Worship AVL July-August 2021

AV LIGHTING SOUND REINFORCEMENT RECORDING STAGE SOUND BROADCAST

July–August 2021

July–August 2021

STICKING TO THE SCRIPT

RCF blends in at TWBC

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SUSTAINABLE LIGHTING

SWITCHING TO LED Singapore: MICA (P) 009/05/2021 PPS 1644/05/2013(022954)

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Contents Issue 71

July–August 2021

NEWS SHRINKING SPECTRUM Home Church stays connected with Lectrosonics

4

EVANGELICAL UPGRADE Nigerian TV channel selects PlayBox Neo

6

ONLINE SERVICES DWR assists Empower Church with livestreaming

6

CAPACITY BOOST Protech steers Ivory Coast church to success

7

4K SOLUTION Destiny Worship Center invests in Analog Way

8

TRANSFORMATION Elation’s Fuze Pendants light up Lighthouse Church

10

COMPLETE COVERAGE CODA Audio supplies Grace Korean Church with N-RAY 11

PROJECTS AURAL SIMPLICITY Believers Eastern Church Cathedral chooses Fohhn in India 14 ALPHA TO OMEGA Singapore’s Living Sanctuary Brethren Church adopts Dante 16 SHORTLISTED Gamsaganumchinun church settles on Meyer Sound

20

COVER: STICKING TO THE SCRIPT RCF hangs out at TWBC

22

HIGH ENERGY L-Acoustics and DirectOut share the spotlight at PCC

26

PERFECT PARTNERS Hortus Audio joins Our Style Sound Systems in Kuwait 28 PURE SOUND Alcons Audio equips Norway’s iconic Tromsdalen Church

30

KNOWHOW ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL PART 1 Gordon Moore makes a smooth transition

32

MIRACLE WORKER Casey Hawkins has to think outside the box

34

Editor’s note

Email: kwallace@worshipavl.com

As restrictions start to ease in the UK, we find ourselves faced with a mixture of in-person and livestreamed services. In my experience, when my church halted services I enjoyed coming together with my fellow parishioners on Zoom every Sunday morning – at least we were all together in the same place – so I’m holding onto the hope that soon we will all be able to meet and worship together in one place again, but this time in our church building.

We had to travel a long way for our lead story this issue – about 50m across the road from our office! Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church has undergone a major refurbishment of its AVL systems, enlisting the help of Liverpool-based systems integrator Adlib. A flown line array comprising RCF’s HDL 26-A and HDL 35-AS units has resulted in a clear and precise system which will hopefully make the building more accessible within the community.

A couple of the Blank Canvas team were just a little envious when they saw a photo of Casey Hawkins’ “tool cart” that he uses to transport all his pieces of equipment around the different facilities he manages at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas (see page 34). But it highlights just how much we’ve all had to adapt to different ways of working over the last year or so. Thinking outside the box has become the new normal and the more creative the better.

I hope you enjoy the issue. Keep safe and keep in touch.

SUSTAINABLE LIGHTING John Black shares tips on monitoring energy usage 36

IN THIS ISSUE

TECHNOLOGY HYBRID REALITY Earthworks Audio discusses audio quality in the digital realm 38 THE FUTURE OF PTZs Canon EMEA studies the evolution of the PTZ market

40

PREPARING FOR LED Bob Mentele looks at switching to LED

42

PRODUCTS Equipment launches and updates

44

16

30

38

40

THE TECH VIEW Ashdown AV’s Ian Chisnall considers the popularity of streaming 58

Contacts GENERAL MANAGER Richard Lawn T: +44 1892 676280

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sue Gould T: +44 1892 676280

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Caroline Moss T: +44 1892 676280

SENIOR REPORTER Simon Luckhurst T: +44 1892 676280

SALES ASSOCIATE Carolyn Valliere T: +1 562 746 1790

rlawn@worshipavl.com

sgould@worshipavl.com

cmoss@worshipavl.com

sluckhurst@worshipavl.com

cvalliere@worshipavl.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER Adrian Baker T: +44 1892 676280

DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER Nick Smith T: +44 1892 676280

VIDEO EDITOR Chris Yardley T: +44 1892 676280

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Jessica Ubhi T: +44 1892 676280

GUANGZHOU MANAGER Sue Su T: +86(20)85633602

abaker@worshipavl.com

nsmith@worshipavl.com

cyardley@worshipavl.com

jubhi@worshipavl.com

ssu@worshipavl.com

COVER: TW Baptist Church PRINTER: Times Printers Singapore LICENCES: Singapore: MICA (P) 009/05/2021 PPS 1644/05/2013(022954) CIRCULATION: circulation@worshipavl.com All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the copyright owners.

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PUBLISHED BY: 17 Upper Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DU, UK

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NEWS

Lectrosonics keeps the congregation connected USA Home Church in the South San Francisco Bay Area was determined to keep in touch with its congregation during the pandemic but its ageing analogue wireless audio equipment had become obsolete because the available radio spectrum in the region had been shrinking.

The HOW turned to worship AV specialist Zamar Media Solutions, who specified Lectrosonics’ fourthgeneration, all-digital D-Squared system, including two DSQD fourchannel receivers, six DHu handheld mics for the praise musicians and two DBu beltpack transmitters for the pastors’ headset mics.

“Because of the repack of frequencies in the Bay area, we’ve been left with literally three digital TV channels worth of spectrum to shoehorn everything into: 15, 18 and 25,” explained system designer, Tim Fairbairn. “Those are the only ones left without broadcasters. Our friends at Home Church needed eight channels of wireless mics, and they needed not to conflict with the five

channels they already have there for in-ear monitors.”

“So, we sought out products with much smaller bandwidth needs,” added Mike Dow, president and founder of Zamar Media Solutions.

“Lectrosonics is the only brand out there that did what we needed in this case. Their Digital Hybrid stuff has always provided good, clean

audio signal but the Lectrosonics D-Squared system takes it to a new level in terms of tight-packing useable channels into available spectrum.”

“By deploying two DSQD units, which are a half-rack each, I fit eight channels of wireless mics into a single rack space,” noted Fairbairn.

“The all-digital system also has no antenna distro needs. We were able

to take out all of their analogue wireless and antennas, some of which they repurposed in other rooms. So, in the main sanctuary, there’s almost no hardware up front.

The pastors have headsets and the singers and musicians use the handhelds. When they walk off, all that’s left is backline, and the pastors teach in front of that. It really makes for a very clean stage.”

The DSQD receivers also help Home Church coordinate all its frequencies throughout the campus. “Because the receivers can listen to the entire available spectrum,” said Fairbairn, “the customer and I can use Wireless Designer software to scan not only the Lectrosonics channels, but also all the channels for everything they own. They can then make a plan that lets all the wireless gear they’ve accumulated work in harmony across satellite rooms, in-ear monitors and so on, no matter which brand it is.” www.lectrosonics.com www.zamarmedia.com

Bonn’s CLW Church upgrades with Martin Audio

GERMANY With an increased focus on live music over recent years, CLW Church in Bonn-Bad Godesberg recognised that an upgrade to its sound system was necessary. “We have been working on a new sound reinforcement solution to meet our many requirements for a while,” explained Julian Betker, trainee pastor and vicar at the CLW. “On

the one hand, we wanted to use our existing technology, including mixing consoles, microphones and subwoofers. Our church lives through, and with, live music, which could be heard with our old system outside the church building as well. However, the positioning of the loudspeakers meant that there was always a risk of feedback. The last important point

was to stay within budget. We are a donation-financed institution and have to pay particular attention to expenditure.”

Klein Beschallungs- und Kirchentechnik from Cologne, together with Audio-Technica, created a concept with loudspeakers and power amplifiers from Martin Audio. Owner Paul Klein added: “We have been working with Audio-Technica’s products for a long time and for the first time we’ve been able to offer Martin Audio loudspeakers. The quality of the CDD series convinced us. Combined with VIA series power amplifiers and the DX0.5 system controller, we were able to create a convincing argument.

In addition, we were able to use the Adorn loudspeakers to provide sound in adjoining rooms at a reasonable price, yet still offering high quality.”

Since the church building is a rotunda with a gallery, the sound system was divided into sections.

The area in front of the stage is the largest area to be covered (with two CDD12s). The upper tier, which uses a glass pane as a parapet, was covered with two CDD10 loudspeakers. The difficulty was to hit the glass surfaces as little as possible, in order to avoid reflections. CDD6 loudspeakers were used below the gallery and A55 speakers from the Adorn series were used inside the rooms. Everything is driven by VIA5002 and VIA5004 power amplifiers, optimised by presets provided by the DX0.5 system controller.

Betker continued: “We are very happy to work with our new sound system. Our live music sounds more vivid than ever, at every seat. We are positively surprised that the integration of our existing technology worked so smoothly. Once again a big compliment to Paul Klein and his team.” www.martin-audio.com

4 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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NEWS

E&E selects PlayBox Neo for evangelical playout upgrade NIGERIA A new PlayBox Neo broadcast playout system has been integrated at a Lagos-based evangelical TV channel.

The system was chosen and integrated

by E&E Solutions which operates from administrative headquarters in Abuja and technical facilities in Lagos, and sees the broadcaster’s entire playout process for the channel handled within a 3U AirBox Neo-20 server, including 6TBs of RAID-protected storage, TitleBox Neo-20 graphics management software and a SafeBox Neo-20 content replication module.

“PlayBox Neo’s channel-in-a-box approach proved ideal for this project.

Compact, reliable and easy to operate, it is configured with all the facilities

required for channel branding, content scheduling, storage and fully automated transmission,” explained E&E’s CEO, Dhileep Meyyappan. “As

well as being operator friendly, PlayBox Neo-20 servers are straightforward to install and integrate with third-party production and distribution equipment.

PlayBox Neo-20 systems are also highly scalable as extra channels are easily accommodated if or when needed. Additional CIAB modules can be integrated relatively quickly or supplemented at very short notice

by Cloud2TV running as on-premises software or cloud SaaS. “Futureproofing was a further reason for recommending PlayBox Neo,” furthered Meyyappan. “AirBox Neo-20 supports multiple playout resolutions, giving broadcasters the freedom to transmit whatever combination of SD, HD and 4K UHD is most appropriate to their current transmission strategy.” www.eande.ng

RCF speakers increase clarity at Sulim Kadyrov Mosque

RUSSIA The Sulim Kadyrov Mosque, located in the village of Oyskhara, has the capacity to hold up to 15,000 people.

A grand opening took place in August 2020, with the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, attending as a special guest. The mosque is named after Sulim Kadyrov who, in 1932, was convicted for teaching the Holy Quran and spent 14 years in the Gulag camps. The installation of over 70 RCF speakers was carried out by Master Sound with the assistance of RCF’s Moscow-based distributor, ARIS. Since there are no intelligibility standards in Russia, ARIS engineers used external scientific publications about acoustic standards in mosques.

Using AFMG EASE modelling software and taking into account the

volume of the main prayer hall, it was calculated that the optimum reverberation time for RT60 in the 500Hz – 1kHz frequency range should be 1.9–2.2s. “Since there were no possible adjustments to the original finish, the challenge to reach the optimal RT60 was difficult,” commented Alexandr Shamray, head of sales at ARIS. “To achieve good intelligibility, the Speech Transmission Index must be around 0.60. Taking into account the extremely high resonance of prayer halls and the lack of acoustic absorbers, we focused on intelligibility parameters.

Relying solely on controlled directivity and quality of the sound system, we worked on reaching 0.50–0.55 (or higher).

“Focusing on the 250Hz, 500Hz and 1kHz frequency bands, we simulated the results using RCF’s digitally steerable VSA 1250 II and VSA 2050 II columns, placing the loudspeakers, where possible, with a maximum coverage of 10m,” continued Shamray. “These columns have a fairly narrow vertical radiation pattern, which increases the beam of direct sound into the area and reduces the amount of unwanted reflections. This approach is extremely important for increasing speech intelligibility in rooms with high reverberation.”

Four RCF VSA 1250 II speakers are suspended on the front wall near the mihrab (a niche in which the imam is located during the service) and under the gallery, at a height of 2m. Two more VSA 2050 IIs are suspended on a pair of columns supporting the dome closest to the mihrab, also at a height of 2m. An additional pair of RCF VSA 1250 IIs provide the delay, suspended on a pair of columns supporting the dome, farthest from the mihrab, again at a height of 2m.

Ten RCF L 2406T sound columns are used as sound systems for the balcony, placed on the front wall and on the balcony column. Finally, 44 PL 8X ceiling loudspeakers have been installed in both the prayer halls on the basement level.

The tradition of inviting people to pray at the mosque with a singing voice has been used by Muslims for 14 centuries. It was therefore necessary to amplify the voice of the muezzin so that it can heard over the noise of a modern city. As a result, each minaret is equipped with four weatherproof RCF HD 410T and HD 6045EN horn-type speakers and used for the daily calls to prayer (adhān and ṣalāt).

Shamray was pleased to report that all measurements fell within 96% of the calculations, resulting in a nontiring and intelligible sound system with good performance and perfect coverage. www.rcf.it

6 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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NEWS

P A

Willow Hills Baptist Church chooses Vaddio for streaming DWR assists Empower Church with audio upgrade SOUTH AFRICA The Covid-19 restrictions on HOWs in South Africa have seen many churches move to online services while upping their skills to deliver a professional broadcast. Supplied by DWR Distribution, Empower Church in Pretoria recently invested in a Waves LV1 System with the addition of Audix ADX51 for crowd microphones, to improve the quality for those watching the service from home.

“Over a year ago, the church took a big leap forward in upgrading their existing audio system with the purchase of a DiGiCo SD12,” explained DWR’s Jaco Beukes. “They have really enjoyed the console and what it offers their engineers.

We also supplied L-Acoustics loudspeakers comprising six X8 front-fills, two X8 monitors and three Kiva delay speakers. This, combined

with the existing PA system, has proven to be a tremendous upgrade and helped achieve better audience coverage across the venue.”

Empower Church has been broadcasting its services for a while now, but really jumped into the full swing of things with the Covid-19 lockdown. “Before the Waves upgrade, we would send audio from FOH, standard left and right, and it didn’t really include worship,” explained the church’s audio engineer, Kgosi Rankhumise, who has been part of the in-house technical team for the past eight years. “We usually included the end of the last song and then

went straight into the word. During the lockdown, we were able to use all our resources to make the online experience work. We pre-recorded everything and I played it back into the console and would start mixing while it was recording somewhere else.”

When the restrictions initially lifted to allow 50 people to attend a church service, Rankhumise was faced with a dilemma. One of the biggest challenges was to still be able to include worship online, which is where the Waves LV1 system came into play. The addition of the Audix ADX 51 microphones hung above the smaller audience in the church, makes the viewers watching from home feel as if they are part of the worship.

“It’s just a beautiful sound,” fur thered Rankhumise. “I always

tell the technical team that you want to be able to work with equipment that is user-friendly and a platform that will allow you to unleash your creativity. This has been accomplished with the DiGiCo and Waves LV1. The guys were intimidated at first, just looking at the gear. The Waves LV1 screen looks like something a pilot should operate, but we soon realised that it had been built for ease of use, and I have really been able to express myself through it.” www.dwrdistribution.co.za

USA Willow Hills Baptist Church in Prescott, Arizona, was seeking an affordable way to capture and stream its weekly worship services and broadcast to its 500 members. The HOW also wanted something that would be easy for congregational

The PTZ cameras – two each of the RoboSHOT 30 and RoboSHOT 12 – were chosen after seeing the results at another church. David Smith, the church’s lead tech, said the minimal latency in the Vaddio cameras using an HDBaseT cable was a deciding factor.

volunteers to use without much training. Scottsdale-based CCS Presentations has installed an AV Bridge MatrixMIX switcher, PCC MatrixMIX camera controller, TeleTouch 27 touchscreen multiviewer, and RoboSHOT 30 and RoboSHOT 12 PTZ cameras from Vaddio.

“The camera system is pretty straightforward,” said Dana Halsey of CCS Presentations, “and we connected it to their existing [audio and projection] system, to their routers, projectors, to the overflow room, and the production room, where they are able to stream.”

Recording has opened up the possibility of expanding the number of services by replaying the pastor’s 30-minute message during the new service later in the day. The AV Bridge MatrixMIX also allows them to display different views on the front and back projection screens.

By pairing the TeleTouch 27 Multiviewer and PCC MatrixMIX with the AV Bridge MatrixMIX, volunteer producers could create a production without extensive training. Cat6 cables ensure the ability to move to 4K capability in the future. “Cost wise, Vaddio is very competitive and is one of the best customer service companies,” Halsey continued.

“We have had engineers test [the AV Bridge MatrixMIX] out and had installed it in a couple of auditoriums and a couple other churches. It is very clear to set up.”

“If a pastor wants to read a passage from the Bible, we can put that up on the screen,” Smith explained, adding they also use it for song lyrics, a confidence monitor or even splitting the screen to show text below an image. www.legrandav.com

www.empowerchurch.co.za

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T m M al m Th m ar fre of ch In dr lo fre T IC m

NEWS

Protech Distribution steers Eglise Éden Assemblée Dieu to success IVORY COAST Located in Abidjan, Eglise Éden Assemblée Dieu delivers services to an expanding congregation of more than 2,000 people. The church has become so popular in recent years that it embarked on a full renovation to boost capacity to 2,400 congregants, including the installation of a steerable audio solution from Renkus-Heinz.

The new space introduced large glass windows, stunning marble work and dark wood pews – interior design decisions that typically come with their own set of acoustic challenges. “Normally you would say this is a very difficult, challenging and reverberant space,” explained Inza Bamba, managing director at Protech Distribution, which designed and installed the system. “But with the Renkus-Heinz ICLive X system, you know you are going to make every space sound amazing. And that is exactly what we were able to achieve at Eglise Éden Assemblée Dieu.”

The ICLive X series includes the manufacturer’s Acoustic Source Multiplier (ASM) waveguide, which allows the HF section to be coaxially mounted in front of the LF section.

This driver arrangement creates a more consistent and symmetrical array of both high frequencies and low frequencies along the entire length of the array, allowing the freedom to choose any acoustic centre available.

In addition, the ASM reduces interdriver spacing to ensure gradientlobe free performance to very high frequencies.

The Eglise installation utilises one ICLive X module and one ICLive XL module configured into a single array

on both the left and right side of the worship hall. Two ICLX118S-RN subwoofers add low-frequency enhancement to the system.

The ICLive X also benefits from Renkus-Heinz’s steerable technology, allowing for sound to be digitally positioned where it’s required. “By

utilising digital beam steering, we could place the sound exactly where we knew it needed to go,” Bamba said. “The hall is very wide and nearly 50m long but, with just the left and right arrays, we were able to cover the entire church with even SPL distribution without the need for additional delays.”

Bamba used white speakers that are flush mounted to ensure the equipment blended in perfectly with the space. “It sounds absolutely amazing and the congregation is beyond happy,” he concluded.

“That’s a typical result when you use Renkus-Heinz.” www.renkus-heinz.com

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NEWS

Destiny Worship Center invests in Analog Way USA When the Fort Walton Beach and Destin campuses of Destiny Worship Center in Florida were looking to improve the image quality of their LED video displays, they asked Analog Way to demo a possible solution.

“We didn’t have the Pulse 4K yet so I took a VIO4K system to Fort Walton Beach to demonstrate our scaling capabilities,” recalled Brian Smith, southeast regional sales manager for Analog Way. “They immediately noticed a big improvement in the quality of the signal and didn’t let me take it out!

They didn’t want to go back to their old system after seeing the VIO4K, so I ended up leaving it in place until their Pulse 4Ks arrived.”

The new Pulse 4K not only solved the issue of image quality and scaling but also offered the churches low-latency IMAG, seamless switching of multiple sources and ease of use for volunteer operators. “It ticked all the boxes for Destiny Worship Center,” Smith said.

The units were purchased from Encore Broadcast in Tampa.

The Fort Walton Beach campus features a large LED videowall backdrop, which displays nature and graphical backgrounds during services, a series of sermon images and scripture to illustrate key moments.

The main Destin campus has upper and lower LED videowalls in a portrait configuration with projection screens left and right primarily displaying IMAG with lower thirds. Playback at both locations is from ProVideoPlayer and Resolume sources.

Additionally, every seventh week the pastor in Destin, who is the lead pastor of the group, delivers a bigscreen message for all the campuses.

So far, his message has been “very successfully displayed in Fort Walton Beach and Destin, and we expect to roll it out to our other campuses by the end of the year,” noted Ricky Moore, pastor of communications based in

Destin. “It gives a real immersive feel that’s very engaging for the worshippers.” The Panama City Beach and Freeport campuses are slated for Analog Way installs in the next six months; the Crestview location is currently in transition with that campus outgrowing its footprint.

Moore adds that a key reason for choosing Analog Way’s Pulse 4K was its “simplicity of use and foolproof

operation. We have eight paid staff in production media across the campuses and probably 25 volunteer slots that are filled by 110 people in rotation,” he pointed out. “One paid staffer runs the Pulse 4K in Destin, but everywhere else it will be volunteers, so it makes a difference that the system is so intuitive and easy to use.” www.analogway.com

Dongil Church elevates services with Harman

KOREA TechDataPS Co Ltd has installed an end-to-end solution at Dongil Church using JBL Professional speakers, AKG microphones and Soundcraft mixers. Originally located in Dangjin, Chungcheong-do, Dongil Church was established in 1996. In 2020, the church relocated and built a new 600-seat temple in Dongdaesin-dong, which is in the Seo-gu district of Busan.

To ensure pristine sound with even, balanced coverage across the church’s main hall, TechDataPS installed JBL VTX A8 compact line array loudspeakers and VTX B18 arrayable subwoofers. For stage

monitoring, the system includes JBL VTX M20 professional stage monitors, AC195 and PRX812W fullrange loudspeakers, as well as a dbx PMC16 personal monitor controller for fine-tuning the sound. Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers power the system, while a Soundcraft Vi1000 digital mixing console and Compact Stagebox provide mixing functionality.

The setup also features an array of AKG microphones, including the Drum Set Concert I collection, C214 large-diaphragm condenser, PZM30 D hemispherical boundary layer mic, WMS470 Vocal Set D5 wireless system, D5 CS dynamic vocal mic and

HC81 MD lightweight cardioid headworn mic.

For the church’s baby room and lobby, TechDataPS deployed JBL Control 16C/T ceiling loudspeakers, while BSS EC-V Ethernet volume controllers and BSS BLU-100 signal processors with BLU link provide added flexibility and audio performance. The systems in the children’s room and both elementary rooms use JBL EON612 self-powered loudspeakers, AKG microphones and a Soundcraft Ui16 digital mixer, while the multipurpose room features JBL KP4012 full-range loudspeakers as the main speakers, JRX212 speakers

for the monitors, a Soundcraft Si Impact digital mixing console and Soundcraft Mini Stagebox 16i.

Rounding out the solution, TechDataPS equipped Dongil’s café and choir practice room with JBL EON208P all-inone portable PA systems.

Representatives from the Dongil Church reported to the TechDataPS team that the church was seeking a powerful, dynamic, and easy-to-use audio solution and they were very satisfied with the sound of the JBL VTX Series speakers. Furthermore, they reported that the Vi1000 is compact and comfortable to use and, although the maximum number of AKG wireless microphone 900 mega channels is limited to 10 or less, they were impressed with the mic preamp’s high quality and operational intuition.

“Places of worship like Dongil Church require pristine sound throughout the facility for an overall better listening experience,” said Amar Subash, VP and GM, Harman Professional Solutions, APAC. “We would like to thank our partner TechDataPS for providing unparalleled technical support to the client and overcoming challenges to meet the client’s requirement right to the last detail.”

AKG mics suspended from the ceiling

pro.harman.com

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NEWS

Lighthouse Church transforms its sanctuary with Elation USA Audiovisual and lighting integrator Icon Media has installed Elation’s Fuze Pendant downlights to transform the worship space at Lighthouse Church in Ventura, California. Wanting to address its sanctuary lighting before Easter, the church initiated a house lighting overhaul as the initial step in a larger refurbishment project that will entail audio, video and lighting.

Icon Media was contacted by church leadership and strategic planning consultant GrowMentum to handle the project.

The 600-capacity worship space, a converted light industrial building, had a previous house lighting system that consisted of an array of 1,000W scoop lights. “Their house lighting was not only costly to run and maintain, the entire room was suffering because of it,” explained Charlie Pike, project manager at Icon Media. “We modelled the room in design software, created photometric reports and eventually auditioned several house lighting fixtures. We found that the Fuze Pendant not only offered some of the best colours, especially in the white spectrum, but they were a perfect fit for the space while meeting the goals they wanted to achieve.”

Hung from ceiling joists across the room are 21 Fuze Pendants equipped with 50° lenses.

“Illuminance went from a previous average of about 2.7m candles to an average of about 15m candles across the room,” he added. “And power consumption dropped from

about 16,000W to under 5,000W and that’s if the Pendants are at full brightness, which they are not. They run them at about 50% for the walk-in look for example, so the savings in power is even greater.”

Although the drop in power consumption was something the

church was happy about, the quality of the light and even coverage across the room is what really excited them.

“When we first turned the system on, they were blown away,” Pike shared.

“One of the challenges when you commission a new house lighting system is getting the perfect coverage to fit the room and a lot of that credit goes to the Fuze Pendant fixture itself for being very high quality and well-engineered. Combined with the custom design, drafting, previz, etc. on our part, not to mention having the right resources in place, the first phase of the project was a great success.”

The upgrade was installed by Icon in time for the Easter celebration and, according to Pike, was a smooth process. “The Fuze fixtures were perfect out of the box and needed no special attention. We just plugged them in and addressed them. No bugs and no tuning or colour calibration needed.” Icon worked with Elation’s rep firm Freed Sales on the project.

Plans for phase 2, also to be handled

by Icon, will see an upgrade of the church’s broadcast capabilities, as well as new stage and key lighting.

www.iconmedia.biz

IRAQ Inside the church, Oriental Sound chose to deploy LD Systems’ CWMS 52 two-way wall-mounted loudspeakers from the manufacturer’s CONTRACTOR series fashioned in a discreet shade of white. To ensure the best possible speech intelligibility, the integrator installed the 5.25-inch loudspeakers along the round arches above the solid columns on the outer walls of the church. Additional CWMS 52 loudspeakers were placed on the outer walls of the building to allow the papal proclamations to extend outside.

All the loudspeakers were powered by LD Systems XS 700

Class-D amplifiers, each boasting 2x350W output. For signal distribution, a ZONE 622 twozone mixer on a space-saving 1U housing were used. Before the Pope’s voice reached listeners in the church through the CONTRACTOR series loudspeakers, the microphone signals were

processed through an LD Systems VIBZ 24 DC 24-channel mixer.

To ensure communication with the technical personnel, a U500 GM 530 CC gooseneck conference microphone was used. www.ld-systems.com www.orientalsoundiq.com

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Gr on in m m th wi Ko un tu So

www.elationlighting.com

Oriental Sound selects LD Systems for historic Papal mass When Pope Francis made a historic first visit to Iraq recently, a highlight of the trip was the mass he per formed at a church in Karakosch, which had been destroyed by Islamic extremists.

The Pope used the oppor tunity to set an example of religious tolerance and to make a symbolic statement against hatred and terror. To aid in delivering this message, systems integrator Oriental Sound relied entirely on LD Systems audio solutions for the transmission of the historical spoken words, as well as for the sound in the church.

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NEWS

CODA Audio supplies Grace Korean Church with N-RAY USA Grace Ministries International is one of the biggest Korean churches in the USA, with more than 8,000 members. It is influential among the more than 4,500 Korean churches in the United States, as well as having a wider international reach. When Grace Korean Church in Los Angeles became unsatisfied with its audio system, it turned to audio expert Troy Choi from Solid Sound Solution.

CODA Audio USA’s technical director Michael Creason created a system based around CODA’s new N-RAY product (with SCN-F sensor-controlled bass extensions), complemented by APS, N-APS and SCP subwoofers, to obtain complete coverage of the space. A selection of HOPS5 and HOPS8i were deployed for monitoring.

“The entire main floor and most of the balcony are serviced by a left/

Choi and Steve McNeil of the Mac West Group have been acquainted for more than 10 years. McNeil suggested Choi take a closer look at CODA Audio solutions; Mac West is CODA USA’s representative for Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. “The church had become increasingly unhappy with its existing system for a number of reasons, so the decision was made to go for a replacement and I became involved,” explained Choi.

Choi spoke to the pastor at Grace Church and suggested that they break with tradition and opt for CODA. Trusting Choi’s judgement, the pastor agreed. Luke Jenks, MD of CODA Audio USA, arranged for a demo N-RAY system with subs to be delivered to the church. “We sent down the N-RAY system to the church and, keeping in mind that this was all happening with Covid-19 restrictions prevailing, we created some bespoke videos to assist Troy and Steve with executing a successful demo.”

right N-RAY/SCN-F configuration, positioned so that the low/mids are distributed as evenly as possible across the seating while giving the stage maximum rejection,” described Creason. “The side seating sections are served by out-fill arrays of vertically splayed APS, while the upper side sections – extreme upper corners of the balcony – have a vertical array of N-APS that functions both as a delayed fill for the out-fills and an extension of the mains in the upper side balcony. The subwoofers are arranged in a splayed end-fire configuration.”

“The system is fantastic, and everyone at the church is very happy with the choice,” concluded Choi.

“I’ve been doing some training with the technical guys at the church so that they can use it to maximum effect, and they too are seriously impressed.”

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Favor answered by Waves LV1 PHILIPPINES Favor Church has taken delivery of a Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer to mix the church’s live services at front of house and monitors in addition to streaming four live online broadcasts each Sunday.

Senior Pastor James Aiton and FOH/broadcast engineer Dan Blaza rely on the eMotion LV1 to deliver the church’s message to its congregation. “eMotion LV1 and the integrated plugins help us achieve top sound quality and major control over our live sound,” commented Blaza. “This mixer gives us pristine, world-class sound, both for our live audience in the room and for our online viewers.”

Blaza also notes how the LV1 is exceptionally quick and easy to set up. “We are able to do multiple splits without using an analogue splitter, with easy networking using common LAN connections. Another key feature is the LV1’s portability. We may be moving between venues in the near future, so the LV1’s small footprint and portability gives us a futureproof setup.”

Recalling the events when Covid-19 made its impact, Aiton was seeking an AV solution to take the church online. “Choosing the eMotion LV1 was a simple decision as we are also planning to relocate to a larger venue once the pandemic is over. In contrast to other large-brand mixers, the LV1 is fully integrated with Waves plugins. We saw that other people were bringing the power of Waves’ plugins into their live mixes, but with large, expensive desks as controllers.

We needed a cost-effective system that we could copy and transport to

FOH/broadcast engineer Dan Blaza future new campuses, both in the Philippines and other locations around the world.”

Since the specific installation at Favor Church includes three LV1 consoles in a shared network setup, Waves’ Application Specialists helped the church’s technical staff plan the system’s design, ensuring fully qualified design and operation.

“We’re using three sets of 64-channel eMotion LV1s for FOH, broadcast and monitor mix,” furthered Blaza. “Two DSPRO StageGrid 4000 I/Os situated at the monitor position beside the stage are shared via IO Sharing on the SoundGrid network connected with Cat6 80m LAN cables to our FOH and broadcast mix LV1 systems with 40 inputs and 24 outputs.

We’re also using a Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server-C for redundancy, with a DSPRO StageGrid 1000 for added I/O and headphone monitoring, as well as for our separate broadcast mix. The DSPRO StageGrid 1000 is also being used for additional inputs and outputs for nearfield speaker monitoring and final mix output for our broadcast.” www.waves.com

www.codaaudio.com

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PROJECTS

Aural simplicity R12 chooses Fohhn column speakers and subwoofers to solve years of intelligibility issues at Believers Eastern Church Cathedral FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE BELIEVERS Eastern Church Cathedral is an iconic architectural landmark in the city of Tiruvalla in Kerala, India.

Entering through the main wooden doors, congregants sit on prayer mats to worship and receive spoken word sermons. Having previously adopted multiple point source loudspeaker systems with multiple point sources in previous years without success, the church turned to AV consultant and SI, R12, to provide an intelligible audio solution.

On his first visit to the sanctuary, R12’s Joe Mathew noted the absence of pews and seating under the V-shaped, 14m-high roof. A small balcony area is located above the entrance of the 25m x 14m room. “Without any furniture in the entire listening plane, any amplification is going to be subject to heavy reverberation,” explains Mathew. Having per formed simulations using Fohhn Audio Soft simulations and calculations, Mathew proposed a simple yet effective audio design by combining L-R wall-mounted Fohhn LX-500 column speakers with a pair of XS-4 subwoofers.

The demo made the sale confirms Mathew. “As requested by Father Daniel, R12 delivered the demo setup to the church before Christmas. It was a completely new experience for me to be told not to return to take them back after Christmas as the church loved the clarity and the uniform audio.”

After some further consultation, R12 upgraded to the slightly higher power LX-600 model in a white finish to match the church décor.

Measuring 1,500mm in height, the slim LX-600 is equipped with six 6.5-inch long excursion drivers and four 1-inch compression drivers mounted to a waveguide. Capable of providing a maximum peak SPL of 136dB across the 100° x 20° (HxV) listening plain, the LX-600 provides optimal throw and coverage from the altar to the entrance. Cementing the ideal Fohhn simulation speaker locations, R12 custom-designed 2m-long wall brackets that adopt SA8 stand adapters. Wall-mounted at a height of 2m, the LX-600 models are augmented in the lower

ASEAN market sectors in 2020, Fohhn regional director Cherian George assisted R12 with the church project. “Like all our authorised SIs, R12 is trained to use Fohhn Designer simulation software,” George comments. “However, the team in Germany assists us by verifying all our designs. Churches are increasingly becoming qualityconscious in India and some have used the Covid lockdown period time to upgrade their systems.”

In addition to a choir of up to eight singers, a five-piece ensemble consisting of a keyboardist, bass player, an electronic percussionist

Customised wall brackets fix the LX-600 columns into position

The simple setup pairs Fohhn LX-600 columns with XS-4 subs frequencies down to 35Hz (–10dB) by a pair of XS-4 18-inch active subwoofers on the floor below.

“The Class-D amplification and DSP incorporated within the XS-4 is top-notch and played its part in powering the tops,” adds Mathew.

R12 configured speaker presets by programming EQ, compressor/limiter and delay settings within the Fohhn Audio Soft control settings. “It’s a self-powered system and as such requires no other cabling other than a digital snake that runs from the Allen & Heath SQ-6 to the AR2412 I/O rack onstage that receives 16 Shure wired microphone inputs.”

Having appointed TSG Audio Innovations as its distributor in 2020, the Fohhn brand has received a warm welcome on the Indian sub-continent. Appointed to oversee the Indian, Middle Eastern and

The 12m-high sanctuary posed acoustic challenges and guitar players adds a musical dimension to the services. Father Daniel Johnson, the clergy and the church worshippers continue to be astounded by the fact that just one pair of column speakers can provide sufficient sound reinforcement for the entire room, without distortion, feedback or reverberation.

“Attaining intelligible speech, choral accompaniments and live music in what may appear to be complex hall is actually straightforward with

Fohhn,” furthers Mathew. “It’s the first time I have used Fohhn in a fixed installation setting, but it won’t be the last. At Eastern Church, the musicians and choir are all using microphones to the left of FOH in front of the speakers. In my experience, if that was any other speaker system, there would be incredible feedback.” www.bec.org www.fohhn.com

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PROJECTS

L–R: Dr Loy and James Tan in the Alpha Wing L1

Alpha to Omega via Dante Having interconnected Alpha to Omega, the time was right for Singapore’s Living Sanctuary Brethren Church to adopt a Dante digital network

LSBC’s Alpha Wing (left) and Omega Wing (right)

Control room for the Main Auditorium’s video streaming

FOLLOWING AN AUDIO UPGRADE in the main sanctuary, 13 years have passed since Worship AVL last reported on Singapore’s Living Sanctuary Brethren Church (LSBC).

That visit coincided with Dr Kevin Loy enrolling as a member of the Brethren Church. Despite his profession as a busy GP, as the church elder in charge of the AV aspects, Dr Loy was required to oversee the recent AV technology upgrade works.

LSBC continues to host services in Chinese (Mandarin), English and Indonesian in addition to separate sessions for their youth and children.

Despite having experienced a rapid increase in membership over the years, expansion had proved impossible until a major sewer pipe running under the car park in 2015 had been removed. “We were granted permission to build a five-storey building on the plot adjacent to our main five-level building,” comments Dr Loy. Following two years of construction, the new S$20 million (US$15 million) Omega Wing recently opened its doors.

Installed in 2008, the Nexo GEO S12 loudspeaker system continues to maintain high SPLs and even coverage throughout LSBC’s Main Sanctuary. The acoustically treated room comprises main L-R clusters each combining four GEO S1210 cabinets with a GEO S1230 as

down-fill. These are supported by L-R wing clusters consisting of two GEO S1210 models with a GEO S1230 for down-fill. Low-frequency extension is provided by a pair of Nexo GEO subs in a central subwoofer cluster.

“The Nexo GEO S12 system still sounds wonderful at 13 years of age and should run for many more years,” furthers Dr Loy. “In terms of power handling, uniform dispersion, reliability and ROI, we’re very satisfied with the GEO S12 configuration.

Crucially, Yamaha also provides excellent support here in Singapore.”

“Over a period of time, the subwoofers had started to sound muffled,” explains Dr Loy. “A few technicians had looked at the problem over the years, but I think some had aggravated the fault.” During the initial construction phase of the new Omega Wing, several potential AV suppliers were invited to the site, including Yamaha Music together with systems integrator ATECH Integration Engineering. With the low-frequency problem foremost in his mind, Dr Loy made an impromptu request to Yamaha Music Asia assistant GM Lawrence Tan and ATECH owner James Tan. Having lowered the subwoofers down from their fixed ceiling bar, James Tan analysed the fault. “Both subwoofers were in good working order,” comments James Tan, whose

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Evolution Wireless Digital

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PROJECTS

ou m on ob ca H ch ha pa to go nu su ne in M re ro co br A M Al “W m it di Ja ce m ac le co 1to O ce

The Main Auditorium A Nexo GEO M620 array with LS18 subwoofer ears have become accustomed to fine-tuning EV, Clair Brothers and Nexo systems over 25 years.

However, one of the subwoofers was not connected to a processor and was being driven directly from the Allen & Heath dLive S7000 console connected to the amplifier.

In addition, the existing amplifier had insufficient power and needed replacing. Upon the recommendation of the Yamaha engineers, two Nexo NXAMP 4x4C models now provide greater power handling. “Some of the connections were off and these were also fixed,” furthers James Tan. “The congregation and even the senior pastor commented on the transformation.”

Located on the first and second levels respectively, L1 in the Alpha Wing and the L2 Hall in the new Omega Wing required AV solutions to be integrated into their designs to host Chinese and children’s services.

Tender submissions were followed by loudspeaker demonstrations by several leading audio suppliers, including Yamaha Music Asia which jointly proposed a GEO M620 design for the larger L1 venue and a dual 4-inch iD24 system for the newly built L2 Hall. “Jerry Chua from Riverlife had recommended ATECH and Yamaha Music Asia at a time when we were looking for a suitable contractor,” highlights Dr Loy. Unarmed with this knowledge, the church members who attended the demonstrations nevertheless voted unanimously in favour of the Nexo systems.

FOH view of the Alpha Wing L1 Having harboured ambitions to network the various halls on different levels for several years, the construction of the new Omega Wing prompted Dr Loy to further investigate. “I concluded that a Dante network would be the best option for transmitting low-latency, bidirectional digital audio. James Tan suggested that we could connect the entire Alpha Wing including level four together with the new Omega Wing L2 Hall over Dante using fibre as the distances would exceed 100m lengths.” The simple addition of two SWP-16MMF L2 switches into the sanctuary’s NXAMP 4x4C amplifiers has created convenient audio networking, monitoring and control. “A simple switch setting optimises the network switches for Dante operation on the

Yamaha LAN monitor. As a result, bidirectional Dante audio routing between the Main Sanctuary and other Dante connected rooms has been enabled.”

Having nominated Room 312 as the operational hub, OM3 fibre optics transmit the AV signals in full duplex format to specific zones or simultaneously via the Yamaha MRX7 processor. “With the fibre optic installed within these two buildings, Dante audio and video are streamed from hall to hall with negligible latency.”

James Tan used the Nexo NS1 simulation software to predict the loudspeaker behaviour in both venues to ensure uniform SPL coverage. “I performed an NS1 plot and bounced the SPL publication firstly to Dr Kevin

to gain a better understanding as to where the church needed better coverage. Following his feedback, we conducted another NS1 Plot for acoustic treatment consultant Vanessa Lopes at Alpha Acoustics.”

Once the fixed speaker points had been agreed, the routing of the fibre, Cat6e, loudspeaker and microphone cabling infrastructure commenced.

This was cut short by the pandemic with the subsequent Circuit Breaker programme halting works for four months.

“When Covid kicked in, we had to label all the points we were working on in both Wings, so we would know where to pick up again when we returned. We did not expect to be offsite for so long and we almost forgot what we had been doing upon

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PROJECTS our return. Despite the Covid protocol measures greatly impacting us onsite, we managed to overcome the obstacles leading to final testing and calibrations.”

Having modelled itself as a “family church in the community”, LSBC has extended its reach during the past year by streaming services to congregants observing the government guidelines that limit numbers on public gatherings. As such, the new venues required networking for internal broadcasting in addition to a connection to the Main Sanctuary. During the current restrictions, Dante digital audio is routed from any Dante input to the control room broadcast computer and broadcast to the internet.

ATECH installed an L-R Nexo GEO M620 line array system for the Alpha Wing L1 Hall’s requirements.

“We’ve used the same module for many house of worship projects as it provides intelligibility and optimum dispersion across the room,” explains James Tan. Suspended from the ceiling on fixed bars, the three modules provide 120° dispersion across the horizontal plain. Weighing less than 10kg, the enclosure combines a 6.5-inch LF driver and 1-inch HF compression driver coupled to an HF Wavesource.

Owing to the relatively low 4.5m ceiling height, single LS18 18-inch

subwoofers are fixed to the ceiling adjacent to the Nexo GEO M620 arrays for extending the low frequency down to 35Hz (±3dB). Even coverage towards the rear of the 20m x 20m room is provided by three Nexo iD24 cabinets, while a fourth model is also fixed to the ceiling in horizontal mode for providing FOH monitoring. Two Nexo NXAMP4x2MK2 and 4x1MK2 amplifiers provide ample headroom power and DSP requirements for the entire GEO M6 and iD loudspeaker components.

The Yamaha CL3 console at FOH is routed to a Yamaha RIO3224-D2 stagebox, which receives Sennheiser ew 500 G3 wireless and wired microphone inputs. “We previously mixed on an M7CL in the Main Sanctuary and so we opted to install new Yamaha consoles in the new L1 Hall,” explains Dr Loy. “As the CL3 on level one is mainly used for the Chinese services, I felt that user familiarity and ease of use were important factors.”

ATECH also installed a flexible HDSDI video signal network including tielines and patchbays in both the Alpha Wing L1 Hall and Omega Wing L2 Clip Hall. For the former, video content is input to a Blackmagic Videohub, Datavideo SE-2800 video switcher from PCs and a rear ceiling-fixed PTC-150 PTZ camera.

The resultant signal is output to an

,

Yamaha’s Aloysius Tang at the TF3 console in the Omega Wing L2 Hall

The Main Auditorium amp rack housing the Nexo NXAMPs LED panel installed by Audiolight Asia behind the stage. The addition of a Datavideo DAC70 scaler, VP597 distribution amplifier and DAC8PA converter ensure the transmission of HDMI signals to the confidence monitors, 55-inch HD displays at the rear of the room in addition to the Cry room and foyer area.

Receiving a Dante connection from FOH, an iMac is set up for Dante multitrack recording and playback functionality. Creator Solutions was contracted to install the lighting systems in both rooms.

As the Omega Wing L2 Hall hosts weekly children’s services and is slightly smaller in size than the Alpha Wing L1 Hall, Yamaha Music Asia proposed a lower SPL design based exclusively on the Nexo iD24 enclosure. The compact 309mm x 132mm x 233mm dimensions betray a loudspeaker that registers a sensitivity reading (1w/1m) of 100dB SPL (nominal). An L-R ceiling configuration comprising four Nexo iD24s is augmented by three additional dual 4-inch models serving as fills. Fixed horizontally into position using a combination of six inclusive M6 points, the HF horn has been rotated from a vertical 120° x 40° orientation to provide 40° x 120° coverage in the 15m x 20m room.

Lower-frequency extension down to 43Hz (±3dB) is added in the form of a Nexo IDS 210i dual 10-inch subwoofer whose compact dimensions (285mm x 1,050mm x 550mm) allowed it to be installed out of sight

below the low stage. Measuring the same height yet only 525mm in width, an additional Nexo IDS 110i single 10-inch subwoofer sits directly behind the Nexo IDS 210i in cardioid mode.

Single NXAMP4x2MK2 and 4x1MK2 amplifiers provide signal processing together with 4x 1,900W and 4x 900W respectively in 4Ω mode.

Capable of mixing and recording services with up to 48 channels, a 32-fader Yamaha TF5 console resides at FOH where it receives up to 32 mic inputs from a TIO1608-D rack.

Liaising closely with the ATECH technicians and LSBC, Yamaha Music Asia sales engineer Aloysius Chow played the role of human network bridge feeding the latest updates onsite to his own Yamaha technicians back at base. “During the implementation stage, the drawings can differ from what has been constructed, so you have to make adjustments to achieve optimum coverage,” he explains. “It’s a construction site where changes occur unexpectedly, so it is my job to update them. It has been a very fulfilling project as the rooms in both wings can now transmit audio from any source to any other including the new car park space.”

To better compete in Southeast Asia, many equipment suppliers and distributors double their activities by offering systems integration services. Rather than compromise operations, Yamaha Music Asia specialises in sales, service and design services and leaves the SI works to preferred partners.

“Yamaha Music Asia has worked with ATECH for many years,” comments Lawrence Tan. “James fully understands Yamaha’s brand expectations and we are happy to invite ATECH as a partner for projects that we design. In terms of the technical aspect, we totally trust James and his team to deliver the client’s expectations.”

However, the ATECH/Yamaha partnership surpasses these expectations as Dr Loy exemplifies.

“We had an audio problem during a Sunday event, so both Lawrence and James came to the church to solve the issue. They discovered that it was a user problem rather than an equipment fault, but they were both happy to dedicate their free time to help us. That goes beyond an expected level of service.” Remote digital troubleshooting is increasingly relied upon, but the human touch continues to add value. www.lsbc.org.sg www.sg.yamaha.com

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PROJECTS

New build, same challenges

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Members of Gamsaganumchinun church travelled across Korea to experience different sound systems before settling on Meyer Sound

All images courtesy of Kim Yong-il from Church Media magazine

HAVING FOUNDED ARNION OVER 20 years ago, CEO Kim Jong-uk spearheads both the technical sales and the installation of audiovisual systems. Over the past two decades, the systems integrator has earned a growing reputation for design and installation of sound reinforcement systems in houses of worship and performance halls. Following an application to design and install an audio system within the main sanctuary of the newly built Gamsaganumchinun church, Arnion was appointed to conduct the works.

Prior to the appointment, the Gamsaganumchinun church committee drew a shortlist of speaker brands that would provide the best audio for its needs. The quest included visiting many houses of worship across the country and Meyer Sound established itself as one of the favourites on the short list.

Once the Meyer Sound self-powered system had been specified, Arnion turned to Ingang Audio for assistance with the design, supply and installation.

With a wide panoramic LED screen taking central focus, the audio system would need to transmit evenly to all the seats without obstructing the visuals. In

addition, the pastor placed an emphasis on intelligible audio for speech reinforcement during sermons, but without sacrificing any musical qualities during worship band performances.

“Being newly constructed, we had to consider the architectural acoustics,” notes Kim. “As such, we consulted them to add sound absorption and reflecting materials where appropriate.

Ingang Audio’s Chan Woo Kang shared his architectural acoustic experience with us and helped us to revise the final plan.”

One of the main challenges facing the Arnion and Ingang Audio teams was that the speaker system would need to cover a 180° horizontal wide audience area. “Following simulations and MAPP 3D modelling, a Leopard line array system augmented by 900LFC low-frequency control elements would provide the pastor’s demands for clarity and richness,” explains Kim. Avoiding the central LED screen, two hangs of six Leopard modules together with dual 900LFC enclosures have been arranged in an L-R configuration.

“Offering a wide horizontal coverage of 110°, Leopard covers the wide audience area with an even SPL

L–R: Arnion CEO Kim Jong-uk with sound engineer Jun Min

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PROJECTS distribution across the frequency spectrum.” An additional floor-mounted 900HP element ensures consistent low-frequency coverage down to 35Hz (±3dB).

Two side-fill and three front-fill speakers were required to maintain an even dispersion with the versatile Ultra X-40 dual 8-inch cabinets that comprise a rotatable 110° x 50° Constant-Q horn being selected. “The Ultra X-40 reproduces the required low-frequency energy down to 60Hz from their flown and stage lip inserted locations.”

FOH and monitor mixing is performed on a 56-output Yamaha CL5 console that can receive up to 72 microphone inputs from two Rio3224-D I/O racks.

Providing matrix routing, alignment and processing for array components, loudspeaker management is configured within a Galaxy 816 array processor.

Loudspeaker system parameters are monitored on a Mac or Windows-based PC loaded with Meyer Sound’s RMS software.

“Overall, the 1,800-capacity audience of worshippers experience even coverage over the 250Hz frequency range,” explains Ingang Audio’s technical director, Han Seok, with regards to system tuning. “In addition to the L-R flying subwoofers, centrally stacked subwoofers add low-frequency coverage for the audience towards the

The choir and worship leaders are monitored by MJF-210 low-profile cabinets

L-R arrays of Meyer Sound Leopard modules and dual 900LFC enclosures

Additional floor-mounted 900HP elements provide LF coverage

front. The low-frequency emissions are more than sufficient. Measurements conducted with SIM and a dual FFT analyser confirmed a high coherence response across the frequency spectrum.”

Onstage, the pastor monitors the sermons from dual UPM-1P speakers on either side of the lectern, while the choir can accurately maintain vocal consistency from six dual 8-inch MJF-210 low-profile cabinets. The musicians are equipped with a Behringer P16 personal monitor system. In terms of microphones, the church employs a mix of DPA and Shure models. The pastor conducts sermons using a Shure QLX-D transmitter connected to a DPA d:facto

headset. Onstage, the praise group can be equipped with up to nine Shure QLX-D series transmitters, including Beta 87A headworn models and the choir is catered for by four DPA 2006C twin diaphragm omni microphones.

“The worship service is very natural and clear,” commented main pastor, Mr Kwon. “The musicians have a better sense of rhythm and, despite the high SPLs, they could monitor themselves clearly onstage. In addition, I could also detect instrumental subtleties and nuances during performances when the levels are lower. Worshipping with the new system is extremely impressive.” www.meyersound.com

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PROJECTS

Th HD Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church was consecrated in 1938

Adlib sticks to the script Richard Lawn reveals the audio, lighting and visual refurbishment of Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church

Worship leader Jack Beattie

TRANSFORMING HIMSELF FROM CCTV engineer by day to self-styled street pastor and sound engineer after hours, Dave Jarvis has dedicated his services to local venues in his hometown of Tunbridge Wells for most of his life. For over three decades, Jarvis has mixed on an ageing audio system used for the musical services at his local Baptist church. Having largely resisted the need to replace any of the existing end-of-life systems technology over that time span, a sanctuary refurbishment was scheduled in 2020 including a major overhaul of the audio, lighting and visuals. Jarvis was more than happy to contribute his ideas that would lead to Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church (TWBC) arguably becoming the town’s leading entertainment venue.

The church committee commenced research and requested tenders in October 2017. Over the following two years, the specification would encounter numerous iterations along the way, with the final design meeting performance, budget and aesthetic requirements. When worship leader Jack Beattie arrived in 2019, the

clock was ticking yet no plans had been drawn. “My first task was to dig out the quotes of consultations,” explains Beattie. “Approximately 20% of the refurbishment budget was dedicated to AV and lighting technology, which from my experience was a huge amount. From the outset, Liverpool-based systems integrator Adlib had demonstrated a clear understanding of the audio system that would best suit our specific requirements, so we decided to continue that conversation.”

Following a meeting with the audiovisual team in December 2019, Adlib’s initial design and quote was taken as a template to further develop. “Despite the lengthy gestation period following our initial quote, we were happy to land the contract,” exclaims Adlib installation project manager, Tim Robinson.

“Although we had designed an audio system that fulfilled the church brief in 2017, their requirements had evolved. In addition, the design for the proposed RCF TTL6 column solution had to be scrapped as the TTL6 AS units specified for low-frequency extension had been discontinued.”

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The RCF L-R arrays comprise seven HDL 26-As with dual HDL 35-AS subs With a return to the drawing board, systems designer Robinson revisited the RCF catalogue. “In order to keep the floor clear and all system components out of harm’s way, the church requested for the sound system to be flown,” adds Robinson. “For acoustic reasons, this would help to maximise the efficiency and coherence of the arrays, while ensuring that the front rows would not be overwhelmed with low-frequency subs. I decided to look at the newly launched RCF HDL 26-A line array. Simulations using EASE Focus modelling confirmed that if we could add enough modules and pair them with the HDL 35-AS sub, the new design would perform slightly better for the same money. Both compact elements are finished in white and, being self-powered, it would also be neat and tidy in appearance.”

Subsequently, Robinson submitted a FOH PA system design combining L-R arrays of seven RCF HDL 26-A elements complemented by two flown RCF HDL 35-AS subwoofers per side.

Against a white wall interior, both hangs sympathetically integrate and sit well in the space. “We achieved an incredibly even SPL and consistent tonal balance throughout the large pillarless room, while maximising gain before feedback onstage,” Robinson continues. “There is a gentle roll-off of about 3.5dB from front to back. The integrated Class-D amplifiers are both lightweight

Thursday night recording for Sunday service streaming on YouTube and reliable these days, so I had no hesitation in submitting this two-way design. At 13.5kg, the cabinet weight wasn’t an issue for the structural engineer as both arrays are attached to concrete beams.”

While the HDL 26-A met Robinson’s expectations for what a dual 6.5-inch line array system could achieve, the placement of just two HDL 35-AS subs on top of each array surprised him. “It made an enormous difference as I didn’t realise that the HDL 35-AS sub could go down so low,” furthers Robinson. “Like the tops, these subs are really lightweight and provided a very high SPL. However, when senior installation engineer Jack Miller and myself commissioned the system and they registered down to 32Hz, I was astounded. This was ample for a church.”

Beattie’s first experience of the loudspeaker system being used was memorable. “I was blown away following the demonstration but, now it’s installed, I can’t honestly remember having played in a different venue where the audio is so clear and precise. When you’re walking across the room, the dispersion is completely even in terms of power delivery and coverage. There is a unique punch and it seems to hit the sweet spot, while not being overpowering. With such a diverse

Onstage, the musicians can opt between RCF HD 10-A wedges or Allen & Heath ME-1 personal monitors

range of ages in the church, I am confident that this RCF system can cater for everyone.”

Prior to the upgrade, the church acquired a number of Shure wired SM57 and SM58 models in addition to four channels of Sennheiser ew 300 G4 wireless receivers. Selected on account of the “tonal qualities”, two e935 handhelds and two beltpacks paired with DPA headsets provide clear, reliable transmission. Eight years prior to the works, an Allen & Heath Qu-32 digital console had been acquired to replace a GL2200 analogue desk for FOH and monitor mixing. “Being a contemporary church, the services balance spoken word with music,” recalls Beattie. “Onstage, there was

one foldback speaker being shared amongst a group of musicians, so the upgrade couldn’t come soon enough.”

The latest upgrade features an Allen & Heath SQ-6 mixer equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen and a 32x32 96kHz audio interface promoting full multitrack recording in the studio below.

Wireless remote-control configuration can be made on an SQ MixPad app from the compact 48-input board. In addition to the MixPad app for the SQ-6, Jarvis can also control other technological parameters, including the ornate Halo house lights from his smartphone touchscreen. In addition, the musicians can use their own smartphones for controlling the levels on the ME-1 IEMs. “The audio can be

The Allen & Heath SQ-6 console can be managed remotely via the SQ MixPad app

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PROJECTS mixed from the iPad, which I monitor through independent headphones,” explains Jarvis. “If I am mixing on my own during a rehearsal and I detect a buzz or something wrong, I can continue to mix via the app on the iPad while I go to the stage to detect the location of the humming.”

Stored presets within the SQ-6 also offer the volunteers a gentle introduction into the world of digital audio mixing. “Although we are still working on the presets, they are proving to be a lifesaver for the volunteers,” adds Jarvis. “We currently have around five or six snapshots. They vary according to the speakers and preachers onstage. There are currently three different groups of musicians, so the vocal preset is a good starting point.

I can set scenes for a particular group, hit the button and it returns to where it was before. This will evolve as we add drums together with some effects downstream in the future.”

A single overhead truss combines six Chauvet EVE P-100 WW LED washes with two Rogue R1X spots To help maintain the clean aesthetic established by the rest of the interior design, the church brief stipulated floor boxes onstage. As such, Adlib supplied eight floor boxes each incorporating 12 power analogue connectors, including eight sends and four returns for Cat6 plus mains. The short cable conduits emerge in the patch room

TWBC has been recording and streaming musical content since the onset of the pandemic For stage monitoring, the six musicians and church leaders were torn between using wedges and personal IEMs. “Ultimately, they selected six RCF HD 10-A cabinets and six Allen & Heath ME-1 personal monitor systems,” furthers Robinson.

The ME-1s are routed to the SQ-6 mixer via the dSNAKE and AR2412 AudioRack in the control room rack located behind the original 1938 organ. An AR168 can be deployed for portable use when required.

“The church stage now has plenty of flexibility as the musicians can choose between wedges or in-ear monitors.

Being self-powered, the wedges can be picked up and taken to another part of the church or redeployed as three stereo PAs for use elsewhere.”

Prior to the loudspeaker system being installed, Adlib was tasked with

creating a vast cabling infrastructure.

With flexibility and futureproofing firmly in mind, Cat6 has been routed throughout the space for connecting what Robinson terms “loose kit”. This refers to digital stage boxes, personal monitor mixers, lighting fixtures, video sources and outputs. “Our aim was to provide the church with a huge amount of flexibility that will allow them to technically set up any equipment anywhere,” comments Robinson.

“The church sought the ability to use anything onstage and around the room. I quickly determined that running proprietary cable types for all of those services, to every conceivable location, would have been prohibitively expensive.

As all the hardware can run over Cat6, either natively or with adaptors, the flexibility of the cable infrastructure is increased several fold at no extra cost.”

The Panasonic 10,000-lumen WUXGA laser projector is located on the upper balcony with custom panels and colour-coded tails for patchbay connections. “The labels and the colour coding make it straightforward,” comments Beattie.

“I’m a bit of a clean freak and the wires in the old setup made it look untidy. In terms of performance, whatever the level onstage, the even consistency of these monitors is incredible.”

Hidden from view, the infrastructure is perhaps one of the defining features of Adlib’s works. “The church could not decide where to host monitors, cameras and microphones,” furthers Robinson. “There was considerable debate throughout the design phase regarding where the hardware should be plugged in. The main FOH placement was the only agreed fixture, so we decided to design a flexible infrastructure that would also ensure futureproofing. For example, they may wish to host an event with different camera placements one day without knowing the input source. Rather than routing countless XLR audio cables up to the lighting bars and speculating 20 different places for cameras or screens with BNC connections, we opted to install Category cable network literally everywhere.”

Having delegated this task to the electrical contractor, Adlib simply marked recommended positions for Cat6 outlets on the schematics and fed these back to the large patch panel in the room behind the organ. “We ensured that every single device would operate natively over Cat6 or could be adapted to it,” adds Robinson.

“It did not necessarily have to be network-based, but it needed to use the cable. For example, the passive three- and five-pin RJ45 connectors can be converted and plugged into the SQ-6 console via back of house where it comes out on XLR. It then returns to RJ45 and back out as Cat6 again before emerging at the patch panel and out to the loudspeaker system.

The adapters in the lighting systems

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PROJECTS come with an adapter at the console, so the console has an RJ45 output.

Furthermore, the rack where the DMX buffer is located had XLR I/Os removed in preference of RJ45s.”

As a permanent audio fixture at TWBC for over 30 years, Jarvis clearly values the concepts of futureproofing and venue flexibility. “We did not have a clear vision of our future needs, so by placing Cat6 cables everywhere, including about 30 together with the dSNAKE from the control desks to the patch panel offstage, provides us with more than ample flexibility. We can plug into any of the RJ45 ports for data or video conversion.”

The lighting system comprises eight Chauvet EVE P-130 RGB fixtures installed four-per-side on internally wired lighting bars either side of the chancel to wash the stage in colour.

These are complemented by six Chauvet EVE P-100 WW LED washes that offer bright and even front light, while an additional two Chauvet Rogue R1X moving head spots serve as specials. “The Chauvet EVE PARs never cease to impress,” adds Robinson.

“They may be compact, cost-effective fixtures, but the quality and quantity of light they emit is outstanding.”

For the lighting upgrade in which the DMX runs over the Cat6 infrastructure, the church stipulated a capable but minimal setup without ceiling-fixed trusses. “The Chauvet LED fixtures we added can be supplemented by a floor package should anyone wish to add further lighting,” adds Robinson. “The lighting system design is similar to a school hall where untrained volunteers perform operations on a regular basis.

Should someone walk up to the lighting desk and turn up the fixtures to 100% intensity, it will still look presentable.”

Programmed by Adlib with several basic presets, the Zero 88 FLX S console provides lighting control for the volunteers upon which they can learn the basics before developing their own, creative designs. Lighting signal distribution utilises a Chauvet RDMX Splitter 8.

Described as “discreet and userfriendly”, Beattie suggests that the lighting system is perfect for volunteers. “I’ve seen churches with big lighting trusses where it can be a bone of contention. It’s incredible that we’ve achieved a great result onstage but, as performers, we’re not dazzled. We can do a lot creatively without affecting the experience of the musicians. Being able to recall settings in seconds without eating up lots of time setting up each week is fantastic.

One volunteer can manage the camera and video input feeds by switching between the two. By operating the

Lighting control is provided by a Zero 88 FLX S console lights off the main preset, the volunteer can focus on the cameras, for example.

Should a service only incorporate an acoustic guitar and a vocalist, there is a saved audio preset on the SQ-6.”

A standard 4m-wide retractable projection screen installed above the baptistry replaces a smaller, freestanding screen installed at the side of the church. Located above on the rear balcony, a Panasonic PT-MZ10K 10,000-lumen WUXGA laser projector equipped with a long-throw lens serves as the main output. Making use of the Cat6 cabling, the projector is routed to a Blustream HDBaseT system that will add a camera system in the future.

Like the audio and lighting, visual aesthetics were paramount in the design. “I had some reservations about the size of the screen, especially with the large rear glass window behind the screen,” confesses Beattie. “However, it really befits the space now and, when it’s retracted, nobody notices it’s there.

The LCD high-power projection system is incredibly simple to operate and, as it’s a laser, we won’t need to replace the expensive lamps as frequently.”

York-based events solutions specialists Rock Tech won the tender to supply and install a broadcast and camera system as part of the upgrade. “In addition to their range of competitively priced HDBaseT solutions including IP multicast matrices, I was impressed by Rock Tech’s professionalism, transparency and balanced views following a consultation meeting,” recalls Beattie.

“As Rock Tech principally work with churches, they tailor their ease-ofuse technological solutions towards volunteers. We had to keep within a budget and Rock Tech rose to the occasion with their own PTZ solution.”

Having updated the Pro Presenter 7 software, the media feed with a lyric overlay together with the two PTZ cameras are routed into a Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme ISO eight-channel, eight-input switcher. “The arrival of Covid-19 changed the visual goalposts

a little as it heightened our awareness for live and pre-recording situations,” declares Beattie. “When we started to pre-record services for our growing online audience, we wanted to maintain some sort of continuity from prerecorded services to livestreaming. As such, the lyrical overlay for viewers at home was quite an important feature.”

Ultimately, trust was a key factor in the appointments of both Adlib and Rock Tech. “Part of the brief was to

team needed to learn was the patchbay,” comments Robinson. “We provided an overview for both the audio and lighting control surfaces.

For the projection system, you press the down button on the remote control for the screen and press the on button for the projector and there are power switches to turn the rig off. For the audio system, there is a power switch.”

The scene is set for returning worshippers arriving for Sunday service upon arrival. Fed from a matrix on the mixer, the foyer area is now equipped with a pair of RCF MR 50 wall-mounted speakers. The audio signal from the SQ-6 console is fed into a Lab Gruppen Lucia DSP power amplifier, which provides system EQ and delay in addition to power for the passive speakers. A new café bar and kitchen area has also been created for hosting events.

In addition to the livestreaming services, the simple foyer expansion is an indication that TWBC has added previously unexplored dimensions that will extend its appeal beyond the

Rock Tech installed PTZ cameras that connect to the Blustream HDBaseT network deliver an AV system with ease of use for volunteers in mind,” Beattie summarises. “Having appointed them both, we got the best of both worlds as our requirements developed with livestreaming as our futureproofed operations could easily incorporate these changes. Adlib was wellrounded in terms of experience, extremely professional and forwardthinking in terms of where we were going with our style of worship. Tim came into his element when he was working with our volunteers, giving them the confidence to operate the systems.”

Having designed the systems to be as self-managing as possible, Adlib also provided standard training on the equipment. “The only real touch points for the system that the church

sanctuary. “With the new technology installed, it really feels like anything is possible within the building,” adds Beattie. “Our vision is to make the venue more accessible within the community, by hiring it out for events and weddings. There are opportunities for expansion within the building by adding HD displays downstairs for hosting conference events, for example. We are not going to be bored.” It is more than likely that the current setup will allow the church to function and expand up until and beyond their centenary celebrations in 2038. www.adlib.co.uk www.rcf.it www.rock-tech.co.uk www.twbc.org.uk

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Two locations, two solutions Passion City Church has turned to L-Acoustics and DirectOut to equip its new 1,400-seat auditorium THE PASSION MOVEMENT IS A decades-old movement within the collegiate generation known for introducing songs that are sung all over the world, as well as vibrant, large-scale events, such as the annual Passion Conference. Passion City Church (PCC) was born out of the movement and started in Atlanta in 2008 through small gatherings in homes around the city. Public gatherings began in 2009 and the church moved into its first permanent home at 515 Garson Drive shortly after that.

PCC has always placed a priority on creating highly participatory and high-energy worship environments and this philosophy has extended to the church’s second location in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, where it recently opened a new facility with a 1,400-seat auditorium. The new venue features 180° seating spread between the main floor and balcony; however, the design of the sanctuary created a huge challenge for sound.

“They told us that this new location had to be ‘the best-sounding room in the southeast, if not one of the best in the entire country’,” says Tim Corder, director of strategic accounts, house of worship at Diversified, the AV systems integrator the church has worked with at its two locations.

“But that’s quite a challenge when the furthest seat is only 18m away from downstage centre in a very wide, fan-shaped auditorium, plus one that’s over 12m in height. And if you want to stay true to the adage that ‘the best sound comes from the least number of sources’, then this was truly the perfect storm for a PA system.”

Using Soundvision acoustical modelling software, the solution has come from a unique combination of L-Acoustics speakers, with the K2 at its core. The main speaker arrays are left and right hangs of eight K2s plus two Kara down-fills. To either side of that are left and right out-fill arrays comprising five A15 Focus over one A15 Wide each, while a flown centre-fill consists of one A15 Focus over one A15 Wide. A subwoofer array has eight

KS28s spread out in a linear arc under the stage, which itself is lined with six short-throw X8 coaxials spread out across the stage lip. The system is rounded out with one A15 Wide per side, flown vertically, as far out-fills and the entire setup is powered by eight LA12X and seven LA4X amplified controllers.

There is also an L-Acoustics P1 processor installed, which combines an EQ station with delay and dynamics processing and a multi-mic acoustic

measurement platform with offline delay finder and EQ modelisation. The PA system is driven by the bridging of AVB, AES/EBU and analogue audio with time-aligned redundant signal distribution AVB between the P1 and the amplified controllers.

“Initially, we explored using three hangs of K2 to achieve the coverage needed in the room but, given the church’s experience in arenas with L-R arrays and out-fills, the introduction of the A15 loudspeaker during the

project construction allowed us to hang A15s alongside K2s for a stereo system with a distinct centre image that is very consistent left to right and top to bottom,” continues Corder.

“It’s really unique to be able to have enclosures and arrays of this size so close to the listeners – it’s almost a nearfield-type of experience that’s larger than life. It’s really intense in a great way and the sound is right there in front of you. Being able to put Kara under K2 at the bottom of the arrays helped tremendously with trim height and with the budget.”

The challenge for PCC lead audio engineer Stephen Bailey was to exchange multiple channels of uncompressed audio between two locations approximately 20 miles apart. “At our two main church locations, the problem was that we didn’t have a reliable, efficient way of passing audio back and forth,” comments Bailey. “When I came onboard a little over a year ago, we were using embedded audio-overSDI to send audio back and forth, and it was very clunky.” In order to streamline that process, a dark fibre

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PROJECTS connection between the two locations was added.

Bailey continues: “After some investigation and consulting with the DirectOut team, it was clear that Ravenna was definitely the right choice for us: it’s turn-key ready for ST 2110 and, with DirectOut’s implementation, we can set up multiple streams with one I/O device at different latencies.

This is a huge benefit when you are doing something like linking multiple bands at different locations live while simultaneously broadcasting the event.

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buffers, low latency and high quality are achievable using the same devices and infrastructure.”

Both 515 and Cumberland buildings were equipped with a DirectOut PRODIGY.MC. Each unit counts 128 Ravenna channels, 64 MADI channels and 16 analogue inputs and outputs, but additional slots remain available to add analogue or AES3 modules if required. Each PRODIGY.MC is connected to a DirectOut M.1K2, a MADI router capable of handling up to 1024x1024 audio channels.

The numerous MADI signals running inside each building all converge at the MADI routers. From there, they are sent to the PRODIGY.MC to be converted into Ravenna and travel through the dark fibre.

“We ended up putting MADI routers at each location and have made AES10 the backbone of our location audio infrastructure,” continues Bailey.

“Week to week, we use more than 500 channels of routing, each router functioning as that location’s audio hub. There are multiple MADI networks:

outside of Optocore, we interface extensively with DiGiCo racks and desks using MADI. We have SoundGrid networks used for mixing, processing and recording which we have hitting the router. We’re sending all four of our SD racks from both locations down to a ProTools HDX system in our studio over fibre via the router so we can patch, track and record anything from any location. We’re also using some black box MADI recorders for media archiving. Adding the M.1K2s made a lot of sense for us.”

With other buildings planned in Atlanta and the surrounding area, and based on the successful implementation of this project, PCC plans to expand the system not only geographically, but also in terms of DirectOut equipment. The HOW hopes to integrate MADI monitoring devices to allow Bailey and the team to listen to the different MADI signals at each location, while there are plans to include the new SoundGrid module for the PRODIGY Series for a better integration of the entire transport system with the local Waves environment. www.directout.eu www.diversifiedus.com www.l-acoustics.com www.passioncitychurch.com

AS YOU WISH !

PRODIGY Series modular and scalable signal processing analog, digital, network audio

www.directout.eu

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Perfect partners The number of Hortus Audio-equipped Kuwaiti mosques continues to rise as a result of ongoing success from Our Style Sound Systems THROUGH CLOSE COLLABORATION between Our Style Sound Systems Center and its local partners, a number of mosques throughout Kuwait have been outfitted with Hortus Audio solutions to increase intelligibility in their often-cavernous halls in recent years. The state-run Al-Hajraf Mosque in Al Jahra has become the latest successful project for the French boutique loudspeaker manufacturer and local systems integrator to complete in the country.

Having first become involved in an upgrade at the mosque back in late 2019, Our Style has battled numerous delays introduced by the pandemic in order to measure, install and commission a new sound system throughout the building, the main aim of which is to boost intelligibility in its Main Hall.

“Those in charge of the mosque wanted to enhance the sound quality, particularly in the Main Hall, having compared it to sound systems in other small and larger mosques throughout the country,” recalls Our Style Sound Systems’ Riad Al-Laho.

The recent success enjoyed by Hortus in Kuwait hasn’t gone unnoticed, with the brand being selected as the first choice for many of Our Style’s recent mosque upgrades. This has even led to the two companies working closely together in recent years to create a line of speakers optimised for this unique market. “The business partnership between Our Style Sound Systems Center and Hortus Audio began in 2013,” explains Daniel Morrison, export sales manager at Hortus Audio.

“Our Style Sound Systems Center emerged as the first major client in Kuwait, and they remain our key partner in Kuwait, and the broader Middle East.

The delivery of Hortus Audio sound systems at mosques across a country remains a unique selling point and an important value proposition for both our Contract and SAM speakers, alongside other product lines.”

The new audio setup inside Al-Hajraf’s Main Hall consists of 22 CT6.1 twoway installation loudspeakers from the manufacturer’s Contract Series, alongside eight CT30MKII 6.5-inch passive two-way cabinets and two

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CT6.1MKII cabinets distributed around the walls of the prayer halls SAM8 8-inch coaxial stage monitors.

The CT6.1 is a special version of the S6.1 two-way passive speaker customised for the Kuwaiti market.

Both products are made in France and powered by either 6-inch or 6.5-inch woofers (depending on the model) and a 1-inch high-frequency driver. Like the

200W AES S6.1, the CT6.1 is available in both 8Ω and 16Ω versions and is capable of outputting a maximum sound pressure of 115dB. The 240W CT6.1 is typically used by Our Style in 16Ω and deployed in a systematic manner along the walls of a Kuwaiti mosque.

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PROJECTS Ensuring balanced sound throughout what is Al Jahra’s biggest house of worship became the critical challenge prior to and during the installation.

Solutions had to be devised to mitigate excess noise while overcoming reverberation, leading to a reduction in the sound pressure level by 60dB. The team also experienced a number of overlapping complexities involved in maximising sound levels amid the mosque’s dome, entry points, windows and its overall vastness.

A pair of Hortus SAM8s allow the Imam to hear himself The CT6.1s were carefully positioned to address different RT60 values that would emanate in and around the Each of the 150W CT30MKIIs operate once again due to the pandemic,” said columns. The chosen design allows the in 16Ω, together with the pair of 250W Al-Laho. speakers to intricately transmit sound 8-inch SAM8s for the Imam to reinforce Nevertheless, Our Style was able between different pillars, heights and a the CT6.1s’ output. Together, the to complete the final integration and variety of designated spaces of worship. speakers help to immerse the personal commissioning after more than a year“The biggest challenge revolved religious experience amid “powerful but and-a-half of visits to the site, and the around overcoming high noise levels measured” sound. reaction from church elders is definitely and the RT60,” explains Al-Laho. “This While the first Al-Hajraf project got one of satisfaction. was particularly challenging due to underway more than 18 months “All of the elders and the Imam who the marble, high windows and central ago, like so many others it went on represent the mosque were very happy dome, but every corner and necessary standby during the majority of 2020 about the results of the new sound area has been adequately covered amid the ongoing pandemic. But with system,” said the Our Style Sound thanks to the CT6.1. the mosque being selected to host an Systems owner. “Given the better “The CT6.1MKII has an elegant important television broadcast during sound quality, they’ve said that they design that blends well with this Ramadan, it was imperative that the do not even have to make an effort to mosque,” adds Al-Laho, “and it delivers work was completed beforehand. “The raise their voices during prayer periods a clear and well-balanced sound quality broadcasts of prayers during Ramadan or while speaking, something which is that effectively covers each prayer hall were set to occur at several major very appreciated during long sessions.” and, in theai162083183711_Our process, avoids distorting Kuwaiti mosques,1such as Al-Hajraf, Story_church_theater_WAVL.pdf 5/12/2021 9:03:58 AM With the project now finalised and the the decorative interior.” but these were ultimately cancelled mosque officially opening its doors on

21 March 2021, the sound resonating within the 50m-long, 80m-wide and 10m-high mosque exceeds the quality of those other Kuwaiti mosques that the worship levels were hoping to emulate. For Our Style Sound Systems, a programme of regular site visits and maintenance will ensure that the solution offers top-class performance for many years to come.

“Our technical team is on-hand to perform periodic maintenance checks to verify the sound system is functioning as it should,” concluded Al-Laho. “To date, no further action has been required since everything is functioning as it should.”

The uniquely designed Hortus Audio background within Al-Hajraf Mosque is quickly becoming a distinct and wide-ranging feature of Kuwaiti houses of worship. Hortus Audio and its partners remain actively committed to developing pioneering products and projects, despite the very difficult and complicated circumstances worldwide.

“Hortus Audio was able to deliver the audio equipment to Our Style Sound Systems Center in the timeliest manner possible given the circumstances of the pandemic,” concluded the Hortus Audio export manager. www.hortusaudio.eu www.our-style.com

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e USA 1-800-821-1121 In Canada, call 877-753-2876 In Europe, call +33 (0) 78558 3735 In South America, call +57 310799 4564

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Pure sound Alcons Audio has provided the iconic Tromsdalen Church with a stunning sound system to match the equally impressive architecture of the building

LOCATED INSIDE THE ARCTIC Circle, the distinctive triangular shape of Tromsdalen Church (Ishavskatedralen, or the Arctic Cathedral) is one of the most recognised landmarks in the beautiful Norwegian city of Tromsø. Architect Jan Inge Hovig created a masterpiece that can be seen from the Tromsø Sound, the Tromsø Bridge and when landing at Tromsø’s airport.

Consecrated in 1965, the church is constructed from 11 aluminium-coated concrete panels on each side of the roof, while the main entrance on the western side is surrounded by a large glass façade with a pronounced cross.

A glass mosaic from artist Victor Sparre was added on the eastern side in 1972.

In addition to being a major tourist attraction in the city, the church is an important cultural centre and features live recitals and concerts.

The HOW has a programme peaking at more than 500 events in a year, including the popular midnight sun and northern lights concerts, which have both become a staple of Tromsø culture. Unfortunately, the HOW had been suffering from poor sound for many years. “The wish of the church staff was to have a sound system that delivered high-quality speech, but also worked well with the many concerts they host. They had grown weary of rolling equipment in and out for events, often multiple times a

week,” said Eirik Haua, sales manager of Tromsø-based audio specialists, Lydproduksjon.

“The process of looking for a better system had been going on for many years, but the ball really started rolling when folk singer Jardar Hansen performed through an Alcons LR7 proribbon system at Ishavskatedralen,” continues Haua. “After hearing the concert, church warden Mogens Olsen wanted the same sound quality all the time. After further investigation of different systems and brands, it was confirmed that Alcons LR7 was the best solution for both worship and live concerts.”

Lydproduksjon supplied and installed a system comprising 10 LR7 6.5-inch

micro line array modules, two BF302 double 15-inch high output subwoofers and four VR5 5-inch mini versatile monitors. The system is powered and controlled by one Sentinel10 (4x 2,500W) and one Sentinel3 (4x 750W) amplified loudspeaker controller. For inconspicuous integration, the system was delivered in a room-matching colour scheme through Architect Colour Option.

“The system ensures everyone in each of the church’s 720 seats gets the best possible sound experience.

It was specially produced in a custom white colour to match the interior of the church, making sure it perfectly complemented the visual aesthetic and did not detract from its iconic

architecture,” explained Haua. “We think it is the optimal solution for the church and we are grateful that they trusted us to design and install the system.”

Olsen confirms Haua’s words: “The system delivers pure sound, both loud and quiet, which fills a tight, clean church space. The main speakers look like they are floating, rather than hanging. It perfectly supplements the timelessness of the architecture.

Although Jan Inge Hovig passed away in 1977, we know that he would be happy.” www.alconsaudio.com www.ishavskatedralen.no www.lydproduksjon.com

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Analogue to digital In part 1 of making the transition from analogue to digital, Lectrosonics’ Gordon Moore shares some tips for a smooth changeover AS THE COSTS OF DIGITAL MIXING consoles continue to drop, more and more churches are making the transition from an analogue to a digital board. For many, especially smaller churches, this is a major transition for a volunteer team used to the “simpler” analogue workflow. Unless it is planned out a bit in advance, the transition can be jarring and lead to some disruption of what was a fairly routine setup. The key to a good transition is analysis, planning, training and practice.

Analysis – phase one The very first step is to analyse your existing sound system. Most churches are somewhat surprised to find out that their sound system will probably see an extensive simplification when a digital board is introduced. A fully analogue installation may have several layers of signal processing and effects components which will no longer be needed in a digital world. A typical analogue setup would involve a mixer, compressors for the individual channels, equalisers, delays and dynamics processors for the various feeds (house amplifiers, monitors,

recordings, etc.). The easiest way to run this analysis is to draw the signal flow out on a piece of paper.

Digital consoles have the vast majority of the signal processing you will need built into the DSP processors onboard the mixer. In most cases, there will be many more capabilities than you could have considered on a moderate budget in the analogue realm.

By analysing the processors you currently have in place, you will achieve two goals: identifying the equipment you will eliminate and identifying the functions you want to have in the new board. When we made our transition, we eliminated several pieces of equipment (including a patchbay, an EQ, a set of compressor limiters and a hodge-podge of signal processors – all replaced by the built-in capabilities of the new console).

Analysis – phase two Now that you have eliminated the redundant equipment you no longer need, the next step is to decide what features you are looking for in a new board. Build a checklist.

Start first with your stage setup.

You currently have analogue audio cables running from the stage area to your mixer location. Floor pockets, guitar interfaces and wireless are all feeding back to your analogue mixer.

You can continue to use those lines to feed the analogue inputs of your new mixer. But also consider the possibility of a remote digital setup where all those sources feed to a head end unit at the stage which is connected to the mixer via a single Ethernet cable.

Why would you want a digital pathway instead of your existing analogue cables? There are several good reasons.

1. No signal loss due to impedance. Long analogue cable runs have increasing resistance to AC signals with greater losses at higher frequencies. This is non-existent with a digital transport system.

2. Digital transport systems can help eliminate ground loops.

One of the biggest problems with analogue systems is ground loops between the sound booth and the stage area. The guitar

3.

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Sketching the old system avoids forgetting useful functions

player has a particular favourite effects pedal but, every time you plug it in, it creates a ground loop with your monitor that is not completely solved by the ground lift. Digital interfaces break this loop pathway.

Improved resistance to interference and noise. Long cable runs are basically really long antennas susceptible to induced RF noise. Common mode rejection in very good preamp designs can help eliminate most of that issue in an analogue system but digital transport eliminates it – completely. You will have cleaner, more reliable signals.

Scalability. Once installed, a digital transport system – such as Dante or QSC Q-SYS – permits you to easily expand your system. You pull a single Cat6 shielded cable from the booth to the stage and suddenly you have the routing capable of carrying hundreds of channels of audio. You might have only 16 now but you can add another 16 without pulling a single additional cable. When we made our transition, we removed nearly a kilometre of audio cabling and replaced it with less than 75m of Cat6. It was a visceral experience to cut through a bundle of over 30 audio cables so we could remove them (we used a tree pruning shear and it felt so wrong).

Control – digital transports run on networks – networks can also carry control layers. So, with the same cables you are carrying your audio signals, you can also carry your control signals.

A word of caution, however. Do not put your audio/control data on a shared network where you also have church data and/or streaming/internet access. A clean, clear pipeline is always advisable for critical real-time data such as audio and video.

Install (and learn how to use/ set up) managed switches to maintain a high Quality of Service (QoS) level for your audio data.

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A network diagram is helpful in the planning process Next on the checklist – how many inputs and outputs do you need or want? Remember that digital boards often have more channels than physical connections, especially if they have been designed for an outboard stagebox. How many auxiliary output channels do you need for IEM, recording and streaming?

Will you be using products with interbrand compatible digital transport such as Dante? Wireless microphones, IEMs and computers can all be used on the digital networks as audio sources. Are you planning ahead for future upgrades?

Now is the time to make up that wish list, even if the current budget cannot support it.

Signal processing is next – most digital boards permit EQ, dynamics (compression, limiting, expansion and gating) on individual channels. Do you also need EQ and compression/limiting for the outputs? Does the board support individual processing for inputs/outputs?

Effects – most digital boards have effects available such as reverb, delay, chorus, etc. Are you using outboard effects in your analogue system? If so, seek out a board that has a similar selection built in.

Routing – this can be very detailed in a digital board. Audio inputs in many models can be routed to any fader, any output channel or even auto-mixed to a single fader.

Sophisticated routing capabilities can be very useful if your system gets changed a lot. In our church, we can move the electronic drums from inputs in one floor pocket to another, make a simple routing change and the drums still appear on the same fader on the mixer with no impact on the pre-established auxiliary feeds.

It’s like having a patchbay with none of the wiring issues.

Remote control – last issue we discussed the capabilities of several mixers to allow a computer to be tied directly to the board that would allow a second operator to separately mix the monitors or remotely access the unit to mix the livestream audio independently of the front of house operator. Another remote capability commonly found on digital consoles is a 2.5GHz control link allowing someone with an iPad or other notepad-style device to run an app, permitting full or partial control of the mixer from anywhere in the building.

In our church, the vocalists, who are on wireless IEMs, use their iPhones to control their own IEM mix with a free app from the console manufacturer.

That liberates the operator from worrying about the mixes for the IEMs.

By writing down all these features/ functions, you can make the selection of your new digital board more easily.

Simply go down the checklist and check yes or no for capability. You might find that a few different candidates will serve the purpose. How can you narrow it down?

Consider serviceability – do the final candidates have a strong warranty? Is there a local repair service available or a local dealer with a strong support reputation? Even the best, most reliable brand can still have occasional issues and support after the sale is an important factor.

Does the manufacturer have good training videos online? If given a choice between brand X and brand Z, with all other factors equal, choose

the brand with the superior online training. Once you have made your choice, place your order. That will take you to the next step.

Training – remember that many of the operations of an analogue board are nearly identical on a digital board. Start by designating who will do the training.

That individual should be downloading and reading – thoroughly – the manual for the new mixer. They should watch as many training videos as possible before the gear arrives – don’t forget to look at social media sites such as YouTube which often has very good “how-to” videos. The trainer should do all the explorations online for resources and choose the ones you will use for training. Don’t ask the crew to “do it on their own”. There are also a lot of bad videos and training that should be avoided – the designated trainer should make the decision on what to use.

If your crew is already well-trained on the analogue system, concentrate on the functions and capabilities that are new. A review of the basic controls for an experienced crew is a good thing to do – begin with the essentials they are very familiar with. Input gain (or trim), setting up routing, channel EQ, etc. This review should be fast paced – avoid getting too basic for experienced people – they will get bored. Jump to the new features as soon as possible.

Before the board arrives, the manual should be made available to everyone.

After the board arrives, there are new training techniques that would have been impossible on the old analogue board without a lot of outboard gear.

We will explore the actual installation process and the final training in the next issue.

A final configuration diagram is essential for the upcoming installation

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When you just have to get it to work Casey Hawkins is often asked to work miracles but has to think outside the box as the solution is never the same A WHILE BACK, OUR PASTOR decided to use a tablet for his Bible study in the Worship Center on Wednesday evenings. Traditionally, he used an Elmo marker/transparency solution that was completely analogue composite video. To get the tablet to work, I had to upgrade our video line from the stage to our broadcast control room. The cable distance is over 90m so I had an issue where HD-SDI was unable to pass the length, whereas analogue video was perfectly fine. I did some research and found this item called “Freakshow HD”. Basically, it is a reclocking distribution amplifier that amplifies the signal to pass longer cable runs. I have had this device on the far end of my cable from the platform where two cables connect

MEET THE AUTHOR Casey Hawkins is the director of video engineering and live production for Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, a Southern Baptist megachurch with over 17,000 members. Having begun his career in 1990 volunteering at his childhood church in Fullerton, California, and later at Green Acres in Tyler, he spent the past 25 years Casey Hawkins in broadcast television working for multiple television stations in both Texas and Oklahoma. He has worked as a broadcast technician for a major telecom company, managing national and international television broadcast signals over a switched fibre-optic network. He has also owned and operated an independent video production firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for 10 years before returning to Tyler in 2016.

I have found myself over the years making so many trips back and forth from my office to many other buildings on our campus throughout the day that I finally decided to get a tool cart that I can push around that allows me to take pretty much all of what I normally need to perform my duties around the campus. I have video test sets, cable testers, cable connectors and crimpers, basic tools, and all kinds of cables and adapters. I am not sure why it took me several years to figure out this

solution but, since I have, my sanity level has increased. It is so nice to be able to go from my office to other areas of campus when working with outside clients and setting up their equipment for their show or presentations because I almost always must work a miracle to make it work. And the miracles are never the same.

I ran into a problem with an iPad on the main platform when using an Apple dongle to get HDMI output from the USB-C connector.

The connection where the dongle meets the iPad was unstable, and if you jiggled the connection then the signal would break up. It never affected the actual services that I use this in but, until I found a solution, I was on pins and needles during each event. I tried cleaning the connectors on both ends. I even tried another Apple dongle, but I still had the problem. It was just about the time that I was concluding the problem to be the connector on the iPad that I tried another cable. I tried a Uni USB-C to HDMI cable, thus eliminating the dongle.

It is manufactured with a USB-C connector on one end and an HDMI connector on the other. For some reason, this cable fits into the iPad connector perfectly and I no longer worry about signal breakup from the

Freakshow HD

at a panel demark into the broadcast engineering area. I could have also placed the Freakshow at the platform, but I wanted to minimise the number of cables and equipment in that floor panel. It requires power so there will need to be an electrical outlet wherever you deploy it. I must say, this device solved my problem, and it has been working flawlessly for about six months now. So, if you ever need to resolve a cable distance problem, the Freakshow HD is a great solution.

Along those same lines is the Decimator MD-HX HDMI/SDI crossconverter. In our CrossWalk Conference

Center at the church, we often have speakers who need to plug their laptop or device into our video system to aid in their presentation. The way our system is set up, all sources and destinations need to be in the 1080i/59.94 HD-SDI format. Anything other than that will not work. Well, nearly all potential laptops and devices people can bring will not have that format as an output option.

Therefore, I have found great success with the Decimator. It takes nearly whatever the source is sending and cross-converts it to the 1080i/59.94 HD-SDI I need. It works all the time and I have several of them deployed on campus.

Casey’s new tool cart

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iPad during services. If you have this same problem, I suggest buying a Uni brand USB-C to HDMI cable.

A few weeks ago, we had a ministry that needed to play a Blu-ray disc for a presentation to a large group in our Conference Center. It was a movie, but they had purchased the rights to show it for a large demonstration. But HDMI HDCP does not know we had the rights to show the movie, so the Blu-ray player blocked the content on the HDMI output when I introduced it to an HDMI-to-SDI converter.

We have a Denon Professional Blu-ray player, so I was somewhat

disappointed that there was not any setting that allowed me to bypass HDCP. I did some research and learned that some (not all) HDMI splitters will strip the HDCP in the HDMI and enable you to pass your signal through your professional equipment. In case you are not aware of HDCP, it stands for Highbandwidth Digital Content Protection and its main purpose is to keep end users from illegally duplicating or showing copyrighted content. But when you have the rights to show and use the content, HDCP is not your friend. If you ever find yourself in this situation, then try an HDMI

splitter. Be sure to read about them and pick one that will bypass HDCP. Finally, if you ever have DNS errors in your streaming encoder when trying to initiate a livestream, then try using the generic Google DNS server addresses. Those are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I had an issue recently where my AJA Helo encoder gave me a DNS error status and therefore would not initiate a livestream. We have an in-house IT team, but I did not have time to engage them about this issue because it was early on Sunday morning. I remembered from another time I had DNS issues and I was able to use some that Google provides to the public, and it

worked. I tried it in this latest case, and it worked for me again. The next week our IT group had resolved the problem and I returned to our inhouse DNS server addresses.

It often takes perseverance and determination to resolve some of the issues we experience in the worship AVL industry. Many, many times I learn some great workarounds after many hours of stress and frustration, so it is my hope that someone reading this issue right now can benefit from these few tips I have provided. In over 30 years of my career, I have seen and done a lot. I look forward to sharing more tips in the coming months.

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Sustainable lighting John Black considers how sustainability starts with awareness and shares tips on achieving a positive environmental impact in your HOW AT ONE POINT THIS PAST YEAR, I was asked for a meeting with a student completing a project for their high school science course. The student informed me that they were currently in a course titled “Environmental Systems and Societies” and doing a project on sustainability. The student had been involved in the theatre programme at the school and decided that they wanted to collect information from me regarding the operations of our theatre facilities on campus. Although I wasn’t able to answer some of their questions, such as the energy usage of the lighting system versus the sound system or the energy use of each theatre on a weekly basis versus for individual large productions, it did strike me that, although the facilities I manage live inside of larger facilities with other purposes, there are few mechanisms in place for collecting this type of data and monitoring the energy usage, and therefore environmental impact, that operating our theatre facilities and systems have.

Sustainability is an important topic, whether you call it that or stewardship, green theatre, green production or something else. Whether you keep abreast of the production industry or not, chances are you have at least heard or seen in the news the proposed EU regulations regarding minimum efficiencies for lighting – including stage lighting – that led to the #savestagelighting movement not too many years ago. While I certainly won’t pretend that I know all of the details, issues or even possible solutions, sustainability is worth talking about and considering, even in houses of worship.

These practices will help organisations financially by lowering their utility bills, as well as having a positive environmental impact.

I hope to provide a few ideas to consider as you work with your lighting teams and systems in your own venue.

I will not attempt to address the entire “greening of theatre” discussion. There are lots of great resources available that can be found and accessed through an internet search. I often tell my own crews that sustainability simply starts with awareness and a change in mindset. Once you are aware of and can take action to improve the small, daily tasks that you encounter as you work with your lighting rig, you can then

Robe’s LEDBeam 350 provides colour-mixing capabilities Image courtesy of Nathan Wan

move towards even greater action and impact. Let’s get started.

Tip 1: power down … completely In our world of battery-powered machines, it is sometimes easy to forget that many systems don’t in fact utilise energy storage systems.

Dimming systems, lighting fixtures and lighting consoles all require an active power source. This is especially easy to forget if your rig contains automated or LED fixtures, where some technicians and volunteers may assume that if light isn’t coming out of the fixture, it must be “off”. Not true.

Get into the habit of completely powering down your lighting system when it is not in use. I’m not talking about the hour between services, but turn it off overnight or during days when the system is not going to be used. Or, if you have a morning service followed by an evening service with several hours in between, shut everything down in that period of downtime. In quickly researching this topic prior to this article, I read that there are many professional theatres that will do their lamp check, then power the lighting system down until 30 minutes prior to curtain (show time). When you have the quantity of fixtures that make up the rigs in large professional theatres, that downtime can make a difference, even though it seems small.

It is often easy to remember to power down the console, but it can be easy to forget to power down the fixtures themselves. When powering down the console, the data communication stream to fixtures is cut. If you have a rig of automated or LED fixtures, chances are high that shutting down the console will not actually cut power from the fixtures. They will remain powered “on”, waiting to receive data again from the console. So be sure to power down the entire rig when you can. Not only will powering down help you decrease your energy consumption, and therefore your utility bill, but it is good for the fixtures as well.

Tip 2: improve work light energy efficiency The majority of the time that my stages are in use, they are being used for rehearsals, construction, load-in, loadout or other activities that don’t involve the entire lighting system itself to be on and running. Of course, there will need to be programming sessions and tech rehearsals, but chances are good that the majority of rehearsal times can function without running dozens of lights. In my facilities, the work lights actually get quite a lot of use and are high output so that visibility is good while all of these activities are happening.

Different types of work lights can be found in different venues. You may

have theatrical scoop fixtures that use a high-wattage tungsten lamp. Some venues are equipped with fluorescent strip lights that are installed in banks that cross the width of the stage and work areas. Others may have highpower can fixtures similar to those found in many warehouses. Whatever style work light you have, chances are you can find an LED lamp alternative for your fixtures.

In my facilities, we have work lights installed in our production shops, over all of our stages and in our catwalks.

All styles of work lights previously mentioned are installed depending on the work space. Most of these fixtures have now had their lamps replaced with LED lamp sources, which has cut the overall power consumption from our work lights significantly.

Frequency of changing lamps has also decreased as these LED lamps last much longer as well.

ETC’s Source 4WRD And while you’re at it, think about any other lighting areas that are high use, such as bathroom lighting, lobby lighting, auditorium lighting, exterior architectural lighting, etc. We’ve exchanged our lobby and bathroom lighting with LED lamps, as well as our makeup stations, which also keeps our actors cooler from less heat being generated.

Tip 3: choose LED when making purchases If you are looking at purchasing new fixtures to expand or upgrade part

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of your current rig, money as consider looking at you don’t LED fixture options. have to LED stage replace lighting has really colour come a long supplies. way since first Additionally, being introduced. as LED fixtures allow LED fixtures colour mixing within can compete a single fixture, it in brightness means that the total with their quantity of fixtures tungsten-sourced in your rig will be counterparts. If decreased you’re looking compared to at fixtures for older lighting providing colour, rigs in which a there really is no set of fixtures Consider switching to LED lamp reason to choose was needed sources – Martin’s MAC Ultra Series a fixture that for each colour features a 6,000K light engine isn’t LED for the wash on flexibility you’ll gain with colour-mixing your stage. A single group of stage capabilities. wash fixtures will be able to wash One advantage of LED fixtures is that your stage in whatever colour you they are much more energy efficient wish. Decreasing the total quantity than traditional tungsten-sourced of fixtures in your rig will lead to fixtures, so they will draw a lot less increased utility savings and also power. This has two benefits. First, benefits the environment. it will help you decrease your energy Finally, if you have an established bill due to their increased energy lighting rig with lots of tungsten efficiency. Second, LEDs generate fixtures, consider modifying them very little heat so, depending on the to LED lamp sources over time. For size of your space, you won’t have to example, if you have ETC Source Four fixtures, consider looking at the Source 4WRD LED retrofit kits for your fixtures. You’ll be able to utilise all of the same fixture bodies, lens tubes and accessories (decreasing waste) and gain the advantages of using an LED light source. Source 4WRD units are available in warm and cool white versions as well as an RGBA colour version so that you can also cut out the use of plastic gels.

In conclusion

cool your facility as much (additional savings on HVAC operational costs) and those on your stage will be much more comfortable.

A second advantage of LED fixtures is their colour-mixing capabilities if you are looking to provide colour. As colour is generated through using coloured LED diodes in the light engine (or glass colour filters in LED moving lights), you don’t have to use traditional colour media. As colour media is a plastic and must be replaced as they fade, you will be decreasing your environmental impact by not using them, as well as saving

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These are only three basic tips that can help you practise sustainability with your lighting system and decrease your facility’s environmental impact. It’s easy to think that a single facility may not be able to truly make an impact. Though true, if every facility contributed a small part, a large impact can be made.

It first comes through awareness of our systems, how we use them and what they are comprised of. Then, beginning with small operational – habitual – changes, a positive impact can start to be had. I encourage you to look more into sustainable lighting and the resources that are available regarding lighting systems. Though much of the focus is on theatres and places of entertainment, houses of worship use many of the same tools and can therefore also make a positive impact.

Source Four LED Series 3 & Desire Fresnel Unparalleled brightness, eight-color mixing with deep red, built in wireless DMX/RDM, & NFC. All of this technology and more in Source Four LED Series 3 and Desire Fresnel.

ETC. Creating standards that are far from standard.

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TECHNOLOGY

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Maintaining the sonic illusion in your livestream

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Mike Dias, VP of sales at Earthworks Audio, digests the hybrid reality of in-person and livestreamed services DO NOT BREAK THE ILLUSION OF reality. That’s the trick that put Hollywood on the map. That’s what separates the professional from the amateur. And that’s the mantra for every successful livestream or broadcast. Or at least, it should be.

For the majority of the pandemic, most audiences have been ver y forgiving with church broadcasts.

We’ve all been ver y accepting of the situation and we have all suppor ted our congregations and got onboard with the “new normal”. We’ve happily put up with significant intelligibility challenges and we’ve all collectively forced our suspended disbelief. In my own household, ever y week we listen to one member who sounds worse than a subway conductor.

It’s become something of a running family joke really – since we can’t travel, this is as close as we get to riding the MTA – and whenever she speaks, we spend more time laughing and talking into our hands than paying attention to the ser vices. It’s been par t of the 2020 charm.

But as life opens back up, congregants will get pickier and our attention spans will get shor ter.

We will still want the convenience of the livestream but we’ll also want the companionship and reality of the physical. Some weeks

time, space or distance. Worship will morph into on-demand ser vice.

And for that to successfully happen, the sonic illusion must be bolstered. The listener must feel like they are par t of the audience – no matter where in the world they happen to be listening from.

Ask any sound designer and they will tell you how and why sound conveys emotion. Sound sets the mood and tone. Sound enables that immersive feeling. So here are four simple steps that any worship production team can follow to achieve the illusion of reality.

Blend the room with the source

The FlexWand 730 Choir Mic we’ll choose to attend in person; but, other weeks, we’ll keep on watching and par ticipating from the couch.

Make no mistake. This hybrid reality is here to stay. The physical will continue to blend with the digital and, in time, the overlap will become so seamless that it will be hard to tell where one world stops

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and where the other begins. We no longer live in a digital divide – we now live in a digital continuum.

In order to capitalise on this, the task at hand for all worship production teams is to make this hybrid transition effor tless and to ser ve wherever members wish to meet and gather. Ser vices will become ever-present regardless of

The listener needs to hear the events unfold as if they’re watching from the audience. Perspective matters. Ears were made to pick up cues from directional sound so if the camera has the point of view of looking at the worship leader head on, then make sure your stereo mix is panned accordingly. You can solve this easily by incorporating a few audience mics and/or room mics and by folding them into your broadcast mix.

Depending on church size and layout, you can star t with just one pair. We have seen and heard wonder ful examples of the www.earthworks.com

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TECHNOLOGY Ear thworks QTC omnidirectional mics being used specifically for this purpose. Because of the QTC’s textbook polar pattern and lightning-fast impulse response, this type of configuration breathes life and air into the broadcast without injecting any uncontrollable variables. Ear thworks omnis are known for no feedback, no spotlighting and no proximity effects.

Choose the fastest mics possible Speed matters. For hyper-realistic immersive audio, pay attention to the speeds of your microphone.

Speed is closely related to frequency response so the further that high frequencies extend, the faster the mic. The faster the mic, the more responsive it is in dealing with and capturing transients.

Earthworks Audio has always been a pioneer in extended frequency response and the FlexWand 730 Choir Mic pushes out well beyond 30kHz. That means you’ll be working with a Rise Time Speed of 11.67µs.

Considering that the average human eye blink takes 350,000µs and that an average finger snap takes 150,000µs or that a camera flash is

1,000µs – 11.67µs literally prevents time from smearing.

Don’t fight the PA Ideally – in your live setting – you want to blend the choir, the worship leader, the praise band and the audience with the room and the PA itself. There should be no distinction between analogue and amplified sound. The same principle holds true for your broadcast mix. To achieve this, you need microphones that have excellent rear rejection, flat frequency response and even frequency distribution across the complete polar pattern.

All Earthworks cardioid microphones have the same –32dB rear rejection and all the microphones have similar sonic DNA so that you can easily mix and match your podium sound with your choir sound with your band sound.

And while each mic sounds lifelike on its own, the combination of the full stage working together is where the Earthworks immersive solution shines. This blending effect gives the production team total control and, rather than having to per form corrective measures, the focus stays on artistic directives.

Earthworks’ ICON USB mic

Standardise audience participation When combining feeds from two campuses or when guests call in to participate during breakout sessions, standardise on a sound.

Give your operators all the same tools to work with. Let them blend external audio sources right into the

main feed in order to maintain the audio illusion of consistency.

The sound and speed of the installed Earthworks FlexMic gooseneck podium microphones heard all over the world is very similar to the lifelike sound and presence of the Earthworks USB ICON streaming mic. Being able to add an infinite amount of selfcontained mics into your feed allows you to decentralise your workflow while maintaining sonic integrity – even without soundcheck. Standardising around the ICON USB mic ensures that remote call-ins sound exactly the same as the broadcast.

By combining these four simple steps, you can futureproof the work that you’re doing today and you can dramatically increase the quality of your worship broadcast. You will maintain the sonic illusion of reality when you pick microphones based on speed, on their ability to blend with the room and with each other, and based on ensuring that your sonic platform can easily accommodate call-ins and remote guest lecturers.

And by doing this, you combine studio control with live energy and you create a livestream that is the intersection between studio tricks and live techniques. www.earthworksaudio.com

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Say goodbye to unnecessary noise during prayer!

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EM-362 Neck-worn Microphone

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TOA EM-362, neck-worn microphone is specially developed for the use by Imam during prayer. Its unique design suspends the microphone in front of the speaker’s mouth optimizing speech pick up and avoid being brushed against during prayer creating unnecessary noise. Microphone positioning made easy with the flexible shaft. High sensitivity and wide-range frequency response ensure sound clarity whether user is standing or in praying position. Microphone has the option to operate either with battery or phantom power.

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We supply sound, not equipment. www.toa.com.sg

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July–August 2021 WORSHIP AVL 39

08/06/2021 17:12

TECHNOLOGY

Sponsored by

Sp

CR-N300 and CR-N500

PTZs will allow guests to attend weddings from anywhere in the world

A promising future for PTZs Matthew Koshy, European product marketing specialist for Canon EMEA, looks at how PTZ cameras have become the go-to solution for livestreaming and general video capture during the pandemic PTZ CAMERAS HAVE BECOME A popular piece of equipment for many houses of worship around the world in these modern times, particularly as many churches look to upgrade their streaming capabilities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Capable of omnidirectional movement, PTZs are based on the concept of capture, control and deliver.

Globally, the PTZ market value grew in 2020 by 12% and is expected to grow in 2021. Despite the pandemic, growth was evident due to changes in the way people capture and distribute content to the extent that there was a spike in end user demand that couldn’t be matched by existing PTZ inventory. As a result, 2021 sales are expected to grow at a rate of 16% as vendors catch up on backorders as a result of sudden demand for remote PTZ systems. The growth prospects for PTZ cameras with IP connectivity have also been enhanced as equipment that can be operated remotely is appealing due to its flexibility for use in scenarios that require social distancing or fewer on-premises staff. Protocols such as RTMP and RTMPS are becoming even more prevalent now in order to stream content directly to platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

Matthew Koshy, European product marketing specialist for Canon EMEA “Canon is fully aware of the high demand that these PTZ cameras are in,” explains Matthew Koshy, European product marketing specialist for Canon EMEA. “As a result, we have ensured we have manufactured enough models in line with the current market demand to satisfy our customers’ needs.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, all houses of worship have been faced with the importance of ministry moving into the digital realm. Congregations have embraced online worship, with

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many HOWs reporting that worship attendance has grown alongside their ability to connect with people from outside their immediate area. Thanks to developments in technology, PTZ cameras nowadays provide an all-in-one option with a modest size and footprint.

They can be mounted on walls and ceilings to save on space and give the user more flexibility in the types of angles used for capturing content.

“Religious establishments in particular are investing more and more into video

re sa “ So an ev “T ca te de vid ex an to ex int fle C ne th m ind a a st AF an F is re It CM co XL Ca

technology so the means are there for them to continue with more virtual services,” continues Koshy. “The hybrid approach is most likely the happy medium, however, meaning religious establishments can still continue with face-to-face services but maintain an infrastructure of livestreaming for those who wish to enjoy the services from home.

“The younger generation will more likely than not prefer a more virtual approach to services as that’s the way they’re being conditioned in today’s world with the level of technology at their fingertips,” adds Koshy. “But even the older generation will now appreciate that the last 12 months have shown worship from home can be done and doesn’t have to be a permanent option, but something they can elect to do on an ad-hoc basis.”

Social distancing in particular has meant that services in person have had to be kept to a minimum and, in some instances, completely scrapped.

Therefore, the only alternative to ensure worshippers can still engage with their religious communities is through the art of video technology and streaming. PTZ cameras are a good way of capturing content as they can be operated by a single person which complies with social distancing www.canon-europe.com/ptz-cameras

26/05/2021 17:05

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TECHNOLOGY

Sponsored by

regulations to ensure we’re all kept safe.

“Canon has been creating Imaging Solutions for well over 80 years now and has been dedicated to solving everyday problems,” continues Koshy.

“The HOW industry has to ensure it can communicate more effectively and tell its story more coherently. We have delivered a new solution around remote video technology which combines our expertise in professional camcorders and network surveillance cameras to create a PTZ solution that delivers exceptional image quality that can fit into multiple workflows, making it a flexible choice.”

Canon has recently launched three new PTZ offerings onto the market for the entry-level, midrange and high-end markets. The CR-N300 is an entry-level, indoor PTZ with 4K UHD resolution and a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. It provides a 20x optical zoom with built-in IP streaming and control protocols, Hybrid AF and supports HDMI, 3G-SDI, USB and LAN (PoE+) connectivity.

For the midrange market, the CR-N500 is also an indoor PTZ with 4K UHD resolution and a 1-inch CMOS sensor.

It has a 15x optical zoom, Dual Pixel CMOS AF, in-built IP streaming and control protocols, and HDMI, 3G-SDI, XLR and LAN (PoE+) connectivity.

Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF is a high-

speed, high-precision phase difference autofocus technology. The CR-N500 provides versatile capture options and is designed for low noise, particularly in shadow areas.

Built-in ND filters offer greater control over exposure and depth of field and allows the creative capture of Bokeh if required. The camera comes with multiple terminals to support connection and expandability with various devices used in the field of video production and broadcasting.

For the high-end market, the outdoor CR-X500 incorporates 4K UHD resolution, a 1-inch CMOS sensor, 15x optical zoom, Dual Pixel CMOS AF and 12G-SDI connectivity. It is available as a DC/AC variant and is rated IP55 for dust, water and salt resistance. The camera comes with support for DAF and Canon Log 3.

Other benefits include an image quality mode for a wide range of applications, an image quality adjustment function for advanced image expression and a vibration isolation function that delivers stable and clear images.

“With the launch of these cameras, we wanted to ensure we cater to all

CR-X500 ends of the market from low-end to high-end productions,” adds Koshy.

“The N300 will ensure those houses of worship that require cost-effective but high-quality 4K cameras with exceptional flexibility can get the best solution. The 20x optical zoom will be favourable in large venues to ensure a variety of shots as well as the Hybrid AF technology which ensures accurate focusing, even in low light.

“The N500 will cater to those productions in churches that demand the best. Its 1-inch Sensor will deliver

exceptional image quality with a cinematic look and the Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology will ensure quick and accurate focusing via its multiple modes.”

In terms of hardware, the RC-IP100 is capable of controlling up to 100 Canon PTZ cameras with just a single operator and LAN cable. This also allows for the possibility of having the cameras and production controlled from offsite. The 7-inch touchscreen allows easy switching between controlling the cameras as well as allowing the operator to easily manage each of the cameras’ settings, such as focus, white balance, shutter speed and more.

Canon’s Remote Camera Control Application offers the control of up to 20 Canon PTZ cameras, with up to nine of them being shown as a preview on the user interface. All users need is a laptop running Windows 10. The onscreen display shows live ultra-lowlatency feeds from up to nine camera inputs, allowing users to adjust image settings, even from a remote location.

The installation of a PTZ camera in any church setting is a powerful and versatile tool and it’s clear that the PTZ market has a bright and promising future. www.canon-europe.com/ptz-cameras

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TECHNOLOGY

Is your system ready for LED? Elation’s Bob Mentele outlines the steps to consider when switching to LED AT THIS POINT IN TIME, THE benefits of LED lighting fixtures are well known. Lower power requirements, less heat output, fewer maintenance needs and the possibility of colour-changing capabilities. What is often less known is the actual process and changes needed to switch an existing system of incandescent lighting over to an all-LED version. Some issues that are overlooked are things that can be just small hiccups in the process, but other often disregarded variables can cause damage to the system and cost more to remedy in the future. The following information should be a good overview for anyone looking to finally make the change to LED. The first step in the process of upgrading or adding to any system would be to know the complete power and control infrastructure currently in place and being used. If you are currently using an all-incandescent system, you utilise dimmers to control the intensity of your fixtures.

Most LED fixtures cannot and should not ever be connected and powered using any type of dimming technology.

Unless specifically designed to do so, putting an LED fixture on a dimmed circuit will cause early failure to the internal components of the fixture and will void most manufacturer warranties on the device. Even when a dimmer is set to full, or 100%, the electricity it provides is still altered by the dimmer and does not provide the clean power that an LED fixture requires. Most dimming system types fall into two styles: centralised and distributed dimming.

With a centralised system, all fixture power is fed from a single location where a dimming rack is located.

In a distributed dimming system, clean power is fed to each fixture location and a small dimming pack is connected to control the fixtures it is located near. Both types of these systems need to be changed to allow the use of LED fixtures within them.

LED systems need to be powered with a relay or switched power

MEET THE AUTHOR Bob Mentele, worship market manager at Elation Professional

supply. Relay power devices are available in many form factors and can be controlled with numerous methods. For systems that currently utilise a centralised dimming

relay systems resemble the form factor of a circuit breaker box. The relays themselves are very similar to a circuit breaker, but the switch can be remotely controlled to power on and off. Triggering the relays can be done using a variety of means to allow the system to be easily controlled and integrated into any AV system.

If your system is comprised of small dimming packs at each fixture location, you have a couple of options. You could add a small relay box near the breaker box that feeds the outlets at your lighting fixture locations, or you can also utilise a portable or compact relay device. These relays can take any clean power from a standard outlet and be triggered using DMX to switch the power on and off. Some systems have dimmer packs in place that refer to themselves as relay capable. This is a little misleading The RPCR remote-control relay panel from LynTec

system, you will want to check first to see if the system you have allows the dimming modules to be replaced. Some large dimming racks have specially designed relay modules that can be inserted in place of the dimming modules. If your dimming rack does not allow for that type of change, you will want to look into a dedicated relay device.

Most typical permanently installed

as most of the portable dimmer packs that have a relay mode simply use the same dimmed circuit but only allow it to be at 100% or off.

They are not true relay devices and should not be used unless the relay function is electronically separate from the dimming circuitry. If the manufacturer doesn’t state that it is a true relay, it most likely is not and shouldn’t be used.

ETC’s ColorSource Relay receives wireless DMX signals

What if your lighting system doesn’t use one of the dimming systems above, or what if the funds to install or purchase a relay device to control the power to the LED system isn’t available? In these cases, a venue could have the power supply to the fixtures controlled with a simple wall switch or a switchable breaker.

This method of controlling power to the system isn’t as convenient as the other options, but it works just as well. The only thing we are really concerned with in these systems is making sure the fixtures are receiving clean, undimmed power and that the power to the system is turned off when not in use. That is the important part of this portion of the system. Unlike incandescent fixtures, LED fixtures are still “on”, even when no light is coming out of them. All of the internal components are still powered and running, waiting for a signal to turn the LEDs on. When a fixture fails, it is often not an LED that dies, it is one of the internal components. While the LEDs themselves are rated for 50,000 hours of run time, the other electronics may not be. We need to make sure we are not adding hours onto the device and burning out components when we are not using the system.

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TECHNOLOGY The other aspect of the lighting system that we need to review in preparation of adding LED fixtures is the control structure. All lighting systems require some method of control – whether it be a switch on the wall or a computerised lighting control console sending a digital signal to the lighting fixtures, we need some method to interact with the system. In most existing systems, there is some sort of lighting console in place, and we need to determine if it can be used to control our LED fixtures.

Controlling an incandescent light is relatively simple – we can send a signal to a dimmer to increase and decrease the intensity of the light output. That signal can be sent to a dimmer in a variety of ways.

Today, we use a protocol called DMX. In older systems, we may be dealing with control methods that are no longer supported. In the early development of more modern lighting systems, lighting manufacturers had to create their own proprietary signals. Most commonly still in use today is a method developed by NSI called Microplex. While Microplex uses the same 3-pin XLR that can be used to send the DMX signal, it is not compatible with that protocol. The wiring used in a Microplex system also cannot be reused to send DMX. Because DMX is a digital signal, there are limitations on the wiring that can be used in the system.

In an incandescent system, we only had to send control signal to the dimmers. For a centralised system, that means just getting it to the dimming rack(s). For distributed dimming systems, control is sent to every dimming pack location. With an LED system, not only do we need to send DMX signal to the relay devices to power the system on and

The E-FLY from Elation is a wireless DMX transceiver

off, but we also need to connect every single lighting fixture to the system. That entails running DMX cable from the control console to the entire system. In some cases, it might be difficult to run physical wires due to a number of reasons; luckily, we do have the ability to send that signal wirelessly. Some lighting fixtures have wireless receivers built into them making it easier to implement – if that’s not the case with the fixtures being installed in your system, you would need to use a standalone receiver and connect the lighting fixtures to that device.

DMX itself does have some limitations on the size of system and connected devices allowed. We do not have the room to cover that information in detail. If you would like more details on DMX there are numerous resources available online that can help you learn more, for example www.learnstagelighting. com/what-is-dmx-512 Once we have connected our lighting fixtures to a relay power source and our DMX system, we now need to make sure that our lighting controller can be used with LED fixtures. As we stated before, controlling an incandescent lighting fixture is relatively straightforward.

One channel of DMX is assigned to each fixture. So even in a large system, we don’t need very many channels of control. When going to an LED system, we may be able to find a fixture that can run in a similar way to that, with one single parameter to control, but most often it is a little more complicated than that. Lighting consoles designed for incandescent lighting systems are not designed to handle fixtures that have multiple parameters that need to be controlled and shouldn’t be used in any permanent capacity to do

so. When looking for a new lighting control solution, you will want to research the maximum number of fixtures that a device can handle, the maximum number of channels each fixture can have as well as the types of parameters that it can control. Some lighting consoles are able to control LED fixtures, but are only designed to control those that have red, green and blue colours only. If your fixtures differ in colour composition from that, you will not be able to fully control your system and an alternative device should be found. If you would like more information on lighting control consoles, please see our two-part article published in the July–August and September–October 2020 editions of Worship AVL. While changing an entire system over to LED can be a dauting task, we can easily break it down into simple parts: power control, signal distribution and device control.

Evaluating each part individually and ensuring they are ready to control your new system will make the process less intimidating and will help you to avoid any problems in the process.

Elation’s NX2 lighting controller

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July–August 2021 WORSHIP AVL 43 27/05/2021 13:49

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NEWPRODUCTS

PRODUCTS

AV • LIGHTING • LIVE SOUND • INSTALLATION • BROADCAST • RECORDING

A–ZCONTENTS AJA

T-TAP Pro 54

Alcons Audio

CRMS-SRIW/9090 46

Amate Audio

T-G7 48

Barco

UniSee 500 54

Broadcast Pix

ChurchPix 53

d&b audiotechnik

Soundscape update 52

DirectOut

ViViD 49

DPA

4466 Core/4488 Core 44

Elation

KL Fresnel 8 FC 56

Electro-Voice

Evolve 50M 47

ETC

Source Four LED Series 3 56

GLP

CL1/CL1+ 56

KLANG:technologies

KLANG:kontroller 49

KV2 Audio

CS Series 46

Lectrosonics

SMWB and SMDWB 51

Listen Technologies

ListenTALK 2.0 50

DPA adds two Core headsets

Martin Audio

Torus 47

Martin Professional

MAC Ultra Performance 57

Palmer

Grand Audition MKII 52

Panasonic

PT-MZ880 Series 54

Peavey Commercial Audio

Aureus 50

Powersoft

M-Force 301P02 51

The solutions combine the company’s 5mm capsules with its award-winning 6066 design

PreSonus

ioStation 24c/Revelator 46

Prolights

EclDisplay series

QSC

Q-Sys Professional Tier 50

Quicklink

STS410 53

The 4466 Core family

DPA MICROPHONES has unveiled the 4466 Core Omnidirectional and 4488 Core Directional Headset Microphones. Based on the design of the company’s 6066 Subminiature Headsets, the new solutions feature the brand’s popular 5mm round microphone capsule.

These latest offerings are said to provide the security, durability and flexibility necessary for use in worship settings.

With a one-size-fits-all design and adjustable height and boom length, the 4466 and 4488 headsets accommodate small to large head types. A three-point gripping system (above, below and behind the ear)

is said to ensure a greater level of security, while the flexible ear hooks provide continued comfort during extended use.

“Our customers have been asking us to deliver our latest small formfactor headsets with the highly regarded 5mm mic capsules,” says DPA product manager, René Mørch. “With the purposeful design of our boom and locking system, the headset can accommodate all head sizes with just one boom length. This is even true for the directional option, for which the correct placement is so important.

With the addition of the 4466 and 4488, users now have access to

57

a wide array of solutions HVL Series 48 RCF to meet an even greater Renkus-Heinz CX/CA121M 48 variety of needs while also LEDBeam 350 57 Robe maintaining the typical Ultrix Acuity 55 Ross Video clear and transparent DPA Samson LMU1/DEU1/XPD2m 44 sound, which produces XVS-G1 52 Sony high speech intelligibility.”

Lightspeed G8 55 Telestream In addition, the new headsets share the same Tightrope Media Systems Cablecast VIO Stream 55 interchangeable cable Addition of dynamic EQ 51 XTA and boom options as the 6066 Subminiature professional look, the 4466 and Headsets. This includes the 90° 4488 are available in the company’s cable management at the neck. The standard black and beige options, headset frame, boom and capsule with a brown version coming soon. have a non-reflective surface for unobtrusiveness and ease of use for www.dpamicrophones.com camera crews. With a high-quality,

Samson signals latest USB designs DESIGNED FOR content creators and livestreaming, Samson has launched the LMU1 lavalier and DEU1 headset broadcast microphone bundles. The UP1 3.5mm to USB Type-C audio adapter converts any headphone, microphone or headset with a 3.5mm plug into a USBcompatible device. Plugging directly into a computer via USB, the low-profile LMU1 omnidirectional lavalier is distinguished by a miniature condenser capsule that can be positioned either close to a subject’s mouth or on clothing.

The UP1 3.5mm to USB Type-C audio adapter features a mute button, a 3.5mm headphone output

DEU1

and a 3.5mm mic input.

Similarly, the DEU1 headset microphone also features a miniature capsule with an omnidirectional pickup pattern

together with a UP1 USB adapter.

Available in handheld or presentation microphone configurations, the XPD2m dual-channel digital wireless transmits uncompressed audio for multi-performer applications in the 2.4GHz frequency spectrum.

The portable RXD2M tabletop receiver includes two balanced XLR

outputs for each channel as well as ¼-inch and 3.5mm mix outputs for connection to a mixer, PA system or audio interface. One-touch pairing syncs the HXD1 handheld or PXD1 beltpack transmitters with the RXD2M receiver. Comprising two HXD1 handhelds with the Q6 dynamic microphone capsule, the XPD2m wireless transmitters offer 30m of wireless range with up to 20 hours of dual AA battery operation. The Presentation system comes with two LM7 unidirectional lavalier microphones, two DE5 lowprofile omnidirectional headset microphones along with two PXD1 beltpack transmitters. www.samsontech.com

44 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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PRODUCTS

Polished audio from PreSonus PRESONUS HAS launched the ioStation 24c, a two-channel 192kHz audio interface combined with the functionality of the FaderPort USB production controller to provide a holistic production hub. A keyboard and mouse handle the tasks they are better suited to, while the ioStation 24c handles the mix.

The ioStation 24c provides 100mm touch-sensitive, motorised fader transport controls as well as the Session Navigator section, which provides access to eight mission-critical functions. The ioStation 24c audio interface features two of PreSonus’ XMAX Class-A analogue microphones.

High-quality converters provide 115dB of dynamic range to capture complex musical harmonics naturally. The result, according to the manufacturer, is clear,

consistent audio that makes mixing easier and creates a polished sound and a faster process.

Meeting the recent demand for microphones that can be used at home for webcasting or meetings, PreSonus has also announced a new entry in the USB microphone category.

Revelator is a new bus-powered, USB-C-compatible microphone outfitted with presets, loopback audio and selectable polar patterns.

Revelator is equipped with the same EQ and compression algorithms found in the company’s StudioLive Series III mixers.

Eight user presets are provided to customise sound using the StudioLive Fat Channel controls available in Universal Control. Up to four presets can be stored, quickly

ioStation 24c selectable via the Preset button.

The mic also provides two stereo streams for loopback audio for applications such as showcasing the audio in a YouTube video while adding commentary. Two streams for loopback audio allow users to mix and record the audio from two different applications on a computer, along with their voice, at the same time using the interface in Universal Control.

Built-in monitoring and an on-board

More from less with KV2’s CS Series FOLLOWING CUSTOMER demands, KV2 Audio has developed the new CS Series loudspeaker range.

Specially designed to deliver ultrahigh vocal intelligibility and music reproduction in a compact form factor, the series also combines a variety of flexible mounting options and simple connectivity.

The range consists of three twoway passive loudspeakers: the compact CS6, medium-sized CS8 and larger CS12. Voiced for speech and utilising KV2’s analogue delay line first developed in the ESD Series, these discreet solutions are repor tedly able to cover surprisingly large

areas with relatively few boxes, providing results in even the most challenging acoustic environments.

For rapid deployment, the focus has been placed on handling and quick connectivity. Accessories include a KV2 pole mount for speaker stands, as well as ver tical and horizontal brackets with a precise tilt angle setting.

The M10 fixing points cater for other standard accessories, such as spiggots, clamps and couplers.

The low-profile trapezoidal cabinet design of fers 35° and

55° angles, which also makes the CS range suitable for use in a variety of personalised monitoring situations.

The simple connectivity of the boxes, with a 1+/2+ speakON connection (switchable in the field), means less time is wasted during setup, allowing an additional speaker ring to be run independently down the same cable. The CS6 also features speakON connectivity in the top and bottom alongside the rear panel for neater cabling possibilities on a truss. www.kv2audio.com

headphone amplifier facilitate mixing in real time.

Last but not least, PreSonus has launched Sphere, a new membership package that includes licences for the complete collection of PreSonus’ software solutions for recording, mixing, scoring and producing. It includes Studio One Professional, Notion, every single PreSonus add-on for both applications, plus additional sample and loop libraries. In addition to these tools, PreSonus Sphere members are also given cloud collaboration tools and storage, the ability to chat with Studio One experts from around the globe, access to exclusive livestreams, masterclass videos, promotions, sneak peeks and events. www.presonus.com

Alcons spreads FEATURING PRO-RIBBON transducer technology, Alcons has developed the CRMS-SRIW/9090 as a wide dispersion reference screen or compact surround system for immersive sound-forpicture applications. The two-way design can also be used as a full-range enclosure within an inconspicuous in-wall setting or for on-wall mounting.

Voice matching and tonal balance within the CRMS product family have been achieved by incorporating identical MHF components. The passive-filtered CRMS-SRIW system consists of a RBN401 pro-ribbon driver for HF and a vented 8-inch mid-bass for LF reproduction. The HF section has an 800W (peak) power input, enabling a 1:15 dynamic range with up to 90% less distortion from 1kHz to beyond 20kHz. The cabinet features 90° dispersion up to the highest frequencies that creates a very wide and coherent direct-field coverage throughout the listening space in addition to a consistent reflected diffuse-field response.

The CRMS-SRIW system’s LF section is tuned for a usable frequency response down to 58Hz, enabling a smooth transition with additional LFE subwoofer

46 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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PRODUCTS

Martin Audio unveils Torus and Display 3 MARTIN AUDIO has released its first constant curvature line array, Torus, and its new 3D prediction and optimisation software, Display 3. The new Torus system is intended to bridge the gap between a full-blown line array or a point source solution for applications that typically require a throw distance of 15–30m. The result of three years’ development in furthering the acoustic concept and performance achievable, the manufacturer states that Torus combines optimised coverage, SPL profile and cost efficiency.

“Typically, constant curvature arrays have adjustable horizontal dispersion but their performance can vary considerably in terms of tonality and effectiveness of coverage when different dispersions are selected,” explained managing director, Dom Harter. “Equally, many lack sufficient sensitivity in the mid-band frequency,

the wider word

systems. In addition to VHIR phase processing, Signal Integrity Sensing (SIS) significantly increases response accuracy. SIS pre-wiring ensures complete cable and connector compensation between the CRMS-SRIW and the ALC amplified loudspeaker controller. In addition to boasting a 150mm depth, the CRMSSRIW features an optional cloth grille and Architect Colour Option in 180+ RAL colour schemes. www.alconsaudio.com

Torus cabinets feature a phase plug mounted in front of a 12-inch neodymium driver to increase mid-band sensitivity, along with three 1.4-inch HF polymer dome neodymium compression drivers.

The sonic performance is said to be uncompromised even when driven at a higher SPL. Torus is also the first product to take advantage of the Display 3 prediction and optimisation software.

Intended for use in both live and installed applications, the software works with Sketchup in order to provide venue modelling, or allows for more simple venue and shape creation. Initially, the software will natively support prediction and optimisation of Torus, with line arrays being imported from Display 2. Over time, Display 3 will incorporate all of the manufacturer’s line array, point source, ceiling and subwoofer solutions for a complete self-contained system design and prediction platform.

critically important for voice projection and clarity. They also can suffer from comb filtering. Torus fundamentally addresses these areas and more.”

Each Torus cabinet offers a horizontal dispersion pattern that can be manually adjusted between 90°, 60° or 75° (asymmetrical) via the Dynamic Horn Flare. This not only moves and locks the waveguide but also adjusts the horn mouth, including the low diffraction termination into the baffle, to ensure correct geometry and optimal performance in each of those settings. The Dynamic Horn Flare is moved by a rotating mechanism easily accessible from the front grille.

A vertical pattern of either 15° or 30° is achieved via two separate cabinet types: the T1215 and T1230, respectively. These cabinets can also be combined to fit venue and coverage requirements.

www.martin-audio.com

Electro-Voice continues to evolve JOINING THE Evolve 50 and Evolve 30M, Electro-Voice has launched its Evolve 50M column loudspeaker system featuring the manufacturer’s new QuickSmart Link digital audio and control technology, an on-board mixer, DSP and effects. Available in black or white finishes, the full-range column array and its eight lightweight 3.5-inch neodymium drivers provide ultra-wide, full-bandwidth 120° coverage via proprietary waveguides. Array-formed 40° asymmetrical vertical coverage reportedly ensures acoustic output is directed towards both sitting and standing audience members.

The array enclosure is constructed from a durable composite material and incorporates an ergonomic aluminium handle. A 12-inch subwoofer is housed in a 15mm wood enclosure with a high-efficiency, laminar-flow vent design. The array and sub are connected via a symmetrical aluminium pole with internal wiring and magnetically assisted latching. The speakers are protected by a black, powder-coated, 18-gauge steel grille. An array/ pole carry case is also included. An advanced Class-D amplifier provides up to 1,000W of power.

The M classification refers to the integrated eight-channel digital

mixer. Developed in collaboration with sibling brand Dynacord, the mixer has multiple inputs (four XLR/ TRS combo mic/line inputs, one XLR/TRS combo stereo line input, one RCA, one 3.5mm stereo and one Hi-Z instrument input) with professional-grade preamps and mix functions. High-resolution, low-latency Bluetooth streaming is provided for music playback or accompaniment.

Independent channel aux sends and a foot switch input are also included, and a range of effects (30 presets, including chorus, delay, flange and reverb, via two FX channels) are said to add a myriad of options for musicians to fine-tune their tone.

QuickSmart Link can be used to combine two Evolve 50Ms for use with larger bands or gigs needing more inputs. The systems can be linked together via an Ethernet cable or paired to a single mobile device via the QuickSmart Mobile app. For applications requiring fewer inputs, but still requiring a mixer and stereo output, the Evolve 50M can be matched with an Evolve 50 via the Mix Out XLR connector.

QuickSmart DSP allows the navigation and adjustment of all audio, effects and mix functions via

an LCD with single-knob control or via the QuickSmart Mobile app, as well as multiple options for signal routing and inputs. Functions include four presets (Music, Live, Speech and Club), three-band system EQ (low, mid and high), seven-band graphic EQ (in Mixer mode), five user-programmable presets (Store and Recall settings), phantom power, visual monitoring of limiter status, input level control and meters, and a master volume control to optimise gain structure. www.electrovoice.com

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Amate transforms G7 DESIGNED TO enable conversion of the all-new G7 commercial speakers from low impedance to 100V line level operation in minutes, Amate Audio has announced the availability of the T-G7. The optional plate incorporates transformer circuitry and a faciamounted selector switch for 5W, 10W, 20W or 40W 100V line power settings or a switch back to “direct” 16Ω operation. In facilitating optional 100V line operation, this feature reduces potential waste, eliminating

the need for redundant circuitry and added weight. Additionally, it offers contractors efficiencies in providing all modes of installation from a single stock holding. Housed in a reinforced ABS plastic enclosure, the hexagonal, EN54-24 certifiable G7 is a dedicated commercial audio speaker. Continuous programme power handling and output capabilities are rated at 120W and 112dB SPL, respectively.

Point and line source solutions

www.amateaudio.com

Renkus-Heinz Cs beyond the stage RENKUS-HEINZ HAS extended the C Series stage monitor family with the introduction of the CA/CX121M. Available in both passive (CX121M) and powered (CA121M) models, the single 12-inch stage monitor comprises next-generation coaxial driver technology and doubles up as a multipurpose loudspeaker. With identical horizontal and vertical off-axis performance, users are provided with greater freedom of movement without changes in frequency response courtesy of acoustically time-aligned point source, phase coherent devices.

Capable of delivering a 128dB peak output level, the two-way enclosure features a 1.75-inch voice coil HF compression driver with a 1-inch throat coupled to a complex conic horn.

The 90° x 40° (HxV) rotatable Complex Conic horn reportedly eliminates high-frequency beaming and provides wide angle coverage out to 20kHz, while the 12-inch woofer extends the low frequencies down to 60Hz (±3dB). For portable and installed PA functions,

HVL 15-S

the 20.4kg enclosure can be used as a pole-mounted side-fill or sound reinforcement system. The integration of 12 M10 universal mounting points and an optional mounting yoke extend fixed installation options. Finished in black or white and housed in an 11-ply birch plywood cabinet, the CA/CX121 also includes recessed handles.

The optional SA625 power amplifier matches the power needs of the CA121M. Controlled via RHAON II, the SA625’s built-in DSP has eight fully parametric EQ filters, high- and low-shelf and high- and low-pass filters together with a delay of up to 358ms. Remote configuration can be managed via a Windows computer running RHAON II. In addition, a single CA121M can power one additional CX121M with biamplified, processed output via an NL4 output. The CA121M-RD adds Dante digital signal distribution capability, including AES67 compatibility and network redundancy.

INITIALLY DESIGNED as a high-power solution, the HVL Series from RCF offers a modular and scalable system for large venues and events. The weather-proof cabinets combine six RCF neodymium Precision Transducers in a symmetrical, horn-loaded configuration for maximum efficiency and sound quality over long distances. The series features point source and line source speakers along with subwoofers. The transducers feature neodymium magnetic circuits and new voice coil ventilation systems and voice coil assemblies. The HVL units have also been designed to lower

coverage options are available: 90° x 30° (L) and 60° x 30° (P) and one bass module (S).

The full-range, passive, two-way X MAX series has been designed as a multipurpose speaker, to achieve the best nearfield quality, vocal coherence and stable tonal balance at full volume. The products build on the heritage of the manufacturer’s MAX series to create a complete range of solutions for high-powered applications. The series features a custom-designed mid-freq shaping for close distance listening on a perfectly tuned crossover to reportedly ensure even coverage and detail of the vocal range.

X MAX 10

X MAX 12

overall system costs by delivering full coverage with fewer modules.

HVL 15 cabinets incorporate a pair of 15-inch drivers at the low end, a pair of 10-inch midrange drivers and two titanium dome compression drivers with 4-inch voice coils at the top. With a frequency response of 43Hz – 18kHz (–10dB), these three-way, long-throw boxes are driven in biamped mode and are capable of producing a maximum SPL of 133dB (LF) and 145dB (MHF). Two

The rotatable 90° x 70° horn allows installation either vertically or horizontally. The X MAX 10 and X MAX 12 models feature a 1-inch compression driver with electronic protection. The X MAX 10 boasts a 10-inch woofer and delivers a maximum SPL of 128dB with a total power handling of 700W. The 12-inch X MAX 12 reaches a maximum SPL of 129dB with a total power handling of 800W. www.rcf.it

www.renkus-heinz.com

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PRODUCTS

KLANG takes control

DirectOut + Vivivaldy = ViViD

KLANG:TECHNOLOGIES HAS held an online launch to unveil its KLANG:kontroller hardware controller for KLANG immersive processors. It has been designed in response to requests for a standalone hardware controller that offers the same mixing functionality as the KLANG:app, combined

A COLLABORATION between DirectOut and Vivivaldy has resulted in a customised service promoting easier remote production setups using standard internet connections. ViViD packages Vivivaldy VPN solutions in combination with DirectOut products that support Ravenna, including PRODIGY.MP and EXBOX.RAV. DirectOut’s Ravenna implementation allows uncompressed real-time audioover-IP transmission with ultra-low latency with buffer times up to 500ms.

The PRODIGY.MP components used in the ViViD packages include microphone pre-amplifier modules to collect analogue signals on location and headphone outputs for monitoring

KLANG:kontroller with a studio-grade Dante headphone amp. The hardware reportedly delivers fast tactile user control of channels, groups and immersive mixing via an intuitive interface. Features include relative DCA group mixing and full single channel control via eight push rotary encoders. The studio-grade headphone amplifier is said to deliver crystal-clear audio for in-ear monitors

and high-impedance headphones, with both 3.5mm as well as 6.3mm stereo TRS connectors. Two XLR outputs can be connected to, for example, wireless in-ear transmitters. Installation-friendly features like PoE, remote setup via the KLANG:app and automatic Dante routing reportedly streamline any HOW stage. KLANG:kontroller gives musicians full control of all relevant functions, while the engineer can still overview and control all mixes via the KLANG:app or DiGiCo SD or Q series consoles.

KLANG has also announced the launch of the 1U KLANG:vokal immersive mixing processor, which allows up to 12 musicians to select up to 24 mono or stereo channels out of 64 Dante and MADI inputs. Mixes can be sent out via MADI to a console or via Dante to KLANG:kontroller. Based on KLANG’s ultra-low-latency FPGA core, KLANG:vokal offers 12 mixes of 24 mono or stereo inputs at 48kHz and 96kHz, including the company’s Root-Intensity EQs.

purposes. The built-in DSP also allows local equalisation and mixing at zero latency. The Vivivaldy infrastructure ensures connection at distant locations communicating at ultra-low latency of less than 15ms to enable live crossmonitoring. DirectOut’s Ravenna to MADI converter, EXBOX.RAV, collects the broadcast feeds with the audio packets sent over the network at a higher latency to ensure reliable transmission. The globcon control software extends remote management functionality at any location on the network. www.directout.eu www.vivivaldy.com

www.klang.com

Quantum 225 Now more than ever, DiGiCo’s dedicated focus on the creative demands of tomorrow’s productions gives instant confidence to professional engineers. The new Quantum 225 has been designed to work with you, supplying unprecedented power, performance and flexibility, delivered today for less than you imagine.

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Listen Technologies launches ListenTALK 2.0 THE MOBILE communication system ListenTALK has received a firmware upgrade that aims to overcome the challenges that distance, background noise, hearing loss and face coverings pose to communications. Listen Technologies reports that the new functionality makes it easier for interpreters and HOW guides using ListenTALK to listen to audio in one language and speak the words in another language without having to carry additional equipment. The upgrade is also said to enhance natural conversations by allowing three people to talk simultaneously.

With the firmware update, interpreters can use one ListenTALK unit to hear a presenter’s message in their headset and speak the translated words to their audience using one unit hands-free.

Listeners in the interpreter’s group

can hear in their preferred language translated from the original source.

Listeners can also use the push-totalk feature to ask the interpreter questions. Interpreters do not need to carry a separate receiver and transmitter or juggle two headsets or a microphone to hear audio from the presenter and listeners and to relay

interpretations to listeners.

Designed to support simultaneous interpretation in setting such as worship services, ListenTALK also enables relay, or two deep interpretation, meaning an interpreter can listen to another interpreter translate the main

presenter’s words and then translate the words for his/her own group. The system includes a software suite that lets venues name groups by language; up to 20 simultaneous groups can be created and/ or languages can be interpreted in the same space in North America and Japan, and up to 30 simultaneous languages can be interpreted in the same space in Europe. The units can be sanitised between use and operate on a low-interference DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Communications) band. Audio can be transmitted within a 100m radius indoors and a 200m radius outdoors. www.listentech.com

Peavey Electronics unveils Aureus DESCRIBED BY Peavey as its most accessible digital mixer to date, the Aureus comes with a 10-inch multitouch display and access to almost any control with just a couple of taps. The mixer gives users the ability to save and store presets, scene and entire mixes onto a USB drive. The on-board dock allows a tablet to be placed as a second screen, so users can monitor the mix while adjusting a specific channel or separate group on the mixer.

The Aureus offers 14 dedicated encoders, nine motorised faders (100mm) and 45 dedicated backlit buttons. It can connect to just about any audio source thanks to its 16 XLR-1⁄4-inch, RCA, Bluetooth (stereo-

long range) and USB (A/B) inputs.

Phantom power (48V) is available for microphones on the 16 channels and the mixer comes with 14 outputs, including 10 XLR, USB and AES digital.

The unit also offers a wide selection of reverb and delay through Peavey’s built-in FX series digital effects (23 effects total across two engines) with simple and advanced modes. The fiveband EQ is fully parametric for control and precision on each frequency.

With eight busses, two mains and four DCA, the Aureus offers users flexibility, whether they are behind the panel or nearby with remote control via on-board Wi-Fi. Password-assigned busses allow each musician to not

open an HTML5 compatible browser.

Users can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously to adjust any aspect of the mix.

The Aureus includes three programmable mute groups and six dedicated mute functions, along with dedicated controls on the solo function.

Data I/O includes the on-board Wi-Fi and Ethernet remote, while computer connectivity consists of Ethernet, Wi-Fi and USB port. The unit also includes a 1.25-inch headphone jack. The mixer is rack-mountable, measures 165mm x 380mm x 495mm (HxWxD) and weighs 7kg. only have their own mix, but also to control it using any device that can

www.peavey.com

Q-Sys adds Professional Tier

Professional Tier NEW CLOUD management capabilities and processing options have been introduced to QSC’s Q-Sys platform with the availability of the Professional Tier feature set for

Q-Sys Reflect Enterprise Manager, the manufacturer’s remote monitoring and management service. The new features allow both remote access to UCIs for helpdesk applications, as

well as remote system and design file update capabilities.

The Professional Tier joins the existing Basic and Standard Tiers for Enterprise Manager, offering end users and managed service providers a range of cloud-based service options for connected Q-Sys systems. The Professional Tier provides additional tools to truly centralise operations support for geographically disparate AV systems, as well as reduce the need for technicians to be onsite in order to perform system updates. The new Remote UCI feature provides the ability to interact with a UCI for any Q-Sys Core connected to Enterprise Manager via a standard web browser, enabling a central support team to

resolve operational user issues without sending technicians onsite. In addition, the Remote Q-Sys Designer feature enables users to troubleshoot, update and redeploy design files to systems from anywhere, without the need for complex network or remote desktop configurations.

Features within the Professional Tier require a system upgrade to Q-Sys Designer Software v9.0 or higher. In addition to the inclusion of Professional Tier features, the latest Designer Software brings enhanced Microsoft Teams Rooms integration, new Core and loudspeaker options and support for software-based Dante updates. www.qsc.com

50 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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Powersoft advances its M-Force technology

Lectrosonics adds two transmitters to 941MHz frequency band

THE M-FORCE 301P02 is a new Infra and a Cardioid version of the iteration of Powersoft’s M-Force Standard preset. linear transducer originally The DV SUB is a bandpass cabinet launched in 2013. It is described loaded with the M-Force 301P02 as a complete solution that transducer for subwoofer enables all levels of applications. The design speaker builders to has been optimised incorporate for producing the very high M-Force SPLs into down any design, to 28Hz both in in a compact self-powered and package, reportedly passive configurations. making the DV SUB The motor is factory an ideal upgrade for matched to a purposely an existing subwoofer, built diaphragm, through eliminating non-linear 301P02 a newly designed coupling distortions. Two and a lightweight chassis that helps presets are available – Standard improve thermal dissipation, while and Punch – each of which is also the addition of a front spider aims available for cardioid configurations. to further stabilise the design. The The Italian manufacturer is new reference designs have been also set to release Building created to help users increase the Information Models (BIM) for SPL capabilities of their systems. All each of its rackmount amplifier of the designs are free and come platforms, as well as Mover and along with a cut list and presets Deva HD. The BIM files can be inserted into building information modelling software to inform other specialists involved in a project of each product’s particular characteristics. The new models have been created to help a prospective architect or consultant to specify Powersoft products in their BIM project

LECTROSONICS HAS added the SMWB/E07-941 (single AA battery) and SMDWB/E07-941 (dual AA battery) to its Digital Hybrid Wireless SM Series to cover the Part-74 licence-only frequency range from 941.525– 959.825MHz. The transmitters have the same dimensions and features as the earlier UHF SMWB and SMDWB units, including the ability to either act as a transmitter or as a body-worn recorder.

RF power is selectable at 100mW, 50mW or 25mW. The models feature the standard TA5 connector with servo-bias mic input, as used on all previous SM Series units and all current TA5 beltpack units, such as the LT and LMb. Any lavalier microphones wired for these other Lectrosonics transmitters will also work on the new models. Accessories for the existing SMWB/SMDWB series – including pouches, belt clips and battery eliminators – are also compatible.

The units can be configured either as a transmitter or a recorder, with files stored on Micro SD card memory, allowing use as body-worn recorders.

Audio files are recorded in the industrystandard Broadcast Wave (.WAV) format at 24-bits/44.1kHz sample rate. The Micro SD memory card can also be used to update firmware in the field.

The transmitters feature the same large, backlit LCD found on the latest Lectrosonics transmitters. They also include an IR port to allow for quick setup when using any IR-equipped receiver, such as the SRc-941 or Venue 2-941. This is said to allow for easy integration with a larger wireless system using Lectrosonics Wireless Designer software for frequency management and system monitoring. www.lectrosonics.com

Dynamic EQ for MC2 and XTA CELEBRATING 20 years since XTA launched what is arguably the first digital implementation of dynamic EQ in a SIDD processor, the British manufacturer has released a firmware update that introduces dynamic EQ in the XTA DPA and MC2 Delta amplifiers.

EDM SUB that can be managed using the company’s ArmoníaPlus software.

The EDM SUB bandpass design features two M-Force 301P02 transducers, which can be built both as a self-powered or passive infra-sub, driven either by an M-Drive amplifier module coupled with a DSPL ETH or an X4L amplifier platform, respectively. When powered by an X4L, the sub can be connected to a Dante network.

The design has been optimised for producing ultra-high SPLs down to 18Hz. The four available presets provide coverage for different music programs: Standard, Punch,

configured as a PEQ, lo shelf, hi shelf or full bandwidth dynamic control.

OSC Control has also been implemented within XTA DPA and MC2 Delta DSP products with the latest update. This allows system operators to gain control from devices such phones and tablets.

DV SUB and to keep all parties informed of their operational characteristics.

The models will be available for use across a broad range of software platforms, including Revit, AutoCAD, Procore, BIM 360, InEight, Archibus, ISETIA BIM and ProjectWise. www.powersoft.com

XTA’s DPA 100 Up to two bands of dynamic EQ are available per input and, as well as managing the four quadrants of dynamic processing, they can be

Any OSC-enabled device can now control an XTA/MC2 powered and processed sound system over a standard Ethernet network. www.mc2-audio.co.uk www.xta.co.uk

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d&b evolves to revolve in the 360 Soundscape

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IN RESPONSE to customer feedback and ensuring preparedness for events post-lockdown, d&b audiotechnik has made new advanced features available for its Soundscape immersive audio system.

A DS100 Signal Engine lies at the heart of the Soundscape system to provide system configuration and matrix functionality in either standalone mode or combined with one or both of two software modules together. Operation is enabled with En-Scene object-based positioning and En-Space room emulation software, with the latest feature update including significant developments for the En-Scene and En-Space tools.

The En-Scene software module is an object-based positioning tool for the 64 audio inputs on the DS100 Signal Engine. The sound object routing control brings individual level

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adjustment and mute for each sound object within each section (Function Group) of a loudspeaker system.

This control option offers flexibility for a wide range of acoustic settings and multiple audience areas. Sound object routing ensures that a sound designer or mixer has ultimate control over the imaging and sound object performance as they relate to each Function Group in a distributed or immersive system. In addition to sound object routing, the update delivers two new function group modes for En-Scene in the form of Delay line embedded and Outfill embedded that support advanced 360° loudspeaker configurations.

This update addresses those installations that use delay lines for the audience areas within a surround (360) Soundscape setup to distribute a higher number of small loudspeakers or to enable

immersive sound for larger audience areas.

En-Space room emulation software provides ease of setup and operation to access acoustic emulations. Suitable for a range of applications, En-Space uses the sonic signatures of some of the most acoustically renowned performance spaces and provides individual adjustment parameters to make these a reality. En-Space now

supports delay lines delivering room emulation on all loudspeaker function groups in a Soundscape loudspeaker system. The impulse response (IR) assignment has also been optimised for the simultaneous use of multiple instances of the same function group mode, such as a delay line, within one loudspeaker system. www.dbaudio.com

Palmer hosts Grand Audition PALMER HAS revealed the 24-channel Grand Audition MKII switching system. Designed for multi-room applications, the 2U rack-mountable unit is equipped with 16 mono or eight stereo outputs and eight parallel subwoofer outputs.

Channel selection and volume control can be managed individually or as a stereo pair directly from the front panel or via a browserbased web interface, including a

tablet or laptop. Multiple mode selection enables several connected loudspeakers to be simultaneously selected, while loudspeaker channels can be defined and

individually named for fixed or recurring setups. The Grand Audition MKII’s output combinations can be freely configured, promoting it as a control centre for measurements.

Alternatively, a signal source can be supplied to a maximum of 24 headphone amplifiers in conferencing applications.

Playback sources including mixers, CD players or a digital audio workstation can be routed via two balanced XLR inputs. A built-in USB media player can also access WAV, AIF, FLAC, MP3 and OGG data formats. www.palmer-germany.com

Sony switches to live production

THE XVS-G1 is an entry-level compact live production switcher designed for live productions. Its hybrid structure brings together a central processing unit (CPU) with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The combination

reportedly delivers “both highest performance and reliability, with no compromise on visual processing enhancements”. FPGA hardware enables real-time processing in high resolution 4K(UHD), wide colour gamut, high-dynamic range (HDR) imaging and ultra-low latency.

High-density, high-resolution video processing using the latest software technology is said to provide versatility and expandability.

The switcher is enhanced with features such as a built-in clip player and 3D digital multi-effects.

The enhanced multi-viewer enables the display of multiple types of information, including the audio level meter and multi-layer captions overlay. Multiple HDR format conversion options are available, as well as compatibility with the Sony SR live workflow.

The XVS-G1 system comes with an optional clip player for the first time in a Sony live production switcher.

Four channels are available in HD and two channels in 4K(UHD) with

each channel having the ability to playback clips of up to 60 minutes in duration. Widely available AVC codec files in MOV or MP4 container format are supported and backup storage of all clips is available on the internal SDD. Media files are instantly loaded into the internal SSD storage device directly from a menu display on a PC or tablet device. The switcher inherits many features from Sony’s XVS switchers and shares the same benefit of system status recognition, confidence in button-push accuracy and speed in mission-critical live production scenes. pro.sony

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Quicklink hybrid switcher THE STS410 is an all-in-one hybrid switcher described by Quicklink as an easy-to-use, end-to-end, broadcast-grade solution which combines the power of the cloud and the cost-effectiveness of a single hardware unit. It combines three main elements to allow the user to achieve a full production workflow: a rack-mount server, software that integrates all

the tools needed to build, edit and customise productions, and a cloud-

Combined with the Quicklink Manager, the STS410 is said to create a complete end-to-end workflow, including the ability to stream to multiple concurrent services such as Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo Live or RTMP, and simultaneously record the discreet individual channels and programme output for postproduction flexibility. The cloud-based Controller enables control of scene and source selection from any location using any desktop, mobile or tablet device. based controller for scene and source selection.

www.quicklink.tv

Broadcast Pix heads to church BROADCAST PIX has introduced the ChurchPix live production and streaming solution which comes with two RoboPix PTZ IP cameras offering 20x optical zoom, integrated remote control and mounting brackets; PC hardware and an IP switch; a royalty-free library of suitable clips, stills and graphic templates; instant streaming and recording; audio inputs that support any Windows Audio Device including NDI, Dante and external USB convertors from the house sound system; and a software control interface that automates common production tasks.

The user interface features macro buttons that automate tasks such as

moving a camera or adding a graphic.

Users can start creating productions using the default design and create customised buttons and macros as they become familiar with the system, including full control of the RoboPix cameras. Video clips, stills and graphic templates are included to help create professional-looking content, while logos and titles can be uploaded to create graphics.

Users can connect the included server to the switch and then to the cameras using a single Ethernet cable.

The cameras and server support NDI, which self-discovers on connection.

Audio connects via a digital network or USB interface. ChurchPix systems can stream to up to five online destinations and record internally or on external USB

simultaneously. Content can be archived in the cloud or on a website. www.broadcastpix.com

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AJA unveils T-TAP Pro

AJA VIDEO Systems has unveiled T-TAP Pro, a compact, silent and portable Thunderbolt 3-connected device that has been designed to simplify 4K/UltraHD and 2K/HD/SD monitoring and output over 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 on compatible Mac or PC computers. It provides high-quality video monitoring, including High Dynamic Range (HDR) support for high frame rate (HFR) and large raster workflows from a Thunderbolt 3 host system.

The device is suitable for high-end colour grading, audio mixing, editorial and visual effects, in addition to on-set monitoring and playback, and enables creative professionals to work

efficiently from home or any location.

It features multichannel embedded audio on SDI and HDMI, and a 3.5mm stereo analogue audio connection that is said to provide a convenient method for monitoring audio, enabling editors or digital artists to plug in headphones directly to the device or connect to an external analogue audio mixer.

AJA has also released Desktop Software v16, a free update that introduces new features to the manufacturer’s lineup of KONA, Io and T-TAP products, such as HDR signalling over SDI, expanded IP video functionality, support for T-TAP Pro Thunderbolt 3 output device

and increased compatibility with the latest hardware and operating systems. It includes compatibility updates for the latest macOS, Windows and Linux operating systems, including support for macOS 11.x Big Sur, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Redhat/CentOS 8 and continuing support for Windows 10 updates. Desktop Software v16 expands support for high-end computer hardware, including

for KONA IP, Io IP and Avid Artist | DNxIP. Bridge Live v1.11 delivers a host of new features, including HLS input functionality for receiving HLS streams and bringing them into SDI baseband productions. HLS input supports both AVC TS segments for H.264 and the newly emerging fragmented MP4 standard for H.265/H.264. New VBR implementation allows for lower-latency presets with algorithmic intelligence,

certified compatibility of AJA PCIe cards and Thunderbolt devices with the 2019 Mac Pro and AJA PCIe card support for Supermicro X11DAI, X11SPA+TF and X11DPG. For IP video workflows, v16 also increases compatibility with NMOS-compliant devices by updating to NMOS 1.3 and adds improved troubleshooting capabilities with new LLDP support

and a new E-AC3 input supports Dolby Digital workflows. Additionally, pipeline upgrades include co-existence of different time bases, more efficient tools for managing presets and REST API enhancements allowing calls for individually starting and stopping pipelines.

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www.aja.com

Barco develops UniSee platform Panasonic combines brightness and colour

UNISEE 500 is the next generation of Barco’s LCD videowall platform that has been redesigned to offer improved image quality, ease of installation and servicing and reliability.

According to the manufacturer, it offers the world’s smallest optical seam and almost eliminates the grids that traditionally interrupt content show on LCD videowalls. Sense X algorithms have been optimised to further improve both intra-tile and overall inter-tile uniformity.

With an improved colour performance under wider viewing angles, Barco believes the UniSee 500 is now even more suited for use in environments where a frontal viewing is not the de facto case. The built-in support for the latest encrypted 4K streaming content is also needed for these environments.

The Videowall Management Suite solution allows resellers and managed service providers to monitor and manage the complete installed base of videowalls from a central location.

This solution will come free of charge during the warranty period and can be expanded with a service contract or subscription offer.

“The Barco UniSee range offers all well-known benefits of the platform, including the UniSee Mount for easy alignment, the bezel-less viewing experience and automatic colour and brightness calibration system, but adds a set of additional benefits to the package,” explained Gerrit Vermeire, director product management at Barco. “The existing eco-system of peripheral products built around Barco UniSee remains fully compatible with the new generation Barco UniSee 500, including curved mounting structures, touch overlays, trim solutions and more.” www.barco.com

THE PT-MZ880 Series – comprising the PT-MZ880 (8,000 lumens), TP-MZ780 (7,000 lumens) and PT-MZ680 (6,000 lumens) – has been designed to combine brightness and colour and provide vivid images without needing to turn the lights off. Features include Detail Clarity Processor 4, Dynamic Contrast and Daylight View Basic to help users tailor the LCD projectors to any environment. Compared to the manufacturer’s PT-MZ770 Series, the PT-MZ880 models reduce energy consumption down by approximately 20%.

The panel size measures 9.3mm diagonally with a 16:10 aspect ratio and the projectors can run

for 20,000 hours in normal/quiet mode or 24,000 hours in Eco mode before the light output declines to 50%. Other benefits include a 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio and an 85% centre-to-corner zone ratio. The lens shift is ±67% vertically and ±35% horizontally. The projectors have an AC 100–240V (50/60Hz) power supply and measure 561mm x 190mm x 437mm (WxHxD). Optional accessories include a fixed-focus lens, zoom lens, ceiling mount bracket, replacement filter, DIGITAL LINK switcher, digital interface box, the PressIT wireless presentation system and early warning software. pro-av.panasonic.net

PT-MZ880

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Lightspeed ahead TELESTREAM HAS announced the replacement of its Lightspeed K80 server with the new Lightspeed G8.

Like its predecessor, the Lightspeed G8 is a 1U server but incorporates a new CPU and dual-GPU architecture that is reportedly up to 80% faster in many media transcode operations.

The manufacturer also reports that the new server consumes less than half the power of its predecessor in most use cases.

Lightspeed G8 has been designed to optimise Vantage Media Processing Platform workflows. It features accelerated transcoding software, enabling automated content assembly across extensive production and distribution workflows in minimum time. The server comes as standard with four 10Gbps network ports. This is double the amount of previous Lightspeed servers, facilitating faster file transfer speeds, especially when

users gang-together the ports to achieve 40Gbps.

Lightspeed G8 also features several environmentally aware features: the system design requires significantly less cooling, which saves money on energy costs, and users may not have to upgrade air conditioning capacity within their plant rooms. The server features seven available Expansion Drive Bays (10 in total), which reduces the need for expensive external storage

solutions, future-proofs for more UHD and HDR production, and offers a RAID OS option for system redundancy.

Designed for easy installation, featuring a shallower box and more compact design with a side-rail mount and less depth in the rack, the Lightspeed G8 is made for easier maintenance, with front-facing USB ports simplifying maintenance routines. www.telestream.net

Ross merges Acuity and Ultrix BUILDING ON its Acuity switcher and Ultrix routing and AV processing platform, Ross has also announced the release of its hyperconverged production platform called Ultrix Acuity. It takes routing, audio mixing, multiviewers, trays of frame syncs and audio embedders/ de-embedders – all solutions that have traditionally filled multiple equipment racks – and compresses them all down to a single 5U chassis.

Ultrix Acuity has been designed for environments where size really matters. Users can add 2U of rack-mounted redundant power and the result is a complete 7U system that can replace packages requiring multiple racks, complex cabling and control system integrations.

As with the current Ultrix solution, Ultrix Acuity is based on the manufacturer’s Software Defined Production philosophy. The Software

Duet production server. Housed in a similar 2U chassis and built on the same video hardware as its predecessor, Tria Express Duet expands the number of possible video I/O configurations up to 15 channels. Two software options are available with the hardware: the TRIAXD-2-SW enables two symmetrical record/playout channels and the TRIA-XD-4-SW features these same two symmetrical record/playout channels with two additional playoutonly channels. Tria Express Duet also features a built-in multiviewer which can be undocked and moved onto an extended desktop computer display. A two-channel Tria Express Duet can be upgraded in future to four channels (two record/playout with two playout only) via a software licence.

Ultrix Acuity Defined Production Engine (SDPE) provides base hardware that can grow via convenient and relatively inexpensive software licences.

Ultrix Acuity’s SDPE backbone reportedly reduces the uncertainty around meeting future creative or technical requirements. Users can also transition from HD to UHD with a software licence and mix

SDI and IP sources in the same frame transparently. Ultrix Acuity can become one node of a larger distributed routing environment, reducing the incremental cost of adding I/O and further production switchers.

Replacing the current Tria Express launched in 2016, Ross Video has also unveiled the Tria Express

www.rossvideo.com

Tightrope extends streaming options CABLECAST VIO Stream is an automated solution for bringing live event streams and on-demand video to the web, social media and overthe-top (OTT) platforms. It has been designed to extend the “add once, publish everywhere” concept of the Cablecast system to organisations that don’t have their own television channel, giving houses of worship the opportunity to expand the public’s access to their content.

VIO Stream’s turnkey web pages let users showcase their VOD clips, livestreams and programme schedule “in consistent, attractive content portals with minimal effort”.

A comprehensive set of APIs is also available for customers wishing to integrate dynamic schedules,

livestreams and VOD playlists into their existing websites. VIO Stream also lets producers keep complete control of their viewers’ experience, unlike free video services that insert advertising or may suggest third-party content after playback.

The multi-platform publishing workflow has been designed to make it simple for users to achieve platform ubiquity of their livestreams and VOD library without additional work. As live or file-based content is added or scheduled through VIO Stream’s interface, the system automatically performs any required transcoding for online and OTT delivery, and updates the live event schedule on their bulletin board and website. VOD collections on all platforms can be automatically

populated through rich metadata capabilities and saved search criteria.

Users only need to add each programme or event once; VIO Stream automatically

publishes it everywhere and updates all content portals and apps. www.cablecast.tv

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PRODUCTS

Elation expands KL Series DESIGNED FOR applications requiring high output soft light with precise colour reproduction and adjustable colour temperature, the KL Fresnel 8 FC is suited for venues that are light critical and noise sensitive. It houses a 500W RGBMA LED engine calibrated at 6,500K and emits a diffused wash of light. It produces over 18,000 field lumens with a motorised zoom range of 10–50° so that users are able to easily adjust the beam size.

For illumination that is more precise with less light spill, adjustable and removable eight-leaf barn doors allow for customised shaping of the beam.

With high CRI (92), TM30 (88) and TLCI (95) values, meaning that colour recreation is extremely accurate both

to the eye and to the camera, the Fresnel is described as a flexible complement to

ETC debuts two fixtures THE SOURCE Four LED Series 3 is the third generation of ETC’s colour mixing LED fixture. Boasting an eightcolour mixing system that includes deep red LEDs, the series includes the Lustr X8 array for nuanced colours and the Daylight HDR array for

13,000 lumens, reduce light leak and produce near-zero chromatic aberration.

The Desire Fresnel comes with an eight-colour array, wireless DMX/ RDM, an intuitive user interface and NFC configuration through the

Series 3 and Desire Fresnel tunable white light. The manufacturer has added wireless DMX/RDM by integrating City Theatrical’s Multiverse protocol and NFC configuration using a mobile device and ETC’s Set Light app. Multiverse can broadcast as many as 10 universes of DMX from a single transmitter without excessive radio energy and frees up wireless bandwidth.

The newly designed XDLT lens tubes provides “the ultimate brightness from every location”. They can be hung in a box boom, on a catwalk or from the farthest back of house position. The tubes output up to

Set Light app. Four backlit encoders change colours to correspond to the attributes they control on the screen. ETC has redesigned how the lamp and lens work together so users can get more light through the entire zoom range. According to the manufacturer, this provides more lumens regardless of angle, making it up to 25% more efficient over traditional Fresnel optical systems.

Desire Fresnel has zoom control from either the front or the back of the fixture.

M any professional lighting system. It can adjust for light that shifts away from pure white towards green or magenta through a green-magenta shift adjustment and a virtual gel library.

Capable of matching the white balance for camera, users can shift the colour temperature without the use of plus/minus green gels and filters.

Additionally, the LED refresh rate can adjust up to 25kHz so there is no flickering when used with high-speed cameras.

The unit is DMX controllable with full RDM support and provides manual control for standalone operation of zoom, intensity, colour temperature, green shift and other settings. The display and dedicated Dimming and Control encoders are positioned at the bottom side of the fixture for unobstructed access.

It can be mounted on a stand or suspended using any standard clamp or the included Junior pin adapter. It is fully self-contained without the need for an external power supply and offers locking power pass-through for linking multiple units. www.elationlighting.com

Wireless creativity GLP CLAIMS to have developed When the CL1 system is controlled the first battery-powered and via the smartphone app, the CL1s completely wireless LED generate a mesh network systems on the market. among each other – The Creative Light 1 without any additional (CL1) and Creative gateway – the soLight 1 Plus (CL1+) called GLP iQ.Mesh feature 24 RGB network. Within this GLP iQ.Mesh LEDs along with network, each main colour control, colour patterns, a CL1 receives and sound-to-light feature amplifies the signal, via an integrated mic enabling the creation and three dynamic of a network over pattern macros. long distances. The CL1 All pixels can be used together, advantage of the smartphone app individually via pixel mapping or via is that it provides a user interface the integrated double layer FX engine. and reportedly enables particularly The CL1 offers the same performance fast system setup, allowing multiple as the CL1+ but is aimed more at devices to be grouped for live control. the semi-professional user with This also facilitates control of intensity, its manual, IR remote control, and strobe and pulse effects, background Android and iOS app control options. and foreground colours and a variety The CL1+ also features an integrated of dynamic patterns.

LumenRadio CRMX module for use www.glp.de in professional event technology and wherever the CL1 system is to be integrated into an existing DMX network. The control options of the basic CL1 are also available in the Plus version.

www.etcconnect.com

Streamer Duo

56 WORSHIP AVL July–August 2021

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Martin raises the bar MARTIN PROFESSIONAL has “raised the bar” for bright and compact lights with the debut of its MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Ultra Wash stage lights. All units in the MAC Ultra series now feature a new 1,150W, 6,000K proprietary LED light engine, which gives the MAC Ultra Wash the power to project 63,500 lumens and the MAC Ultra Performance 46,500 lumens of output.

Mac Ultra Performance

Designed for fixed and noisesensitive applications, the MAC Ultra family boasts an advanced framing system, higher-definition optics and low noise levels. With higher red content and better daylight balance, the units are said to produce rich, vivid colours and more natural skin tones. The minimum LED engine life is rated to exceed 50,000 hours and deliver over 90% of its initial output after 20,000 hours of usage at maximum power.

The MAC Ultra feature package includes a wide zoom range, precision focus control, uniform colour mixing, variable CTO, additional colour and spectral correction filters, motorised frost for a softer field, highresolution dimming and strobing. The new Martin Extended Framing System debuts for the first time in the MAC Ultra Performance, offering “more flexibility, easier programming, quicker response time and precision shutter angling that surges the fixture into a new class of creative potential”.

Robe is on the move THE LEDBEAM 350 is Robe’s latest moving light, a bigger and brighter version of the manufacturer’s LEDBeam 150.

Maintaining the 3.8–60° zoom of its predecessor, Robe has added a new lens coating that reportedly lengthens the intervals between cleaning and enhances the light output. The LEDBeam 350 also features CPulse, Robe’s Pulse Width Modulation control system that removes any onscreen camera flicker. Features such as fast movement, colour mixing, zoom and control can be maintained via a compatibility mode which allows for the combination of both 150 and 350 models on the same rig.

The 12x 40W RGBW high-powered LED multi-chips are said to provide high-quality output and CMY colour mixing control. DataSwatch contains 66 pre-mixed colours and tones, including whites for fast reliable colour selection, and Robe’s L3 Low Light Linearity system delivers “imperceptible fades to absolute blackouts”. The unit’s advanced cooling system and smooth zoom stepper motors make it ideal for noise-critical installations. An

optional Epass Ethernet switch will automatically maintain network connectivity in case the fixture experiences power loss.

Weighing under 10kg, the compact size makes it suitable for confined spaces. The unit will work in combination with other Robe luminaires, including the ESPRITE, MegaPointe and Spiider. The LEDBeam 350 FW version offers a Fresnel-wash type of beam for smoother edges and optimal colour homogenisation. www.robe.cz

pro.harman.com

LED in the spotlight PROLIGHTS HAS released its EclDisplay series, an LED spotlight that “sets new standards in lighting technology”. The fixtures come with multiple control options, sources, colours, lenses and accessories, with over 7,000 possible fixture configurations. The units are available in three control configurations: DAT, UN and CC. The DAT version comes with a builtin PSU, with manual knob-dimming, RDM, DMX and DALI control on board. The UN version includes all the above and adds phase-cut dimming for retrofitting in existing systems. The CC (Constant Current) version works with external drivers, allowing installers to complete the light fittings with any track-mounted rack or boxed drivers, accepting any wired or wireless control (DALI, Casambi, 0-10, on-off).

The EclDisplay is engineered with a 25W, high CRI LED engine. There are five different source options available: fixed white sources in 2,700K, 3,000K, 4,000K and

5,600K, as well as a 40W RGB+WW source, capable of delivering a wide tuneable white range, as well as pastels and saturated colours.

There are three lenses available: a zoomable 20–40° profile lens with four lockable blades, allowing users to frame any projection area with crisp or soft-edge accents, or to project images and textures through the indexable gobo holder.

In addition, the zoom wash optics are available in 15–30° and

25–50° variants to allow users to obtain a wall-washing effect. The fixtures can be track-mounted, hanged or ceiling recessed through the optional ceiling kit. There is also a wide range of accessories available, including a honeycomb louvre, snoot, four-leaf barndoors, filter frames and indexable gobo holders.

The Italian lighting manufacturer has also launched the Astra Beam260IP, an IP65 moving beam

light with a 260W PRO long-life lamp. It has been designed to produce a sharp and parallel beam of light with a boosted light output, thanks to its new Osram 260W PRO arc lamp. The Astra Beam260IP is described as smaller, brighter and faster than any other IP pure beam lights and repor tedly requires less maintenance time and extra costs. www.prolights.it

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THE TECH VIEW

Streaming surges ahead Ashdown AV’s Ian Chisnall considers the changes the HOW installation market has witnessed over the past year

Ian Chisnall, Ashdown AV

PRIOR TO 2020, THE THREE MAIN focuses for Ashdown AV, based in Crowborough, East Sussex, were as you would expect for a systems integrator: audio, visual and lighting.

Since last year, however, camera and streaming elements have become much more significant.

“We have dramatically increased our understanding of how to stream images out to the internet for churches,” explains Chisnall, who is account manager for the company.

“We have been working very significantly with a number of clients who were keen to stream their worship settings since June 2020 – and many of them want to continue to stream future services and, at the same time, engage with worshippers who are home-based so they can remain in contact with them after the Covid restrictions end.

“Another current theme that we are seeing is for solutions to the visual aspects of services. In terms of flat display screens, clients are looking for the ability to cover the screens when they are switched off or alternatively to keep them on after the service has ended so they can display inspiring images and messages. The alternative to the flat screens is finding ways to enable projector screens and indeed the location of the projectors to be subtle.”

Being able to install AVL systems as discreetly as possible is a factor that Ashdown AV is keen to promote. “Our intention is to try and ensure that the solutions do not damage the historic settings,” continues Chisnall. One project that he highlights is Berwick Church just outside Eastbourne where the company has installed a hidden projection screen and projector.

The projector is located inside the cupboard that was fitted to enable the church to have its kitchen equipment at the rear of the church building. It is in the top of the cabinet. The screen is

located at the rear of the rood screen and it lifts up when it’s switched on.

The upgrade also included speakers which Ashdown was able to install in a discreet position without affecting the quality of the sound. The company

although we do have some cases outside of these areas and some of our most significant Anglican churches are in Canterbury, London or Southwark,” describes Chisnall.

“We have a number of Evangelical

church structures and also Methodist churches. There are also a small number of Roman Catholic churches.

We have worked with churches that have had large requirements and budgets and we have also worked

An Ashdown installation at Our Lady of Angels in Erith also specialises in hearing loop systems.

Ashdown AV was established in 2003, although the company was legally established in 1987. The two original founders are Peter Roe who is the company owner and Mark Willetts who had been working for another AV installation company in Eastbourne.

Both have a significant amount of experience focusing on church installations. Between 20% and 35% of the company’s projects each year are HOW setups. Apart from one or two overseas projects related to UK clients, most of the company’s work is based in Sussex, Surrey, Kent and a small number in London.

“Our Anglican connections are particularly focused on the Chichester, Guildford and Rochester Dioceses,

with churches that have had very small budgets. There is a huge range of speakers to choose from and, to a certain extent, a large range of visual systems that offer different financial requirements.”

Looking to the future, the company is fortunate enough to benefit from a significant level of recommendations.

“We have been very lucky that many of our clients are happy to recommend us to their colleagues. Along with social media and our contacts through the Diocesan networks, we are also keen to bring all of our team out of partial furlough and return to the favourable position we were fortunate to find ourselves in at the end of 2019 and early 2020,” concludes Chisnall.

The projector at Berwick Church is hidden away in a cupboard

www.ashdownav.com

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PROFESSIONAL

COSMO THE INTEGRATIVE LINE ARRAY HK Audio’s COSMO line array system combines state-of-the-art audio quality with ingeniously simple handling, utmost utility and remarkable economy to provide an extremely flexible, easily configurable PA for professionals.

COSMO raises the performance bar for line arrays, setting a whole new standard for productivity and efficiency. Integrative and versatile by design, it delivers measurably higher effective SPL in the HF range than comparable systems.

With horizontal directivities of 100°, 80° and 60°, this formidable family of ultra flexible systems provides the bandwidth needed to cover the most diverse live scenarios.

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