By Steve Harvey. Houses of worship may share timeless insights, but their audio systems are increasingly expected to be modern by congregations used to hearing quality audio everywhere else in their lives. With that in mind, we look at choir miking and how different HOWs are approaching consoles, PA systems, acoustic treatments, IEM mixing and more.
More than two-dozen large panels were used to counter reverb and echo in the sanctuary.
By Al Fernald. Choir microphones don’t automatically grab your attention—if anything, they’re meant to blend into the scenery—but they’re crucial for bringing a group of voices to worshipers, whether via the house PA system, recordings or broadcasts.
CrossRoad Baptist Church recently upgraded its sound reinforcement system with PreSonus WorxAudio loudspeakers.
The Church of Notre Dame in Western Pennsylvania recently obtained a DPA Microphones’ d:screet SC4098 Podium Microphone.
The First Baptist Church Woodstock replaced its aging Yamaha PM1D consoles with new RIVAGE PM10s.
As part of a major expansion, First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs, LA upgraded its audio system with Renkus-Heinz.
Houston’s The Met Church updates 20+ year old audio system with Bose.
When New Hope Presbyterian Church completed its new sanctuary, it needed an audio system that could accommodate both traditional and contemporary music services.
AES@NAMM To Offer Extensive Live Sound Masterclasses
Canada's Sound Art provided audio for the YC Alberta Youth Christian Group event held at the Rexall Place Arena.
Regional audio company Crownstar Technologies conquered acoustical issues inside the highly reverberent St. Paul's Church in Abu Dhabi.
Aiming to underline its presence on the East Coast and also the Broadway theatrical market, L-Acoustics has opened a new office in midtown Manhattan, located within walking distance to Penn Station.
The Salvation Army Temple in Atlanta recently upgraded its audio system, ditching a 20-year-old PA in the process. In its place is a new Nexo Geo S12 line array system, installed by Wirebox Media (Smyna, GA), which also spec’d a plethora of Yamaha gear.
New Covenant Christian Ministries recently worked with dB Integrations of Gainesville, Georgia to update its audio system with a variety of new mixers from Allen & Heath covering FOH, broadcast and personal monitoring.
The First United Methodist Church of Lake Wales recently upgraded the audio system in its near-70 year old building with a new Renkus-Heinz PA designed and installed by Lakeland, FL AV systems integrator MABE.
By Steve Harvey. The successful completion of the FCC's Incentive Auction earlier this year set the countdown clock ticking for wireless mic operators, who must vacate the 600 MHz band by July, 2020. But as a panel of RF experts on opening day of the convention stressed, some wireless equipment users will be losing access in their regions much earlier.
Eastridge Church in Issaquah, WA recently updated audio in its 1,400-seat main sanctuary with the addition of a Roland Professional M-5000 OHRCA Live Mixing Console.
The First Baptist Church in Natchez, MS may be as old as the State of Mississippi itself, but its current home was built in 1984. Recently the church replaced its audio system—also from that era—with Renkus-Heinz IC32-24-RN digitally steerable line arrays provided by regional audio house, MS Audio.
In its 3,800-capacity auditorium, Centro Cristiano de Guayaquil (CCG) recently installed an Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing system and ME personal monitoring system.
Nashville-based Spectrum Sound recently updated its inventory with the addition of six new DiGiCo SD12 mixing consoles and four additional SD-Racks. These come in addition to the four S21, six SD10 and dozen SD9 consoles, as well as 15 SD-Racks and eight D-Racks that the audio provider already owns.
T-Mobile has made good on its promise to begin lighting up new 600 MHz services in August, announcing that its first network site, in Cheyenne, WY, is now live.
By Steve Harvey. A letter to the Federal Communications Commission from a bipartisan Congressional group could potentially make more frequency spectrum available to wireless microphone operators.
Clear-Com, DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics, Sound Devices, and K-Tek will host The Sound Summit Seattle in August, taking over the Columbia City Theater in Seattle on Thursday, August 17, 2017.
By Steve Harvey. The Federal Communications Commission has issued an Order that provides the specific language for the Consumer Disclosure notice to be displayed on wireless mic products operating in the 600 MHz service band.
That Nexo loudspeakers are going on the road may not come as a surprise, but what makes this instance unique is that it’s the Nexo M10 Experience Tour—a series of training sessions for the new Nexo Geo M10, offered by Yamaha Professional Audio.
By Clive Young. Pro-audio RF wranglers and wireless users may be in for a surprise next month, as T-Mobile announced yesterday that it will make its first in-roads into 600 MHz next month, far head of the original FCC-based transition timeline of 39 months from now, and even ahead of T-Mobile’s news earlier this week that it planned to enter the space by Halloween.
Sennheiser is applauding the Federal Communications Commission’s Order on Reconsideration and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, ratified on July 13, 2017.
The Federal Communications Commission has revised and clarified its rules to promote more effective spectrum access for wireless microphone operations in the TV bands, the repurposed 600 MHz band and other frequency bands.
San Diego’s Rock Church may have been founded in 2000, but it has grown quickly. Today, it has five campuses across San Diego County, spearheaded by its main facility that seats 3,450 worshippers, for an average weekly attendance of 15,000. Recently the worship space got an audio update in the form of two new Yamaha RIVAGE PM10 Digital Audio Consoles for front of house and monitor mix duties.
Opened in December 2016, Fellowship Alliance Chapel’s new Worship Center seats 1,700 worshippers on the main floor and another 500 in the balcony.
Founded 150 years ago, Morton Apostolic Christian Church in Morton, Illinois recently moved into a modern-day facility, and soon after contracted Ryan M. Winstead of Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems to design and install an audio system. The resulting arrangement includes Powersoft amplifiers supporting Danley and Martin Audio loudspeakers.
When is a house-of-worship install not a house-of-worship install? When the HOW in question is a deconsecrated 14th century gothic cathedral in Leiden, the Netherlands. Repurposed as a community events center, Pieterskerk Leiden still has all the majesty of a massive cathedral, but it also retained all the inherent acoustical challenges, too.
Great Hills Baptist Church recently updated its audio system with a new VUE Audiotechnik al-Class line array for its 3,500-seat auditorium.
Yamaha is taking the Nexo Geo M10 line array on the road, demoing the new system at locations around the United States next month.
In “Eleanor Rigby,” Paul McCartney sang of “Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear.” Now a real-life Father McKenzie has had a Bose RoomMatch loudspeaker system installed at Toronto-based Faith Sanctuary, ensuring everyone at a service can hear him.
By Karen Mitchell. The Cherry Hills Community Church (CHCC) in Highlands Ranch, CO, near Denver, has been called the fastest growing church in the U.S., but until recently its audio system simply couldn’t keep up with its spectacular pace.
The audio involved in most church services today is a blend of spoken word, singing voices and music with instrumentation that ranges from minimalistic— e.g., one piano, organ or guitar—to complex—perhaps something rivaling a Broadway production.
By Steve Harvey. Copper is dead, long live glass. That’s an exaggeration, of course; copper cable as a transport for both analog and digital signals is still alive and kicking. But as more houses of worship adopt digital workflows for live sound, recording and broadcast production, fiber optic cables are becoming an attractive alternative.
By Alvin Fernald. It may seem like preaching to the choir to suggest this in HOW Sound, but miking a group of singers should be approached with care and consideration. It’s not a case where you can throw up a few mics and be done with it (well, you can, but it’s not going to help the situation). There’s a string of parameters to be taken into consideration, from the kinds of mics and patterns employed to their placement around the choir. With that in mind, we turned to Todd Foster of Audix Microphones, who shared some choir miking tips.
The First Baptist Church of Los Angeles is 90 years old, and reflects the time when it was built, sporting 60-foot ceilings within the echoing space. Today, it’s used by multiple congregations and also is often rented for TV and movie shoots as well. Recently, CCI Solutions updated the facility’s audio system to better accommodate all those entities, using Kiva and X Series enclosures from L-Acoustics.
Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina recently purcahsed a trio of Roland M-5000 OHRCA live mixing consoles, for its 3,000-seat auditorium.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: If lightning zaps your church’s ancient PA, take a hint. That’s what happened with the audio system inside Vineyard Church’s 1,055-seat auditorium in Urbana, IL, and it ultimately led to the facility getting a new Martin Audio MLA Compact system.
Marking its 90th anniversary this year, First Assembly Community Ministries of Lafayette, Indiana recently hired CCI Solutions to design and install a new audio system in its 1,100-seat sanctuary. The system sports an Allen & Heath dLive S Class Mixing System at its center, tackling FOH, monitor and broadcast mixes.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Incentive Auction came to an end on January 18, 2017 when telecommunications companies met the closing criteria for a clearing target of 84 MHz, of which 70 MHz is public airwaves.
Sun Valley Community Church’s five campuses serve 8,000 regular attendees, and two locations recently underwent considerably audio system upgrades handled by AV systems provider, WAVE. Intriguingly, the 1,300-capacity Gilbert broadcast campus and 700-seat Queen Creek space are the first anywhere to integrate KLANG:technologies’ KLANG:fabrik 3D IEM audio-mixing system with an immersive house PA design.
They heard the need and they answered the call. With audio techs in HOWs running the gamut from full-time audio engineers at megachurches to volunteers with no experience at smaller congregations, major pro audio retailers are offering worship audio events to address the educational needs of this live sound niche.
Religious broadcasting has come a long way since Pittsburgh radio station KDKA aired the very first service on January 2, 1921, from Calvary Episcopal Church.
Within most houses-of-worship (HOWs) and modern church environments, audio needs change on a regular basis.
Increased musical diversity is opening up houses-of-worship to the influence of songs and hymns of other denominations and genres.