means much more.

A modern AV system’s usefulness is contingent on its ease of management, optimization, and control. Using multiple interfaces to control an AV system is unacceptable to most end users and integrators, whose expectations are increasingly influenced by their B2C experiences (think smartphones).

System scalability is inextricably linked to interoperability as well. Some think scaling is simply adding more endpoints of the same type. For certain applications, that’s an accurate reflection of what’s needed. However, scalability often involves new capabilities and system requirements that necessitate adding new hardware types to the AV system. Having a comprehensive range of products available is what integrators need to scale effectively.

The Dante AV family of hardware and software solutions allows manufacturers and end users to add networked video to the Dante platform. It guarantees interoperability between manufacturers while keeping discovery, configuration, and control to a single platform for all audio and video endpoints. It's also designed to run on standard 1 GbE networks alongside Dante audio devices.

Deployment Options

With more than 4,000 available endpoints, Dante AV makes it easy to break out audio to and from Dante audio devices without the need for extra hardware or format conversion. Dante AV is also designed for deployment on enterprise networks, offering scalable solutions for LANs and WANs. IT-level security and management is available via Dante Domain Manager or SaaS-based Dante Director for enhanced functionality everywhere, supporting granular user access control, alerts and audit logs, and routing media across subnets without complicated network management.

[Audinate, Lawo Collaborate on Dante Compatibility for HOME Apps]

Dante AV provides support for different codecs to meet quality, latency, bandwidth, and application needs. The family includes:

• Dante AV Ultra: delivers visually lossless video with deterministic sub-frame latency for
use cases where the highest quality, tightly synced audio and video is required.

• Dante AV-A: designed for one-to-many high-quality, ultra-low latency commercial AV
distribution and IMAG applications.

• Dante AV-H: best for limited bandwidth environments and applications that incorporate video software, including conferencing, lecture capture, and streaming.

The brilliance behind Dante AV is that it treats video devices the same as audio endpoints, using the already-familiar Dante Controller software as a one-stop shop for managing all AV routing, with separate, independently routable streams for audio and video. This implementation eliminates breakout boxes, adapters, and cables—all that users need to do is connect their Dante AV devices to a switch via a standard Ethernet cable.

With Dante’s built-in device discovery, new endpoints appear in Dante Controller for media routing. The single control management plane allows for universal configuration of devices, while a single API supports programming for all Dante products, allowing users to change routing and configuration using external control interfaces or commands.

Once the system is installed, the signal routing information is stored in the Dante-enabled devices, allowing the Dante ecosystem to run without connected computers. Users don’t have to worry about re-establishing routes when a device is moved or power cycled; it “just works,” saving time and setup costs.

A Case Study in Grace

In Southern California, Grace Community Church has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the 1950s. Today, the non-denominational, evangelical megachurch comprises a 3,000-seat worship center as well as the original 300-seat chapel, plus several small outbuildings, a family center, children’s center, Master’s Seminary, and a tower featuring five large classrooms. To streamline its AV management and keep the focus on worship experiences, Grace Community Church has deployed a large, Dante-based system throughout the campus, including video capabilities using Dante AV.

[The Dante (R)evolution]

Recently, the church created a documentary slated for theatrical release, but wanted to broadcast the premiere campus-wide. Not knowing how large the audience would be for such a venture, the church felt it prudent to have the worship center and several overflow rooms prepared to receive guests. It was decided that the documentary needed to be broadcast in 4K for maximum effect—but while Grace Community Church had a pre-existing video distribution system, it could not deliver video reliably.

The church’s AV team deployed nine Bolin D20 Dante AV Ultra transceivers throughout the campus to facilitate the live video stream from the sanctuary to overflow rooms in the satellite buildings. Bolin’s D20 Series, which can be programmed as an encoder or a decoder, are single video channel networked AVoIP transceivers that are fully compatible with Dante audio devices within a Dante ecosystem like the one in place at Grace Community Church.

Each transceiver supports up to 4K60 streaming with ultra-low latency over a standard gigabit network, and offers embedded audio output via HDMI or SDI as well as PTZ camera movement control via IP or IR pass-through. Based on the pre-existing SDI infrastructure, the church installed three D20H models (HDMI) and six D20S units (SDI) across the campus.

[The Integration Guide to Dante-Enabled AV]

The premiere at the church was a huge success, and audience reactions to the AV experience were highly favorable. The power of being able to independently route the audio and video streams while guaranteeing clock synchronization provided the AV team with the tools needed to route de-embedded audio from the main feed and resynchronize with the video stream before inputting the signal into six video matrices serving the overflow rooms and the three large screens in the family center.

As the Grace Community Church install illustrates, Dante's strength lies in being manufacturer-agnostic, allowing integrators to use their preferred devices from more than 550 Dante licensees. No special switches are needed, even for video. And because it's designed for standard 1 GbE connections, Dante is easy to install, configure, administer, manage, and scale for Pro AV systems.

Faith Community Church (FCC), a contemporary-style worship congregation based in Tucson, AZ, prides itself on providing engaging immersive services. The house of worship recently upgraded its audio technology with Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) ADAPTive AC6 Column Loudspeakers.

FCC's original plan was to update its aging audio system to a traditional Left-Center-Right approach. However, after being presented with an immersive system demo comprised of EAW’s AC6s, the choice was clear: The new system included 19 AC6s (nine in the front and 10 surrounds) to create a 360-degree immersive design. The venue also incorporated three Otto subwoofers and 13 MKD526 two-way full-range dual-woofer loudspeakers as stage-lip front fills.

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The move to immersive was suggested by Michael Garrison, President and Owner of Michael Garrison Associates (MGA). As the integrator on this project, Garrison was well-versed in the stand-out nature of EAW’s ADAPTive series. “There are many great loudspeaker products from very respected manufacturers that we could have chosen for this project,” he said. “But the AC6’s unique performance capabilities, excellent sonic quality and great overall value easily won the day. And the church leadership’s previous experience with EAW’s ADAPTive product line made the AC6/Otto combination the unanimous best choice for FCC.”

This project was a collaboration between the EAW team, MGA and Hugo Larin, Senior Business Development Manager at FLUX Immersive. The first-time installation combination of EAW’s ADAPTive technology with FLUX’s industry-leading SPAT Revolution immersive control software delivered precise sound coverage to create an environment that enhanced the worship experience for Faith Community Church.

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“The ability to steer sound where we need it to go and fill the gaps where other systems can’t, is a great benefit to our facility and our congregants,” said Jacob Pierce, administrative pastor at Faith Community Church. “We wanted a quality system out of the box and when you add an immersive engine, the clarity only increases. The system was easy for me to learn and teach our volunteers, and they can now effortlessly produce a professional-sounding mix.”

[Giants-Sized Audio Makeover]

Overall, the support from EAW and other partners led to the successful design, installation and commissioning of Faith Community’s new sound system. “The unanticipated morphing of this project’s scope and design target required a significant level of communication, coordination, cooperation, trust and goodwill by all involved parties. Also, the short timeline during a very busy holiday season added a lot of pressure,” explained Garrison. “The smooth execution and successful outcome of this project would not have been possible without the over-the-top support and dedication from both EAW and FLUX; they are great partners.”

Houses of worship are expanding their offerings beyond Sunday services. Some are hosting other performances and productions, and even offering their spaces for outside rentals. The requirements of these performances have impacted their overall audio needs, causing churches to consider new investments in technologies and solutions. SCN spoke with Christ Wesleyan Church (CWC) in Milton, PA, and Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN, to take a closer look at their recent audio upgrades and share their advice to other churches considering similar investments.

All That I/O

An 1,100-seat auditorium at CWC is used for Sunday services and Broadway-style productions, including school productions, dinner theater, and other live events. The level of these productions contributed to its need to transition to wireless over-the-ear microphones instead of relying on microphones placed on the stage. This change allowed them to control better each performer’s microphone and that of their choir, which is often highlighted in many productions.

[Captivating Congregations]

CWC purchased nearly 50 wireless microphones, which take up a large amount of I/O, especially when conducting Sunday morning worship services and other events on top of these large-scale productions. For some time, the church rented consoles to address the issue, but around the time of the pandemic, a generous donor offered to support an upgrade to the sound system.

As a result, CWC invested in the DiGiCo Quantum 338 digital mixing console, supplied by Divine Sound and Technologies. The platform serves as the church’s front-of-house console, helping to field all of its I/O needs, and is on an Optocore network with a DiGiCo SD-Rack used as a stage box.

Brent Mestach, communication and broadcast director at CWC, said the church's production schedule drove the decision to invest in the top-level solution, which goes beyond the typical house of worship needs because of its musical productions. "If we were just a church and needed to handle the I/O, we wouldn't need that," he added.

Instead, the DiGiCo system allows CWC to streamline all the production and Sunday services needs through one processor. This transition also supported something many houses of worship were addressing during the pandemic: the need to connect with their congregation more effectively online and through live streaming. “We could do it all in one with the processing power of the Quantum,” he explained.

CWC recently expanded its network further by adding a DiGiCo 4REA4 processor and the A168 Stage expander unit purchased through Clair Global. The two units are in an upstairs space formerly used as a cry room, which was renovated into a broadcast audio control room during the pandemic to mix the church's remote Sunday services. The room also interfaces with a DiGiCo DMI-WAVES SoundGrid card over Cat-6 and a Gigabit switch.

"It's just a very powerful system that can be flexible and handle all the I/O that we need, the complexities of having a Christian school, and our theater productions," said Mestach.

In the future, the plan is to connect the 4REA4 with the Quantum 338 on the Optocore network, allowing mix positions to access all inputs from the stage. Potential speaker upgrades, such as line arrays within the auditorium space, are also something CWC is considering to better take advantage of the full capabilities of the DiGiCo platform.

Diverse Programs, In-Ear Solutions

Brentwood Baptist Church recently updated its audio infrastructure to the new KLANG:konductor in-ear mixing processor. Tim Corder, VP of faith and performance with Diversified, felt it was the ideal solution to address their needs, including balancing live events featuring a full orchestra and choir one week to a rock-style band the next.

"It can be a challenge to adapt a sound system for that kind of diversity—one that also has a very high input-channel count—as well as a challenge to find console combinations that support a large number of stereo mix busses," said Corder. They also rely on support from volunteers to run their audio, making the platform's easy-to-use interface and high-level capabilities a match made in heaven.

Brentwood's large campus hosts anywhere between 600-1,000 events a year among all its spaces, with the main campus church holding events probably every other week or weekend. The KLANG in-ear system allows them to be flexible and accommodate things they were unable to in the past.

With a mixed traditional and contemporary service style that tends to oppose the in-ear approach, its vocal team was the one that pushed for more clarity. The vocal team, which often shares the stage with a 60-person orchestra and complete rhythm section, wanted the ability to hear click guides and lower the stage volume. “It lowered our stage volume significantly, which is a huge deal when you’ve got an orchestra that you’re trying to push in the room anywhere from 88 to 100 decibels, depending on the song,” said Darby Gilmore, tech services director–central support, Brentwood Baptist Church.

[A Better Way to Connect]

The platform allows everyone on stage to collaborate better and perform more confidently—and even if the congregation doesn’t know why, Gilmore thinks it makes a noticeable difference. “I think everyone on stage would agree that it’s so much cleaner and fuller for them than it would have been trying to do any other solution,” he said.

The platform also helps with music intelligibility, highlighting a musical part that often could get lost underneath everything else. “Now we can elevate that a bit and make sure that every part stands out, and we can interpret that better for the audience,” Gilmore noted.

Finding What Works

Currently, one of the hardest things is how houses of worship compare themselves to others—especially with so many broadcasting through YouTube and other social media channels—without considering what is best for their congregation. For example, when Mestach works with other regional churches, he often brings them to CWC to experience their network, which often causes them to want what CWC has, even if it is not the right solution for their needs.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

The most important thing is to match your technology with your current operations team, whether staff or volunteers, investing in solutions that address your current needs and can be operated properly. "You need to ensure you have the personnel because your systems won't be as great as they are if you don't have someone who knows how to run them," Mestach advised.

At the end of the day, it's about finding the right audio solutions—and budget—that enable your team to convey your messaging. "I think the only way to be objective about something so subjective is to say what works for the people we're trying to reach and just try to dive in on that, which, when you talk about standardization, almost seems counterintuitive," added Gilmore. "We're doing it because we're trying to get a message out to people, and I think we're kind of failing in our jobs if we're not making sure that that message is clear."

Dallas-based Prestonwood Baptist Church has upgraded from a stand-alone Bolero wireless intercom system to an expansive Riedel Communications deployment. The enhanced system vastly improved the flexibility, reliability, and reach of communications, as well as signal distribution between its two campuses, 27 miles apart.

Partnering with Broadcast Technical Services (BTS) to design and deploy. the new Riedel systems add a full Artist intercom ecosystem, including an Artist-1024 matrix, various SmartPanels plus additional Bolero beltpacks and antennas. In addition, Prestonwood added a complete MediorNet video distribution system, with MicroN, Compact, and Modular units serving as video, audio, and network gateways. 

"Bolero was our gateway into the rest of the Riedel product line because we just fell in love with it instantly," said Bryan Bailey, director of media at Prestonwood Baptist Church. "I have never been so thrilled by a wireless comms product as I am with Bolero. I am just amazed by its innovative technology and the different things that it can do. It has been a total game changer."

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

The domed, metal-framed architecture of Prestonwood's worship center and its location at the highest point in the area presented wireless transmission and reception challenges that only Bolero overcame satisfactorily. The wireless intercom has allowed Prestonwood to expand communications within and beyond its worship center. Depending on their needs, production team members use remote keys, GPIO, individual headset audio settings, and Bluetooth to optimize their communications.

"The challenge of our space took us down the Bolero wireless road, and that led us to try other Riedel products," said Armando Escobedo, media operations director at Prestonwood Baptist Church. "The Artist, SmartPanel, and MediorNet systems have provided similarly impressive flexibility, in turn enabling new workflows and capabilities, and we can't imagine producing our shows without them."

While Bolero, Artist, and SmartPanel systems now enable versatile and highly configurable communications options across the audio, video, lighting, and stage management teams involved in video production, Riedel's MediorNet systems currently support real-time signal distribution for Prestonwood's production of live events. These systems use dark fiber to connect Prestonwood's two campuses and deliver feeds to student ministry buildings at each location. Engineers at Prestonwood initially chose MediorNet systems for video distribution but soon expanded their use, realizing the systems are also capable of distributing audio and communications signals, connecting all kinds of endpoints effectively.

[Captivating Congregations]

"With the expansion of our Riedel communications and signal distribution infrastructure, we've evolved and improved our productions and events," added Will Schaefer, engineer in Charge at Prestonwood Baptist Church. "MediorNet's ability to manage various signal types over a single fiber connection has been invaluable and its creative routing capabilities have far exceeded our expectations, allowing us to try new things we couldn't even think of doing before."

"I'm thrilled to see Prestonwood's continued success with Riedel," said Ben Gabrielson, regional sales manager, South Central, at Riedel Communications. "The new functionalities they've discovered and the innovative ways they're deploying these products to enhance their messages are truly inspiring. I look forward to further growth with Prestonwood, knowing that Riedel products excel in houses of worship just as well as they do in other live events where communication is key."

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

The comprehensive Riedel system was designed by Ryan Sartell, consultant engineer, Will Schaefer, engineer in charge, and Riedel's systems consultant services. BTS partnered with Riedel to oversee the deployment and integration of the new systems, with Sartell and Schaefer handling the on-site commissioning.

Worshippers at Upstate Church Haywood in Greenville, SC, are enjoying a whole new, high-energy experience thanks to three Powersoft Quattrocanali 8808 DSP+D and one Quattrocanali 2404 DSP+D amplifiers. The new audio system—installed by Spartanburg, SC-based Elevate AVL—delivers maximum power, efficiency, and connectivity.
 
Elevate AVL, founded by Jordan Tripp, focuses primarily on houses of worship and has worked with Upstate Church—a Baptist church with locations across upstate South Carolina—before. The audio, video, and lighting upgrade for Upstate Church Haywood is its latest project equipped with Powersoft amplifiers, Elevate’s “go-to” amplifier platform for HOW installations, explained Tripp.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]
 
“When it comes to reliability and performance at an affordable price point, Powersoft amplifiers are hard to beat,” said Tripp. “I’ve experienced issues with other amplifier manufacturers, with amps either dying quickly are being dead on arrival, and that’s never been the case with Powersoft. I’ve always loved their end product. Plus, the ability to integrate Dante is also a massive plus for these kinds of installs.”

For the Greenville church, Elevate’s brief was to transform the main room into a space that supports both blended and modern worship styles, the latter incorporating electric instruments such as guitar, bass, and drums. At Upstate Church Haywood, the Quattrocanali amplifiers are paired with a TW Audio line-array system and Danley Sound Labs subs, providing plenty of power and headroom for the roughly 400-capacity room.
 
“The church wanted a system with a high priority on clarity, and that could also cover the room really well at higher SPLs, which is why we went with a line array as opposed to a point-source system,” Tripp explained. The end result is a system that can provide the entire room with a clear stereo image, including underneath and onto the balconies.

[Check out the Annual SCN Audio Issue]
 
In addition to their reliability, Tripp highlighted the Quattrocanali amplifiers’  energy efficiency, as well as their compatibility with Dante networking, as the reason why they were the perfect solution for the Haywood campus.

“Dante is a pretty critical element with most installs nowadays—the ability to get audio to wherever you need it over a network is key, and having that onboard capability with the Powersoft amps definitely helps a lot,” he explained. “We’re also able to use the amplifiers’ analogue lines as a failsafe; having that back-up is also absolutely crucial in a high-intensity environment like a house of worship.”
 
Quattrocanali amplifiers are also equipped with Powersoft’s patented Smart Rails Management (SRM) technology, which maximizes the efficiency of the entire audio system and optimizes power consumption—a must-have technology for installs like the Haywood campus, when installers are limited by the electrical infrastructure in place, Tripp continued.

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“When that happens, we need amplifiers that are able to provide the maximum performance with as minimum amperage as possible,” he explained, “and that’s something that Powersoft does very well. It’s important that we know that when we need to, we can put several amps on a single circuit and not be concerned about overloading anything.”
 
As with the previous Upstate Church installs featuring Powersoft amplification, the end user is more than satisfied with the new sound system, which provides energy-efficient, room-filling audio with headroom to spare, says Tripp. “They love the sound in the room and the performance of the system, as well as its ease of use,” he concludes. “Everyone is extremely happy.”

Chief's, one of the latest additions to Nashville's Lower Broadway, is the brainchild of Grammy-award winning country artist Eric Church and founder and CEO of AJ Capital Partners, Ben Weprin. It features Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, a dueling-pianos bar called, a studio for live broadcasting Church’s Outsiders Radio SiriusXM channel, and the Neon Steeple, a two-story, intimate ticketed concert venue that was inaugurated with a 19-date residency of shows by Church himself. It was there that an L-Acoustics Ai Series professional sound system installed by Clair Global Integration.

CGI system designer Joe Anderson recalls that there were some unique challenges in outfitting the space: "The building’s tall, skinny corner location and reflective surfaces, like stained glass windows and brick walls, required creative solutions," he explains. “The venue’s multilevel audience area, with fans on the third floor and seated in balcony pews, demanded a versatile sound system, and L-Acoustics’ A10i enclosure emerged as the right choice for this project.”

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The main PA showcases the flexibility and power of the L-Acoustics Ai Series. Each side features one A10i Focus over two A10i Wide, flanked by an A10i Focus over an A10i Wide as side-fills. Dual KS21i subs fly behind the main arrays. The under balcony benefits from a single A10i Focus over one A10i Wide per side. Four X8 speakers serve as front-fills, while four KS21i subs reside under the stage. For performers, the stage offers up to eight X12 monitor wedges.

The upstairs piano bar also boasts its own L-Acoustics setup. Eight compact X8 speakers surround the stage, complemented by two SB15m subs above and one more X8 for the FOH booth. Each piano enjoys two X8 stereo monitor wedges. LA4X amplified controllers power all systems, ensuring consistent, high-quality sound throughout the venue.

"While our ground floor offers the lively honky-tonk atmosphere visitors expect, our upstairs venue sets us apart,” said Jesse Free, Chief's production manager. “Having a professional L-Acoustics sound system immediately signals to musicians and fans that sound quality here is paramount."

[Giants-Sized Audio Makeover]

“A10i’s compact size and high performance were crucial," Anderson added. "It delivers the power and musicality that Eric wanted, allowing us to create a true concert experience in an intimate club setting.”

Just off Main Street in Standford, KY, lies Stanford Baptist, a quiet and unassuming church with seating for more than 300 people. Although open and airy, the vaulted ceilings in the sanctuary compromised the speech intelligibility of liturgical services. Amplifiers from LEA Professional were the perfect solution to help solve the church’s audio challenges.

Church staff contacted Alex Peake, an integration specialist at JCA Media, to design a new audio system for the sanctuary. Peake recommended LEA’s Connect Series amplifiers to meet the church's goal of high intelligibility. The Connect Series of two, four, and eight-channel amplifiers are the most full-featured in the industry, and their Smart Power Bridge technology made them the best choice for a venue like Stanford Baptist.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

“The biggest thing that excited us about LEA amplifiers was the Smart Power Bridge function,” said Peake. “I can't count how many times we've been able to save an amp channel or not have to install another amplifier because we could use Smart Power Bridge and feed a small sub rather than taking up two channels. That has been a big financial saver in projects, not having to install another amplifier but still having enough power for everything.”

The main loudspeakers are a flown left-right configuration with a Martin SXCF118 cardioid subwoofer. A unique feature of the subwoofer is that it features a forward-facing driver and a rear-facing driver and requires two amplifier channels, which is where LEA’s Smart Power Bridge comes into play. Smart Power Bridge allows an integrator to double the power on a single channel without sacrificing other amp channels.

JCA Media used the LEA Connect Series 1504 to power the main loudspeakers in the sanctuary. The IoT-enabled 4-channel 1504 provides 1500 watts per channel into 2, 4, and 8 ohms, and 70Vrms and 100Vrms. It also supports Hi-Z (70V or 100V) and Lo-Z selectable by channel and features Smart Power Bridge technology. JCA’s team doubled the output on one amplifier channel to power the front-facing subwoofer driver while another channel powered the rear-facing driver. The remaining two channels fed the left and right loudspeakers. 

[Captivating Congregations]

Two balcony delays and six wedge loudspeakers were used for the musical worship service, so JCA deployed the LEA Connect Series 168 to power them. The 168 is a 1U, 8-channel amplifier offering 160 watts per channel, which was an excellent fit for the wedges, as well as two delay speakers mounted midway along the sides of the sanctuary. 

JCA utilized LEA’s free SharkWare software to fine-tune the system while walking around the sanctuary. SharkWare includes amplifier grouping, offline design, granular user access control levels, locked speaker tunings, and a graphical EQ. SharkWare also allows users to monitor the status of every amplifier connected to the network and the status and performance of individual channels. In addition, the software gives users the ability to view and adjust channel settings such as input settings, signal generator, crossover, equalizer, limiter, and load monitoring for all LEA Professional Connect Series amplifiers.

The Connect Series delivers an industry-first professional amplifier family to feature cloud connectivity, so for long-term remote monitoring, JCA utilized LEA Cloud. With LEA Cloud, AV teams like JCA can remotely control and monitor the amplifiers regardless of the location or time of day, helping teams work more efficiently, reducing travel, and saving time and money. 

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

“We’ve found that a lot of other manufacturer’s amplifiers are not the easiest to connect to,” said Peake. “I know that sounds like a small thing, but LEA proves it doesn’t have to be hard. Just pop out the access point, connect to it, and roll on. It's so easy to get connected to their amps. Between that, the Smart Power Bridge technology, SharkWare, and LEA Cloud, they fit the bill perfectly for a lot of our installations.”

Bethlehem Assembly of God has been a hub for Long Island’s Valley Stream community. Music is a big part of the multi-ethnic congregation's services, and the church recently upgraded its 500-capacity sanctuary’s audio and lighting systems to better convey the music and the message, including a DAS Audio’s new SARA system.

The system is based around left and right arrays totaling 16 DAS Audio SARA-100 compact powered line array systems with 3000 Watts of Class D 4-channel amplification. It was conceived and designed by veteran audio engineer Burton Ishmael, who's regular “day job” is running FOH for Madonna. Four SARA-SUB 18-inch compact cardioid powered subwoofers deliver rock steady bass, and four DAS Audio EVENT-26a ultracompact line array cabinets handle front fill duties, and system processing is covered by a single DAS Audio MATRIX-66 unit controlled by DAS Audio's latest control and management software, ALMA. Installation was handled by Jamaica, NY-based Advanced Event Services.

[Captivating Congregations]

As Ishmael explained, the project was not without its challenges. “It’s a pretty traditional A-frame design, about 60 feet wide and 70 feet deep, with a balcony, and that means big wooden beams, high ceilings, and lots of reflectivity. It’s just not acoustically friendly. Add to that an older heating system and a foyer with open doors and you’ve also got temperature gradient issues. It’s a classic case of a sanctuary designed for a certain era, and now you want to put live drums in there. It just calls for a different approach. The previous system was pretty long in the tooth, and the SARA system really gave us the ability to give them a huge leap in sound quality.”

Ishmael gave high marks to DAS Audio's new SARA system and its ability to steer the sound onto the congregation and away from the walls and other reflective surfaces. “Years ago when most of the service was preaching and spoken word, performance didn’t matter as much," he said. "Once they started doing live music and bringing in drums and amplification, the room’s acoustics became an issue, and it only got worse over time.”

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

The upgraded system has been a hit with parishioners and technical crew alike. “The feedback we’ve had from the worship leader is that people are telling him how they now feel surrounded by the sound, encapsulated by it,” said Ishmael. “The crew are saying it’s much more of a concert experience, and it’s so much easier and faster to get the mix you’re looking for. The worship pastors feel empowered to try new and different things now, and they don’t feel limited by the technology.”

Working with the DAS Audio team has been a long and fruitful relationship. “DAS Audio is a company that has been a very dear part of my success," Ishmael concluded. "They are serious about what they do, and I’ve watched them grow and create amazing technologies over the years. They care about their product, and they care about the delivery and the service and the needs of their customers. Honestly, I cannot recommend them highly enough.”

Carl Lukings is the proprietor of Horizon Solutions, an AV integrator/installer based in London, Ontario. Over his 40 years in business, Lukings has installed a lot of projectors in houses of worship. Based on his vast experience in this area, Lukings and his system designers at Horizon know why video projection remains so appealing to houses of worship, be they big or small, modern or traditional.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

“Churches today use video projection for a wide variety of applications in their sanctuary spaces and during their worship services,” he explained. “Projecting song lyrics, hymns, scripture readings, and other liturgical text is common, but projection is also being used for announcements, sermon illustrations, and teaching notes, as well as video content—everything from content that is specifically produced for the church market as well as anecdotal videos from YouTube and other sources. We’ve installed hundreds of projectors. Over 25 of them have been Christie Inspire Series 1-DLP laser projectors.”

“AV technology plays an essential role in engaging and captivating a congregation,” agreed Joe Mercier, Christie’s senior sales manager. “We live in a visual world, and projected images help communicate messages and keep congregations engaged.”

Importance of Affordability

When asked why houses of worship choose video projectors over video walls and other display options, Lukings responded with a one-word answer: cost.

“Churches are using video projectors in their worship and teaching spaces because of the low cost of these systems compared to the alternatives,” he explained. “If money were no object, many would love to install video walls or direct-view LED displays because of the inherent advantages of those technologies, including ultra-bright images and the ability to have people, objects, and sometimes set pieces close to the display — something that’s not as easy to achieve with video projection. The problem is that these alternatives to video projectors are cost prohibitive for congregations funded through offerings.”

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Just how affordable are video projectors compared to video walls and dvLEDs? Lukings said it depends somewhat on the specifications and the requirements, but it's "usually a fraction of the cost. Often a quarter of the price or sometimes less.”

“LED video walls are a great solution for places of worship that have the space and budget, and want to engage a larger congregation,” Mercier agreed. “However, projection is a much more affordable and versatile option.”

But don’t let the lower price fool you: Today’s laser projectors deliver clear, crisp, and bright images in small packages. So, although projectors may not be everyone’s top choice, they are a highly acceptable, high-performance option for even the smallest of congregations.

Projectors can also be mounted in a less intrusive way, such as on a ceiling or another high point within the church. When coupled with a motorized screen that can be retracted when not in use, a projector can be a model of technological discretion. In those instances where video is being projected onto a church wall, the process is even simpler.

“For a funeral, wedding, or other church event where the video image may not be required or seen as being appropriate in the space, retracting the screen solves the problem of visibility,” said Lukings. “That's not possible with a video wall or a direct-view LED display.”

Lumens, Lumens, Lumens

When it comes to most-desired features, most churches start with resolution. "Questions about 4K and higher resolutions come up regularly,” Lukings observed. “But at the end of the day, the resolution is much less important than how bright the projector is—given the distance and the size of images that are being produced in church applications, any modern resolution will do if the image is bright enough.”

“Price and brightness are major considerations for this market,” added Mercier. “A projector needs to deliver a great lumen-to-price ratio.”

Delivering the right ratio can be a challenge in churches outfitted with multiple windows that allow sunlight to pour in. “A quality projector coupled with a screen designed for higher ambient light conditions can make all the difference in creating an impactful image,” Mercier explained. “In some situations, other controls may be needed, like window shades, to manage sunlight. An experienced integrator who can visit the site can help guide the place of worship to a solution that is ideal for them.”

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Houses of worship are also interested in longevity and equipment serviceability. In the past, using projectors that relied on lamps, filters, and other consumables—and required scheduled maintenance—made life difficult (and expensive) for congregations, particularly those who relied on volunteers to keep the church running. Modern laser projectors have considerably eased service demands for churches, keeping costs down and aging volunteers off ladders.

As for the type of projectors that are best suited for houses of worship? The choice depends on the church, Lukings noted. Horizon sells more projectors with a traditional “middle of the road" lens ratio, in part because they are the least expensive lenses, but the company also sells short-throw projectors when warranted.

"Christie’s Inspire DWU960ST-iS is a great solution for churches looking for a short-throw solution at a great price point,” he added. “If we are working on a rear-projection application, then certainly a short-throw projector is the right solution.”       

Screen Suggestions

As for projection surfaces of choice? Again, product preferences are diverse because each application is different. “It's dependent on the venue,” said Mercier. “Some places of worship have ornate woodwork or millwork that they want to keep visible. Screens that retract enable these features to be seen when projection is not used.”

Horizon tends to install Draper screens, but also selects products from Da-Lite and Strong/MDI Screens from time to time. “We still see that the majority of churches are using motorized retractable screens,” Lukings said. “However, fixed screens are also found in a good portion of our church projects. There are also many churches that don't use traditional screen surfaces at all. Instead, they project onto a flat wall treated with a specific ‘projection screen’ paint.”

One last point from Lukings: When choosing a video transport system for projectors, opt for a video-over-IP solution rather than broadcast-based SDI. “In a church application, where you never know what sort of content somebody is wanting to be able to project, having a video-over-IP system in place ensures HDCP compliance and the option to send 16:10 format images," he explained. "Also, this technology provides additional flexibility for video routing and expansion of the system in the future. Video-over-IP or HDBaseT solutions provides a great infrastructure for today’s needs and into the future.”

The fact that projectors rule in the houses of worship market—while projection screen preferences vary widely—says a lot about this particular client base. Although they want to provide professional-quality AV to their congregations, churches as clients generally lack the budget, expertise, and trained support staff to afford higher-end AV solutions.

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That said, “The key to have a successful video installation in a church is listening to the client's needs and gaining an understanding of what it is that they're hoping to achieve,” advised Lukings. “It's also important to understand that the investment in technology that these churches are making will need to evolve as they learn how to make the technology benefit their ministries. So don't be afraid to shoot a little bit higher than what the minimum would be to make the sale. Being good stewards with their finances is on every church leader’s mind. They will appreciate a good investment in the long term.”

When Austin Stone—a six-site church in the Austin, TX area—needed new AV for its from-the-ground-up new-build facility, Denver-area-based Brown Note Productions turned to a slew of Pro AV from Shure, Sennheiser, and a wide range of RF Venue wireless essentials.

The new building is on the church’s southwest campus, which serves a congregation that had previously been meeting in a school for about 11 years. Finally, they were in a position to build a from-the-ground-up new-build facility. Zach Richards, director of integration, and Joe Johnson, integration project manager, the Integration division of Brown Note Productions (which has a satellite AVL Systems Integration office in Austin), spearheaded the design and install of the new facility’s AV systems, including the RF Venue solutions for the new building’s wireless RF and in-ear monitor systems.

The project presented a unique challenge in having numerous spaces with varying amounts of wireless audio, and Austin Stone wanted the wireless system to be highly flexible for many different types of events throughout the whole facility. The majority of the wireless resides in the main auditorium, plus there is an outdoor stage, a youth room, and two kids’ spaces, as well as three classrooms and a lobby area.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

Brown Note has designed and deployed numerous AVL installations in music venues, houses of worship, and universities. “We have been using RF Venue since the very beginnings of the company,” stated Johnson. “All of us on the Brown Note team are on the same page, recognizing RF Venue as the standard for RF antennas and distribution. They are the third-party system that works with all the wireless brands. RF Venue products simply work. Everyone here just trusts that they’re that good.”

To realize Austin Stone’s broad stroke vision for wireless, Brown Note opted for 26 channels of the Shure ULX-D Digital Wireless System (based in part on its Dante capabilities), along with eight channels of Sennheiser ew-IEM G4 wireless in-ear monitoring systems. Brown Note chose RF Venue’s new CP Architectural and Diversity Architectural antennas, painted satin black to seamlessly blend in with the facility’s stage architecture, along with RF Venue’s DISTRO4 RF distribution systems for mics and COMBINE8 IEM transmitter combiner. “We installed a DISTRO4 to distribute the Diversity Architectural antenna signal from the main auditorium to all the wireless receivers. We also fed all of the IEM transmitters into a COMBINE8 which fed a single CP Architectural antenna. All the antennas we used on this project worked flawlessly,” commented Johnson.

The smaller classrooms presented a challenge that RF Venue also solved. “We worked closely with RF Venue’s Adam Brass and Don Boomer to determine our solution for those other spaces. We had just one channel of audio in each classroom and then a couple of channels for the youth rooms,” stated Johnson. “We’re using the QSC Q-SYS control, and we’re already using Dante for all of our distribution for audio. What made sense was to upgrade the microphone systems to Shure ULX-D, and then we were able to just put the receivers in the remote racks, which made things easy for routing audio anywhere we wanted to.

“But then we thought,” Johnson continued, “‘If that works in theory, how do we get the microphone signal from all these individual classrooms into the remote racks?’ Working with Don, we came up with a plan to implement Diversity Architectural antennas in each of these classrooms. And then we used 4 ZONE antenna combiner systems to take all these different antenna signals and combine them for a single receiver to use. So now we could take a four-channel receiver and put a single mic in four different rooms and put an antenna in each of these rooms and feed it all back into the singular receiver, making things highly efficient. And visually it’s very low impact; these antennas just disappear if you’re not looking for them. All the classrooms have is a single microphone sitting in a charging station, and all the operator has to do is turn on that microphone and go to the touch screen and turn up the volume, and it works just how they would want it to.”

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The final “insurance” for good clean wireless signal was Brown Note’s use of the RF Venue Band-pass Filters on all the antenna systems. “In the main auditorium, RF Venue Band-pass Filters are in between both the Diversity Architectural antenna and an outdoor Diversity Fin antenna [for the outdoor stage] and the DISTRO4 to filter out any unneeded frequencies," said Johnson. "We worked very purposely with both the Shure and the Sennheiser system to spec those in different frequency ranges so they wouldn't interfere with each other, but we wanted to add an additional layer of protection against intermodulation and things of that nature to ensure as clean of an RF signal as possible and eliminate any dropouts in all of the microphone systems.”

“We only spec products that we know we can stand behind,” Johnson concluded. “Number one, we need to know that the manufacturer is going to have our back. And two, that we’re going to be able to support these installations in the long run. So whether it comes to speakers or audio consoles, lighting fixtures, or in this case RF antennas and distribution, we draw a line and we say, ‘This is what we do, and it’s because we trust this.’ And that is RF Venue.”

Drawing on the city of Cuenca's history which is closely linked to art, Luz Cuenca is a fully immersive sensory experience offering an artistic expression of the cultural wealth of the city. Housed in the ancient temple of San Miguel, the multimedia exhibition combines artistic lighting techniques, 2D and 3D projection mapping, and a dramatic orchestral music score powered by a KV2 sound system.

Digital immersive experience specialists, Ibercover Studio, were in charge of production and content design for Luz Cuenca. They turned to leading AV experts Fluge to design and supply a high-quality sound system for the project. Fluge had no hesitation in specifying KV2.

[Adele to Enter Guinness Book of World Records with Largest Outdoor Video Wall]

“The main objective was to effectively and uniformly reproduce sound in space at low volumes," explained Jesús Catá, AV project engineer at Fluge. "The required SPL levels were not particularly high since the acoustics of the church play an important role in the sound environment, giving more importance to quality rather than pressure. We selected KV2 systems because they are outstanding when it comes to delivering high-quality, detailed, transparent sound at low SPLs, and that’s not easy to do.”

Designed by sound engineer Poti Martín, the system comprises 12 EX26 two-way active loudspeaker systems evenly distributed along the walls of the nave. With its 100x100-degree horn, the EX26 provides wide, even coverage, superb vocal intelligibility and high-quality musical reproduction. A further two EX26s reinforce the upper gallery level. Low end reinforcement is provided by eight EX1.5 subwoofers distributed in pairs either side of the altar, plus a further pair left and right slightly further down the nave.

Due to the immersive character of the room, each loudspeaker receives independent audio signals which are sent via Dante, track by track, from the Watchout 6 video playback system and then processed and distributed to the loudspeakers via NST Audio DSP matrices. Finally, custom white housings were designed for all the loudspeakers to minimize any interference with the video mapping.

[Dead and Co. Show Why Sphere Was Made for Live Performances]

“The synergy between the EX26 and the compact EX1.5 subwoofer for the reproduction of the entire sound spectrum in a completely flat manner, with no drop-off at any frequency, is unique,” remarked Catá. “You can hear absolutely every detail of the music exactly as it’s meant to sound, even at low SPLs. However, this doesn’t mean that it won’t reproduce higher SPLs with the same degree of success—indeed, in addition to Luz Cuenca, the system will be used for many other events with more demanding level requirements, and we know it will sound just as good.”

Take a peek for yourself below.

Free Chapel Church, a contemporary Christian congregation based in Gainesville, GA, is redefining the worship experience with innovative audio solutions from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW).

The flagship main campus in Gainesville boasts a comprehensive EAW setup, including Anya ADAPTive line arrays and EAW SB828P dual drive subwoofers, meticulously engineered to cater to the venue’s unique architectural nuances. Glenn Setchfield, the global audio director at Free Chapel Church, emphasized the importance of EAW’s ADAPTive technology in tailoring sound dispersion to optimize acoustics.

“Our main campus presents unique challenges due to its fan-shaped layout," Setchfield explained. "The decision to implement EAW’s Anya line arrays was driven by the need for superior coverage and clarity. EAW’s ADAPTive technology empowers us to precisely direct sound, expanding horizontal coverage to meet the venue shape, and minimize reflections.”

[SCN Goes Inside: Check Out the Concert Sound System at Winspear Centre]

Beyond the main campus, Free Chapel Church has extended its EAW deployment to other locations, including Midtown Atlanta, Gwinnett, and Braselton. Each venue benefits from tailored EAW solutions, ranging from NTX210L line arrays to RSX series speakers, optimized to maximize audio fidelity and intelligibility.

“We’ve strategically implemented EAW equipment across all our campuses to ensure consistent audio excellence,” said Setchfield. “Whether it's a large auditorium or an intimate setting, EAW’s versatile solutions cater to our diverse needs. EAW’s introduction of groundbreaking technologies, such as ADAPTive has revolutionized the way we approach audio production, enabling us to achieve unparalleled results.”

Setchfield is responsible for integrating and overseeing all audio operations, including the recent deployment of EAW, at Free Chapel Church’s multiple locations. This includes weekend services, midweek gatherings, youth and children’s programs, and audio production for Jentezen Franklin Ministries, a non-profit organization affiliated with the church.

“At Free Chapel Church, we prioritize exceptional audio experiences that resonate with our congregation,” said Setchfield, “and with EAW’s cutting-edge equipment, we can deliver impactful, engaging and rewarding worship services across our multiple campuses.”

Setchfield commended EAW’s commitment to customer service and support. “John Mills and the great team at EAW have been instrumental partners in our audio journey,” he added. “What sets EAW apart is its dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction. They are always quick to respond in addressing any technical questions we may have. Their timely assistance allows us to focus on delivering impactful worship experiences.”

[Cloud Power: The Evolution of Virtualized Production]

Setchfield’s journey with EAW began with his tenure at Hillsong Church in Australia almost a decade ago. “While at Hillsong, I experienced first-hand the exceptional sound quality delivered by EAW,” he concluded. “Based on my positive experience combined with EAW’s reliability and versatility, I have become a big advocate for using EAW whenever possible.”

As Free Chapel Church continues to expand its footprint and outreach efforts, its collaboration with EAW remains a cornerstone of its commitment to excellence in audio production and worship facilitation.

Five years ago, Phoenix, AZ-based integrators 5 Words Media began #FreeChurchAV. The competition has awarded over a million dollars in free audio and video systems to small and mid-sized houses of worship across the country. And DAS Audio has joined with 5 Words Media as a gold sponsor of the event, beginning with Season Four’s winners, Blue Ridge Chapel in Rocky Mountain, VA.

“When we heard about #FreeChurchAV we knew right away it was something we wanted to be involved with,” recalled DAS Audio’s VP of sales for Pro Audio, Michael Palmer. “This was a company doing something truly special, and we knew we could support them and help make a difference for some lucky congregations.”

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

Due to the main area’s unique dimensions, being a deep room as opposed to a wide room, Blue Ridge Chapel’s sanctuary was outfitted with a center array of three VANTEC-20A self-powered constant curvature line arrays and a VANTEC-118A subwoofer, along with two more VANTEC-118A subs on the ground. A handful of ACTION-508 two-way systems provide outside delays to a few shaded areas, as well as to the upstairs mix position.

As Palmer observed, the system was a perfect fit for the room. “The space has relatively low ceilings and a video wall, so line of sight was a consideration. The VANTEC system is compact enough to not be in the way, but powerful enough to cover pretty much the entire room.”

[Check Out Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland's 134-Foot-Long LED Upgrade]

For the 5 Words Media team, joining forces with DAS Audio was a natural fit. “DAS Audio has this amazing state-of-the-art demo room at their Miami headquarters,” reports 5 Words Media CEO Daniel Gourley. “When we walked in there I was like Gordon Ramsay when he comes in and orders every item on the menu—I just wanted to hear everything. And the VANTEC system was perfect for the kind of jobs we do—small to mid-sized churches where a full line array is too much.”

Looking ahead, the winners of Season Five of #FreeChurchAV have just been announced, with the award going to CityView Church in Phoenix. “We’re excited to see what the 5 Words Media team comes up with for the CityView sanctuary,” concluded Palmer. “And we’re looking forward to working with them on #FreeChurchAV for many years to come.”

It has been a long road for the building that houses Myrtle Beach, SC-based. Palmetto Pointe Church. It opened its doors in 1994 as the Gatlin Brothers Theatre, and later the Crook and Chase Theatre, before housing Christ United Methodist Church; ultimately, it would become the home for its current moniker. Now, its 2,000-seat auditorium which hosts Sunday services and occasional concerts, shines bright with 30 newly installed elektraLite Stingray Profile Cast RGBW 350-watt ellipsoidal fixtures. 

The elektraLite fixture arrays were designed and installed by Paul D. Sweetman of Sweetman Designs, who worked with audio specialists MC Sound Consultants to completely renovate the venue’s audio and lighting, a project that began last summer. “This was an old lighting design that was installed in late 1990s and everything really needed to be updated,” explained Sweetman. “The previous ellipsoidals were worn out and a lot of the moving lights were shot; they just needed to do a refresh. They needed to enhance the production values there, since this is also their broadcast location. Plus, they also host a lot of concerts these days.”

Sweetman hung 16 of the elektraLite Stingray Profile Cast RGBW fixtures at a 19-degree angle from the main catwalk and 14 more at 10 degrees from a second catwalk. “The 19-degree fixtures were only about a 30- to 35-foot throw, but the second catwalk was probably closer to an almost 60-foot throw and needed a lot more horsepower and a much tighter beam,” he said. “The Stingray was the perfect choice for all of that.”

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Sweetman cited the Stingray’s power efficiency as especially important for cost-conscious churches. “We were able to exchange 1,000-watt ellipsoidals for the Stingray’s 350 watts without losing any illumination and while saving a ton of energy,” he said. “Also, they do television production there, so we needed to do some color matching for their cameras. They were all using Blackmagic Designs studio cameras and they need a little more horsepower than some of the broadcast-level video cameras, so we needed to get that up. And then we also wanted to be able to create even color washes when there were no key lights needed. The Stingray was the perfect situation for all of that. We had the flexibility to light everybody in white light or in color—a full stage wash of color, if necessary. They wanted the ability to be able to go to any color. In fact, I originally lit the stage for 30 2K fixtures and then realized later on that all of their cameras were color-temperatured to 56K. So, we were immediately able to adjust the color temperature and bring everything up to 56K. The Stingray really checked a lot of boxes here.”

The Stingray Profile Cast RGBW boasts a powerful 350-watt COB LED with high CRI, delivering deep primary colors and even color mixing. It offers variable white temperature and precise beam control with interchangeable lenses. Controllable via DMX for ease of use, the Stingray utilizes Chip on Board (COB) technology, which is more efficient due to its higher density of light output and the fact that it uses fewer components.

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“I call them our Lamborghini lights," said Clint Redwine, Palmetto Pointe Church’s production director, who added that when touring artists come to the church to perform, they’re delighted to find a world-class lighting package there. “We’re a church that likes to stay close to the leading edge of technology without being flashy, and the Stingrays are that: state-of-the-art but part of the larger picture. What I tell people is that we have a Lamborghini that we drive in second gear most of the time, but it’s always good to know that fifth gear is there when we need it.”

Church Unlimited—a non-denominational, evangelical, multi-site church located in Corpus Christi, TX, which seats over 1,500 worshipers and is also its broadcast center—completed a major audio systems upgrade in February in which MessengerAVL installed a KLANG:konductor immersive in-ear monitor mixing system routed through a new DiGiCo Quantum338 front-of-house console. A Quantum225 desk, used as the church’s new broadcast console, was also part of the upgrade package. “It’s their largest campus and their flagship campus, and now it’s their most advanced campus when it comes to audio,” said Parker Gann, System Engineer at MessengerAVL, the Conyers, Georgia-based integration firm that designed and installed a new audio upgrade.

Gann said the decision to add KLANG to the package for monitors was an easy one, based on its capabilities. The KLANG:konductor was designed with monitor engineers and fixed installations in mind. The top-of-the-line mixing system delivers 16 immersive mixes and processes 128 input signals at up to 96 kHz with an internal processing latency of less than 0.25 milliseconds.

“I had not actually planned on using the DiGiCo integration with the KLANG system when I designed this project—the KLANG:konductor was originally meant to be standalone. But when I started playing with the integration between it and the Quantum338, I realized that it was a great way to keep things like the channel and aux names synced up, and we could use aux mix presets on the console to recall musician settings,” he explained. “If the drummer moved to be the guitar player the next week, we could recall his mix on that pack immediately, and I really appreciated that kind of workflow. I’ve always loved doing monitors on DiGiCo because of things like mix presets, so combining that with what the KLANG:konductor could do with the immersive IEM mixes was just super-cool.”

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In fact, he added, the decision to implement KLANG meant that they could forgo adding a new monitor console, creating a substantial cost-savings for the church. But what really put the ball through the goal posts was the immersive aspect. “I tried hard to convince them that it’s life-changing, and they just didn’t believe me—until they heard it,” he recalled. “They put headphones on and I made them a binaural mix, then A/B-ed them. “I said, here’s the mix without KLANG, and then I hit the button to go to surround and everybody’s jaws hit the floor! They could not believe how good it sounded.” Based on the success of that demonstration, MessengerAVL added eight additional transmitters to the package, allowing every musician and vocalist onstage to experience immersive monitoring. 

Also part of the package is a DiGiCo MQ-Rack, a 48-input, 24-output rack with BNC MADI connectivity. Used as the primary stage box and a link to the church’s Quantum225 broadcast console, it connects the KLANG:konductor and the DiGiCo consoles via MADI and Dante.

“We are using five DMI-DANTE64@96 cards across the system,” he said. “The KLANG has a Dante card and a MADI card; the Quantum338 has two Dante DMIs in it and MADI built into the console natively; and the Quantum225 also has two Dante cards,” he explains. “We basically use one Dante card for their video I/O and some RedNet equipment, and we use the other as a Virtual Soundcheck card. There’s a lot of flexibility and capability built into this system. Now, they’ve got extra channels and processing to spare, and the flexibility of the DiGiCo consoles allows them to do basically anything they need to do. They love the sound quality, they love the flexibility, and they’re very happy with it.”

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That is certainly the sentiment the church expresses with the new KLANG and DiGiCo gear. “Coming from a dedicated monitor mixing console, the addition of the KLANG:konductor has been amazing,” said Walter Wilson, Church Unlimited’s lead production director. “The first thing we all noticed was the clarity of the KLANG, and then the seamless integration with the DiGiCo console. It creates an entire ecosystem that’s totally flexible and intuitive to use, which is very important when you have volunteers running the systems. It’s a massive upgrade in capability and a huge win for all of us.”

The shift to DiGiCo has been its own new chapter in the church’s sound narrative, Wilson further notes: “We’re coming from having used multiple consoles in the past, and what we find with the Quantum consoles is that, no matter what you want to do, there seems like there are always multiple ways to get there. In the church world, you get a lot of questions about ‘how can we do this or that,’ or ‘are we equipped for this or that,’ and the consoles’ ability to match its flexibility with our worship experience, with features like plugin integration and the tactile feedback the worksurfaces give you, is just amazing. It really feels like the console comes to life. The whole ecosystem of KLANG and DiGiCo is just perfect for us.”

Christ Church in Louisiana has multiple campuses in West Monroe, Ruston, and Sterlington. With roughly 2,000 congregants in attendance weekly at its main location in West Monroe, delivering quality services to those in attendance and those tuning in remotely is pivotal. To ensure Christ Church, West Monroe has seamless communication amongst its media and production team, the house of worship deploys Pliant Technologies’ CrewCom Wireless Intercom System.

The West Monroe location has a full production setup, including eight cameras, and a separate in-house and online mix. For intercoms, the team utilizes a CrewCom Control Unit (CU), as well as four of the brand’s CrewCom Radio Transceivers (RTs) placed throughout the facility: one in the video booth located at the top of the sanctuary, one placed behind the stage, another placed near front of house, which is located mid-sanctuary, and the last located in the front lobby in order to reach the parking lot for their outdoor events. The team has a total of 15 Pliant CrewCom Radio Packs (RPs) consisting of ten two-channel and five four-channel packs, and 15 Pliant single and dual-ear SmartBoom PRO headsets.

“With this setup, we have complete coverage of the entire campus. It’s very versatile and we can go pretty much wherever we want with the comms units,” said Craig Roberson, media and production director at Christ Church, West Monroe. “With the ability to have multiple Radio Packs per Radio Transceiver at a time, our personnel are always in range, even if they are out in the parking lot for an event.”

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

According to Roberson and other members of his team, including Johnny Norman, Christ Church video director, and Casey Newcomer, Christ Church videographer, the upgrade to Pliant has been a vast improvement, providing clear communication. “We are able to hear the band even if we are not in the worship center, as well as the director talking to us,” said Norman. “We came from a one-channel system, so having additional channels has been a real benefit, while also being really straightforward to learn and use.”

The ability to customize channel assignments for different personnel is another key benefit for the Christ Church media and production team. “Our audio tech can just talk to me, and the camera operators don’t have to hear him in their headsets,” said Newcomer. “It cuts down on a lot of unnecessary chatter.”

Additionally, the team feels as though the audio quality and range of the Pliant CrewCom system is unmatched. “I noticed an improvement from day one,” said Norman. “We can hear everybody very clearly. The camera ops especially have told me that they can hear everything I say now. Before, we only had single-ear headsets, but now, all camera ops on stage with the band have a dual-ear headset, so they can hear the band and me in both ears. This results in fewer mistakes on my part and theirs because we now have clear communication.”

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“It's been a night and day difference from what we've had,” Roberson added. “I don’t think we realized how poor the audio quality was on our previous system until we started using Pliant. Also, the build quality is exceptional; it just feels much more rugged and professional from what we were previously using. Our old system became very uncomfortable after one service; with Pliant, this is not the case.”

Other features the team praises Pliant for include volume adjustment, configurability to customize each pack, and the long-lasting battery life of the radio packs. “With our previous system, we could not adjust the overall system volume at all, so it is great that we can make that adjustment to the gain in CrewWare and also still have the individual user adjust their volume,” said Roberson. “Also, the ability to create different profiles and pre-set the settings and channels of each radio pack is amazing. That’s helped us out a ton, especially for us three (myself, Johnny and Casey) who mainly talk to each other about the overall production. The audio team and camera ops are no longer distracted by our conversation and can focus on their aspect of the production. Not to mention, the battery life on the packs is fantastic. We have backup batteries, but we have not needed to use them since the packs still have power.”

With its congregation expanding rapidly over its 30 years of service, Cottonwood Creek Church, located in Allen, TX, was looking for a more comprehensive approach to connecting with its worshipers, guaranteeing the same experience for both in-person and remote engagement.

"Our Blackmagic switchers were great, but they do what they do and nothing else. We were looking for something next-generation," said Will Chapman, online minister for Cottonwood Creek Church. 

While attending InfoComm, the church was introduced to Panasonic's KAIROS ST 2110 live production platform. After Panasonic demoed the platform in January 2023, the church quickly committed to Panasonic Connect's ecosystem of products.

And we mean committed. Cottonwood Creek Church has more than a dozen Panasonic PTZ cameras (a mix of HD and 4K models) and multiple PTZ controllers, plus two studio cameras, a 4K camcorder, CCUs and remote operation panels, switcher, and more. Within the integration, two Panasonic KAIROS servers were installed to support iMac and broadcast feeds, and a third was recently installed to support a new youth building currently under construction.

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"It's an incredible piece of technology," added Chapman. "At the same time, we can create macros and stuff on the system so that an everyday volunteer can walk up to the control panel and make massive changes with a simple button push. That's powerful for us, so we don't necessarily have to have staff or trained volunteers to operate the system."

Less Complicated Process

The church said it only uses about 12% of the platform's capabilities, which have probably tripled its prior capabilities before the transition. For example, when hosting their most recent Christmas concerts, the church was able to produce a split-screen layout that allowed them to showcase a karaoke game, something they had been able to program earlier that afternoon. The platform allowed the church to switch between screens easily and with no latency, expanding its content capabilities during the concerts.

"Before, that would have been a much more complicated process," said Dave Evans, executive production director for Cottonwood Creek Church. "We probably could have done it, but I'm not sure we could have. But with the KAIROS system, we could do it within 10 minutes of realizing we wanted to do that."

KAIROS has also allowed the church to approach broadcasting differently. It provides its engineers and directors with the tools for quality and creative broadcasting capabilities, including value-added features when broadcasting through its website. Plus, it can broadcast directly through Facebook and YouTube, increasing its awareness and introducing its services to potential new audiences.

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This change in quality has not gone unnoticed—and the church has noticed that tech support emails and complaints have virtually disappeared from its congregation. "Now, all I'm hearing from people is that they're hearing the message, seeing what's going on in the room, and connecting with it in a way that we haven't had before," said Chapman. 

Church members were introduced to the platform during the demo last year, and its ability to address an issue that cropped up in real time became a strong selling point for the church. They realized they needed to create high-quality, in-house overflow rooms for a sold-out conference, with many people still looking to purchase tickets and participate in some fashion. They set up two new LED screens within the rooms to accommodate additional attendees—and using a high-quality NDI stream from KAIROS, they delivered a wow factor that blew attendees away, providing seamless content integration from the conference in the main room.

"Since fully transitioning to KAIROS, when we say we're doing an overflow room, we're able to deliver that high-quality type of experience where it's even better than what you would have at home, even though it's not in the main room," added Chapman.

New Production Heights

KAIROS has also allowed them to deliver a level of professionalism for critical functions, including a recent remembrance service for a mass shooting that impacted their community. Local, state, and national media members were in attendance. The platform allowed the church to broadcast the service seamlessly, which would have been difficult with its previous configuration and allowed the focus to stay on those grieving and praying for their injured or lost loved ones.

Plus, the new platform has also expanded the church's rental business, allowing them to support everything from a Christian band shooting their music video onsite to conferences, taking advantage of the platform's support of multiple rooms. This puts rental clients at ease because of the technology at their fingertips and the professionalism of the church's technicians and operators. "What's so cool is that when people come in and see what we have, they leave all their gear in the truck," said Chapman.

Panasonic highlighted the versatility of the KAIROS platform, which allows churches to deliver high-quality content through an intuitive, familiar interface. The platform's simple controls, which can be set to enable various functions with a single button, make it easy to operate efficiently without a steep learning curve for staff, volunteers, or contract technicians. "It's a lot simpler of a system to use but has much more power and flexibility behind it," said Peyton Thomas, solutions engineer with Panasonic Connect North America.

The church viewed its technological transition as a strong partnership with Panasonic, and when any issues come up, they are immediately addressed. For example, during the installation process, when one of the servers was not receiving video correctly, Panasonic responded immediately, sending someone to the church the next day to find a solution. "If they don't answer the phone right away, it's an email, or they'll call me back as soon as they can, and that's everyone we've worked with at Panasonic," said Brycen Welborn, AVL systems director with Cottonwood Creek Church.

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

With the other 88% of the platform’s capabilities yet to be unlocked, the church is excited to explore how it can expand its offerings, including being able to broadcast remotely from various locations and establishing a studio segment during their broadcasts. "Honestly, it inspires our creativity to think of ways to connect with our people better," added Chapman.

South Africa’s Moreleta Church has one of the largest auditoriums in the country with over 7,000 seats for the congregation. The church welcomes both in-person and online worshippers every weekend with the help of a reinvented video infrastructure from Stage Audio Works.

“We had been talking to the client for several months about upgrading their current video system,” said Stage Audio Works’ Lee Thomson. “They were considering an overall video upgrade for center, left and right screens, so the first phase of the project included two new side screens, two cameras and a new video-switching solution.”

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

Moreleta Church opens its doors twice every Sunday at 9 a.m. and then at 5 p.m. Additionally, the church also hosts dozens of external events across the calendar year, so having a video system that was flexible enough to support and adapt to these needs was extremely important. Stage Audio Works relied on a LED screen solution from Pixel Plus that was supported by Blackmagic Design cameras for the mixture of events.

“The new solution is ideal for both Moreleta’s in-person and streamed events. The church has almost 9,000 subscribers on YouTube, and the Blackmagic Design cameras ensure that all the action is captured clearly. The Pixel Plus screen helps with this inside the auditorium too, especially with the custom size that made it possible to fit the screen directly into the space of the previous system,” furthers Thomson.

The video solution comprises 1,360 Pixel Plus P4 LED modules set in a custom frame. Video control comes from an all-in-one Novastar VX1000 controller that integrates video processing and video controlling in one device.

Stage Audio Works also installed two of Blackmagic Design’s self-contained Studio Cameras. These compact and portable products have been designed for live production and have all the benefits of large studio cameras, so were an obvious choice for live streaming at Moreleta. Blackmagic Design Mini Converters handle the video signals and two Stage Plus Power Cubes ensure that power distribution is seamless through D-Curve circuit breakers specifically designed for LED screens.

[Hybrid: The Next Generation]

“All audio communications are handled through a Hollyland Solidcom M1 system, a wireless intercom solution offering full-duplex functionality,” noted Thomson. “We chose Hollyland because of their commitment to high-quality audio, and the solution is easy to use. It supports numerous calls with one main station and up to eight belt packs, which results in a much smoother user experience.”

“Our new video installation has allowed us to carry on serving as an inclusive, welcoming church for worshippers,” concluded Estian Els at Moreleta Church. “Our video content is now at a very high quality, which makes our content more digestible and accessible for those not there physically. We really enjoyed working with Stage Audio Works, it was a seamless project that has really upgraded what we can offer at Moreleta.”

Grace Community Church in Southern California started out as “two small buildings and a chicken coop” in 1956 and has since expanded to a multi-building campus that now meets the spiritual needs of thousands of weekly congregants. Streamlining its AV management to keep focus on the worship experience was pivotal. To do so, Grace Community Church deployed a large Dante-based networked AV system throughout the campus, including video capabilities using Dante AV.

The non-denominational, evangelical megachurch comprises a 3,000-seat worship center, the original 300-seat chapel, a family center, a children’s center, the Master’s Seminary, a tower featuring five large classrooms, and several small outbuildings. The initial Dante implementation began in 2014 with buildouts in the family center and worship center, and the church has added Dante endpoints regularly, now totaling over 150 devices. 

During full orchestral performances, over 100 microphones are deployed between the musicians, choir, and worship leaders running through Dante-enabled Yamaha consoles. The church employs separate networks for IT, security, and AV traffic to avoid conflicts. Given the size of the existing Dante network, they began using Dante Domain Manager in 2022 to great effect in maintaining and managing the sitewide deployment. The ability to route Dante audio between VLANs/subnets has been the biggest plus for the church, allowing them to consolidate ten isolated audio systems into one integrated network.

Recently, the church created a feature documentary slated for theater release, but they wanted first to broadcast the premiere campus wide. Not knowing how large the audience would be for such a venture, the church felt it prudent to have the worship center and several overflow rooms prepared to receive guests and broadcast the documentary. The church felt that the documentary needed to be broadcast in 4K for maximum effect, and while Grace Community Church had a pre-existing video distribution system, it could not deliver video reliably. So church leadership turned to John Mark Conaway, Sunday technology supervisor for the church, to coordinate the enormous challenge of distributing reliable 4K video and audio to each screening space.

“We were fully committed to Dante on the audio side, so when we heard about Dante AV, we were interested in trying it out,” said Conaway. “Our initial test in the main overflow room was a ‘set it and forget it’ trial, which worked perfectly. That’s the type of reliability we were looking for, and we didn’t need to tinker with it continuously.”

The church’s AV team deployed nine Bolin D20 Dante AV Ultra transceivers throughout the campus to facilitate the live video stream from the sanctuary to overflow rooms in the satellite buildings. Bolin’s D20 Series Dante AV Ultra transceiver device can be programmed as an encoder or a decoder. Bolin’s D20 Series devices are single video channel networked AV-over-IP transceivers fully compatible with Dante audio devices within a Dante ecosystem like Grace Community Church. Each transceiver supports up to 4K60 streaming over a standard gigabit network with ultra-low latency and offers embedded audio output via HDMI or SDI and PTZ camera movement control via IP or IR pass-through. Based on the pre-existing SDI infrastructure, the church installed three D20H models (HDMI) and six D20S units (SDI) across the campus.

“The flexibility the D20 transceivers provided regarding audio and video distribution is a big plus,” said Conaway. “Expanding our existing Dante infrastructure to include Dante AV was not only plausible but also usable and cost-effective.”

The church wanted to provide a live introduction in 4K across the campus and then cleanly switch to the documentary being fed from a Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck. The premiere at the church was a huge success, and audience reactions to the AV experience were highly favorable. The power of being able to independently route the audio and video streams while guaranteeing clock synchronization provided the AV team with the tools needed to route de-embedded audio from the main feed and resynchronize with the video stream before inputting the signal into six video matrices serving the overflow rooms and the three large screens in the family center.

Another event the church held where Dante AV was a huge benefit was their Shepherd’s conference. The conference brought hundreds of religious leaders together from across the country, and Conaway’s team distributed video streams with locally translated audio for non-English speaking attendees to temporary hospitality rooms around the campus. The audio resyncing with the video was made easy by Dante AV. Grace Community Church also uses Dante AV regularly for communion, offering an English service in the worship center and a Spanish-led service in the chapel building. When communion begins, the AV feed from the worship center is streamed to the chapel, where spoken words and music lyrics are translated into Spanish in real time, providing a consistent worship experience for all congregants.

“Adding Dante AV to our Dante implementation brought together audio, video, control and management in a single platform for maximum scalability and flexibility,” said Conaway. “For us, the selling points were, first, we were already in the Dante ecosystem, so there’s a familiarity with the technology. You’re not starting over. Plus, our staff doesn’t have the time to train on new systems. Second, ease of implementation. Because Dante AV is in the same ecosystem, the integration happens much faster and easier. I don’t know another way we would have accomplished as much in the last 18 months without spending a lot more time and money.”

Valley Community Church (VCC) in the East Bay suburb of Pleasanton, CA, is known for practicing what it preaches: to embrace a welcoming and giving spirit. With a new L-Acoustics PA system, the church is now known for its enhanced services. 

In recent years, VCC’s weekly message from the pulpit has been a bit harder to hear; not because it’s not being well received by members and visitors, but because the sanctuary’s existing PA system was showing its age. “They were experiencing sound quality issues with their older, powered line array, and after several attempts to tune it, they knew it was at the end-of-life for that product, especially as compared to today’s technology and sonic standards,” noted Chuck Mitchell, CEO of Los Alamitos-based TechArts, an L-Acoustics Certified Provider since 2020 that was brought in to perform an audio retrofit for the church’s 600-seat worship space.

“The client initially had their eyes on other loudspeaker manufacturers that actually required a higher budget to compete,” he added. “While L-Acoustics is a premium brand, the cost-effective A Series manages to combine top performance with a very attractive price.”

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

“I have been a fan of L-Acoustics since hearing V-DOSC back in the ’90s,” shared John Heyer, VCC’s technical director since 2016. “I didn’t think it was possible to even consider a high-end system from them. We were going around to a few churches and other venues to listen to their systems when we told TechArts what we were looking for and gave them our proposed budget. Chuck and his team came in under that number with an L-Acoustics solution, which was something that we had only dreamed about.

“We then found out that a local theatre and music venue had some A10 arrays, and their technical director graciously set up a demo for us to hear the A Series. What ultimately finalized it for me was experiencing that system in person. Even without subs, the clarity of the full-range source, the speech intelligibility, and the amazing venue coverage they provided with so few enclosures was incredible. When Chuck came to us with a Soundvision design showing our predicted coverage, we knew it was absolutely the right choice for us.”

VCC’s new loudspeaker setup is relatively simple but highly effective featuring three A15i Focus over one A15i Wide per side, plus two KS21i subs hung behind each main array. Six ultra-compact 5XT coaxial enclosures spread out across the stage lip serve as front-fills, while three LA4X and a single LA2Xi power the entire system.

“This system is a night-and-day difference from our old powered PA,” Heyer explained. “The A15i arrays have provided a new depth to the overall mix during worship and a new level of vocal intelligibility in both our worship and teaching times. With fewer boxes, we have more uniform coverage throughout the sanctuary, both on the main floor and in the balcony. It was even able to give us increased coverage under the balcony with no need for fills. The Panflex feature of the A Series is helping us keep a lot of energy off of the side walls, and the addition of front-fills have made every seat in the room a great-sounding spot. Also, we now have so much headroom. We were initially looking at the smaller A10i models, but I think we made the right choice in getting that increased dB with the A15i. I always like having that extra room when we need it for the worship team.

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“We are incredibly thankful to both L-Acoustics and TechArts for making this all happen so quickly,” he continued. “We had budgeted and planned for so long to make an upgrade to our system and knowing that we had an amazing fully functional system in place for Christmas was a great relief to our leadership team. We are beyond impressed with the entire design and installation process. There have been zero second thoughts on whether or not we made the correct decision. The TechArts team have gone above and beyond with support from the very beginning, and even now, several months after the installation, they continue to offer us advice and assistance. It’s truly been the best-quality service for the best-quality product.”

RF Venue has been busy of late with a couple of installations in the iconic Times Square in New York City and a Charlotte, NC church. Check out both below. 

RF Venue Rocks New York City at Times Square Live Concert Series

Every year, TSQ Live invites hundreds of artists, performers, and cultural producers to share their work in one of the world’s most iconic public spaces. These events—part of an initiative of the nonprofit Times Square Alliance—depend upon technology that ensures flawless performance and the best possible audio quality for both performers and the audience. With all these factors combined, DiCorpo chose product solutions from RF Venue to optimize the high-performance Sennheiser EW-D wireless microphone systems and Sennheiser EW IEM G4 in-ear monitor systems being used for the show.

“Was I a little nervous about using wireless in Times Square? Yes. But I’d been using RF Venue products since being introduced to their wireless solutions several years ago while working with some of the regional production companies here in the northeast,” said DiCorpo. “I’d never seen an RF Venue DFIN before. I’d never seen a CP Beam antenna before. Once I learned what they are and how they work, there was no going back.” When the time came around for his company, CJD Productions, to buy its own wireless microphones and IEM systems for the work he was doing with Couch and a few other clients, “RF Venue was an easy choice to complete the systems,” stated DiCorpo, who sourced his RF Venue products from Berlin, CT-based TMP-Pro Distribution. 

For the Times Square Live performance, a selection of RF Venue products was used for the critical role of providing dropout-free microphone performance, including the DISTRO4 Professional Antenna Distribution System, an RF Venue Diversity Fin Antenna, and RF Venue Band-pass Filters, which DiCorpo describes as the “gravy on top.” He explains, “If you really want to make sure it’s going to work well and work well for a long time, the Band-pass Filters help block RF from outside of the frequency range where your wireless mics are operating, giving you a little bit more comfort in your setup. With everything going on in Times Square, there’s a lot of other stuff in surrounding frequency bands, so it’s nice to isolate exactly what you’re using for your microphones. What’s great about RF Venue products is that they help the wireless microphones be seen through all that noise.”

The RF Venue Diversity Fin Antenna’s patented technologies utilize a vertical LPDA “paddle” element for reception of vertically polarized signals and a dipole antenna in an orthogonal (right angle) orientation in an all-in-one, easy-to-deploy, package. Designed to work with any brand or model wireless microphone receiver, the DISTRO4 ensures reliable RF signal for up to five receivers and delivers power for four receivers, eliminating wall warts, and up to five DISTRO4s can be cascaded for large system management.

For in-ear monitoring, DiCorpo chose a complementary configuration utilizing an RF Venue COMBINE8 Transmitter Combiner and compact circularly polarized CP Beam Antenna to provide a constant focused signal regardless of the IEM receiver position. “Couch is a high-energy band. A lot of fun. But if they can’t hear each other, they’re not performing at their best. It’s nice to be in a high-pressure environment like that and not have to worry about the microphones or in-ears dropping out. RF Venue gave me that peace of mind.”

The COMBINE8 IEM combiner brings together up to eight in-ear monitor transmitter signals into a single rear panel-mounted antenna connector, as well as providing DC power to up to eight IEM transmitters. Paired with a directional external antenna, most often the RF Venue CP Beam Antenna, the combination enables multi-channel systems to minimize the intermodulation artifacts arising from multiple adjacent transmitters interfering with one another, particularly when rack-mounted and using the transmitter-mounted whip antennas. 

“In a sense, the Times Square show had one of the biggest audiences the band has ever played for, not knowing who was in the onsite crowd or who was watching from beyond," he said. "Once we got everything up and I did the frequency coordination and we had a smooth sound check, I was confident that it was going to work. You can't beat that. I don't want to have to worry about dropouts or interference. I want to concentrate on mixing the sound and making the band sound their best.”

Nikao Church Modernizes Worship with Wireless Solutions

Charlotte, NC’s Nikao Church began in 2015 when a dozen individuals under the leadership of Pastor Brian Duley embarked on a mission to impact their city. Having moved to progressively larger north Charlotte locations as the church grew, in October 2023 it added a 40-acre main campus on Charlotte’s southern outskirts that includes classrooms, offices, and an auditorium capable of seating up to 1250 worshippers. 

“The basic structures and buildings for the south campus were there; however, they needed to do a full AVL system for the church in order to hold services,” stated Ryan “Fig” Bonfiglio, project manager for Sioux City, Iowa-based BNY Productions, which designed and installed the system. "This was a ground-up installation."

RF Venue’s CP Architectural Antenna and COMBINE8 Kit plus a second COMBINE8 8-channel IEM transmitter combiner and a passive 2x1Split splitter/combiner allow all of Nikao Church’s IEM transmitter RF outputs to be combined to feed a single antenna for transmission to the IEM receivers. As a bonus, said Bonfiglio, as it folds the performance of the renowned RF Venue circularly polarized CP Beam Antenna into an unobtrusive low-profile housing, the CP Architectural Antenna “provides a clean install look that matches the wall color.”

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BNY had the challenge at Nikao Church of having two zones of mics being used on the stage for the service while also having mics in the lobby and outside the front of the church for pre- and post-service programming. The lobby/entrance area being too far from the microphone receiver racks to run coaxial cabling without unacceptable signal attenuation, RF Venue’s Optix Series 3 two-channel RF over fiber optic system was used to convert the electrical antenna outputs to light waves and then back again at the receiving end (the optical signal can be run for miles without degradation). Two RF Venue Diversity Architectural Antenna & DISTRO9 HDR Packs were deployed to provide wireless mic signal reception and distribution. Each Diversity Architectural Antenna provides the patented cross-polarized, true diversity reception of RF Venue’s Diversity Fin Antenna in a compact housing with the same near-invisible appearance as the CP Architectural Antenna. An RF Venue inline band-pass filter on each antenna output suppresses RF noise outside of the operating band of the wireless microphones to improve the signal-to-noise of the antenna signal delivered to the dual-zone, 9-channel DISTRO9 HDR antenna distribution amplifiers. The two DISTRO9s then deliver both the antenna outputs and DC power to the wireless microphone receivers. “The church loves the ability that they have to freely move around the building and have their team be flexible on where they are placed without restrictions on coverage,” concluded Bonfiglio. “With the band-pass filters in line as well, they get good clean signals from both antennas without adding extraneous noise into the system.”

New Life United Pentecostal Church of Austin—aka “New Life Austin”—is no stranger to KLANG products solving challenges for the tech-forward church. In 2017, New Life Austin became one of the first houses of worship to implement a pair of KLANG:fabrik immersive in-ear monitor mixing processors. KLANG:fabrik provided eight to ten musicians and vocalists an improved performance experience on stage every Sunday, giving each worship team member full control over their personal monitor mix while also improving its sonic quality. 

Now, New Life Austin is enhancing that experience further. 

A new installation, part of a package purchased through Heart Of Texas Music, upgraded to a new KLANG:konductor, replacing the :fabriks and also included a new DiGiCo Quantum225 console at front of house. The KLANG-DiGiCo combination has taken the church’s audio to a new level once again, and just in time, as New Life Austin’s music production has continued to grow—just the number of vocalists onstage now would have outnumbered the entire worship team seven years ago.

[Historic Chapel, Modern Sound]

“We have nine or ten vocalists during services now, along with bass, drums, a couple of guitars, keys, percussion, sax, and so on,” said TJ Feronti, New Life Austin’s tech director and FOH engineer. His channel count now exceeds 70, which was straining the capacity of the previous pair of 56-input KLANG:fabrik systems.

“The :fabrik is a great IEM processor, but we were having to send groups from one into the other to accommodate everything we needed,” he explained. “And we had been maxed out on the DiGiCo SD9 console we had been using for front of house and to route the monitors. Now, we have up to 128 channels and 16 separate mixes available, going over MADI through the Quantum225. It’s all so much easier to manage.”

Feronti said the church’s musicians and singers have taken to the KLANG’s immersive mode, with most of them choosing to use it. “They’ve been very impressed, whether they’re new to the professional aspect of this or have been doing it since they were using wedge floor monitors or just stereo IEMs. They love being able to move things around spatially in their mixes on their iPads and have them reflect what they’re experiencing onstage.”

And Feronti says the :konductor has made his job easier, able to listen in and keep an ear on any of the stage mixes from his own iPad. “Plus, it’s so easy to use,” he added. “Whenever we have other worship teams visiting, our house team can help them adjust to it very quickly. It’s just made everything a whole lot easier here.”

The Cathedral Church of All Saints—better known as Derby Cathedral—is an important spiritual and cultural hub for Derby and surrounding areas. With at least  18 services per week in addition to the special and seasonal services, having a modern, flexible audio system was imperative. The Cathedral recently turned to specialist consultant and integrator, Charles Brown of Acoustic Solutions to upgrade their audio solution with a comprehensive point source system from KV2 Audio.

With years are audio experience specifically in churches and cathedrals throughout the U.K., Brown is often among those called for houses of worship looking to upgrade or renew their systems. “The pandemic was a catalyst for change for many churches as they were forced into live streaming in order to continue to connect with their congregations,” explained Brown. “I’ve installed over 40 live streaming systems in churches across the UK as a result, and it was whilst advising Derby Cathedral on this topic that it became apparent that their current loudspeaker system was less than adequate for the job.”

The Cathedral needed clarity of the spoken word and detailed, low-level playback that could be perfectly heard without over-exciting the acoustic of the building. Brown demonstrated several products from a number of brands, but it was the ESD25 and ESD5 from KV2 that the cathedral (and Brown) preferred above anything else.

“I generally find that once clients have been exposed to KV2, they don’t want anything else,” stated Brown, “and if it were up to me, I’d use KV2 on every job if I could get it into the budget. In this case, ESD5 and ESD25 were an ideal choice—sufficiently compact that they fit in architecturally yet loud enough without being intrusive and with a clarity and detail that is second to none, all of which is perfect for a cathedral environment.”

Brown replaced around 30 100v line loudspeakers with a total of 16 ESD cabinets in white to blend seamlessly with the architecture. He deployed four of the larger, more powerful ESD25s at the front of the space near the altar to provide a little more bottom end, adding that the acoustics are such that any bass frequencies fill the space without effort. The rest of the Cathedral is covered by 12 of the more compact ESD5s. An Allen & Heath AHM matrix mixer defines eight speaker zones allowing areas to be isolated when not in use and the levels of each zone to be adjusted for flawless coverage with no hotspots or dead zones.

“We’ve had nothing but praise for the system since it’s been in, both from users and those who have experienced the sound it delivers,” reported Brown. Derby Cathedral operations manager Jessica Kilmurray is in full agreement: “We’ve had a huge number of positive comments about how the new system looks and sounds from members of the Cathedral community,” she notes. “It just goes to show that it’s already making a significant impact on the quality of our services, which is marvelous.”