The Space
Like many modern churches in smaller communities, Greenville Community Church resides in a less-than-conventional church building. The site features the original building, built in 1998, connected to two sprung structures. The sprung structures look like tents attached to the original building, one serving as a worship space, the other as an office building.
After more than 10 years of service, the Greenville Community Church team decided it was time for a few core facility updates. Their goal was to provide a more contemporary look for their space better-suited to the church’s current style of worship, including an extended stage, new carpet, a new color scheme and comprehensive tech upgrades.
The latter is where D16 came in with the assist: their new setup would require building a new sound system from the ground up, mixers, wireless capabilities, improved stage lighting and more.
The Challenge
Two primary challenges existed: the church structure itself and the timeframe to complete our work.
The tent-like nature of the sprung structures move slightly with large gusts of wind, and the construction of the structures provides limited rigging points from the ceiling. When designing their custom solution, it was necessary to incorporate products that worked within their limitations while meeting their technology needs.
This project came to us with a limited timeline, with the church’s 25th anniversary approaching quickly. They provided us with 6 weeks to design, plan, order product, and execute our installations, choosing to temporarily vacate their space in that time. Especially when ordering products shipped cross-country, a tight timeline can be especially challenging.
The Solution
To meet the ministry’s need, we deployed a high-performance L’Acoustic A-series speaker system above several A15 speakers, the first A15 installations in the United States. We chose a SQ-5 for broadcast and a DLive C3500 mixing system for the front-of-house console to feed the speaker system, both from Allen & Heath. We incorporated an Allen & Heath IP6 into the DLive mixing system for in-ear monitoring.
To update their stage area, we installed Elation FUZE, Profile and Chauvet spots to provide an improved visual element to the space. The stage also features a Vanguard 8’x30’ LED Wall, which provides an entirely customizable backdrop to their stage.
Audio
We completely replaced the main church audio system while supplementing their on-stage monitoring system with new equipment. Their new speaker system consists of L’Acoustics A15 speakers, 3 boxes flown on each side of the stage. We also added three L’Acoustics KS28 subwoofers installed on the ground.
We replaced their old audio console system with an Allen & Heath DLive series mixing system, which provides a maximum analog I/O count of 96 inputs and 48 outputs in its current configuration. The new mixing system provides their system with enough outputs to allow stereo IEM mixes for all musicians and singers on stage. Monitor mixing is accomplished via Allen & Heath ME-1 and IP6 mixers distributed on the stage. The Dante connectivity will allow easy virtual soundcheck playback through the system.
We installed a second digital console in their live-stream broadcasting space, including an Allen & Heath SQ-5 mixer fed direct output feeds from the main FOH console. Connected to the Dante connector, it’s able to complete a separate mix for broadcast. This provides additional flexibility for the console to mix future feeds, such as lobby outputs or overflow outputs elsewhere in the building.
Greenville’s new audio system also includes a new wireless microphone system, including 8 total wireless systems with the appropriate antenna distribution systems, 6 handheld and 2 headsets. We installed new IEM systems with appropriate antenna distribution, consisting of 8 wireless IEM systems and 2 wired stereo IEM systems for the drummer and keys. We used the new Shure PSM300 systems to accomplish this portion of the project.
Lastly, part of the project’s budget went towards new wired microphones, crowd microphones for the broadcast mix, and drum microphones.
Video
D16 replaced Greenville’s existing projection system by upgrading to an LED Wall by Vanguard. Once they renovated the stage, we outfitted their space with a custom ultra-wide screen from the update truss on the stage. We replaced the existing screen and project at the read of the worship space with a 90” diagonal LED display for use as a separate stage display from the main projection system. Their new screen has a viewing area of 29.52’x8.2’ LED Wall, and the LED Wall has a pixel pitch of 3.91mm.
Their system is controlled using a new Mac Mini computer, complete with a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. The confidence display is fed from the Stage Display feature of the ProPresenter software. All of their video connections are now completely digital.
Lighting
Greenville’s software and hardware is configured for 4 universes of DMX control. The software is expandable, allowing them to add more universes as needed in the future. It’s also able to control fixtures and hardware using ArtNet over an IP network.
The software is incredibly customizable, providing programmers with multiple custom views to control their entire lighting system, or letting them choose small sections to control. It also comes with capabilities for building a robust preset library, dramatically decreasing their weekly lighting programming time. They can control and trigger the software using external sources, meaning they can trigger events by ProPresenter or hardware devices.
For the main front and profile lighting we used eight Elation WW Profile HP ellipsoidal fixtures. These lights feature a high-output, LED light engine, filling the need for traditional front lighting.
We installed eight CHAUVET Intimidator Spot 375Z IRC lights and eight Elation FUZE wash fixtures, both flown and on the ground. The Spot fixtures provide several gobos and prism effects, and the wash fixtures provide a wide range of zoom, RGBW color mixing.
This combination of spot and wash lights provide a dynamic palette for an immersive light set.
The Net Result
With its updated high-impact audio technology and stunning visuals, the renovated space provides a beautiful space for worship and teaching. The new interior design and tech systems work synergistically to create an environment that fosters great engagement between congregants and leaders. The technology greatly enhances the ministry’s on-going work, and its longevity will continue to serve the church for many years to come.
