Gymatoriums” also known as
“sanctinariums” were, only a
few years ago, the only common non-traditional worship
spaces. Today, churches meet
in storefronts, movie theaters,
school cafeterias and renovated older church facilities. In any worship
environment, however, two questions
arise as soon as the topic of gear emerges.
First, “How do we make it sound right?”
and second, “How do we make it look
right?”
Silver Screen Teams:
Tips for the church that meets in
the local Cineplex
By design, a movie theater is at odds
with traditional church architecture.
While a theater blocks natural light, a
church invites it. A church is reverberant while a theater is muted. Therefore,
holding a traditional worship service in
a movie theater is fraught with difficulties. On the other hand, a movie theater
is an excellent venue for post-modern
events and intense stage productions. The
acoustically treated walls, plush seating
and cool temperature create an ambience
of anticipation for sensory stimuli.
Naturally, the main feature of
a theater is its large screen. Instead
of ignoring it or trying to mask it
with a black drape, use it as a gigantic backdrop. In the photo on the op-postite page, Ridgestone Church, under
the leadership of lead pastor Gary Lamb
and worship leader Tim May, makes
the most of the stark white fabric with
Chauvet TFX-1550CM color washes shining on the center of the screen and dual
Panasonic video projectors mounted atop
a 40 foot Applied truss system held up by
L-16M mobile bases aimed at the sides.
The projectors’ images are set far enough
apart to prevent bleed from the washes
but close enough to keep the congregation’s focus on the stage proceedings. In
the same photo, notice the speaker stacks
on each side of the stage. Instead of trying to mount speakers along the walls or
overhead, Ridgestone is using an EV Cobra ground stackable line array to make
it sound right. The line array principle
reduces energy lost to the room by close
placement of the vertical drivers. The Cobra system is one of only a few speaker
designs capable of line array performance
in a stage stackable box. The Cobra’s connectivity is a study in simplicity, with
one power outlet and two speaker feeds
emanating from the factory configured
amp rack.
A Little Polish
Onstage, the band is segmented to
present an asymmetrical appearance. The
drums are upstage left, the keyboards,
downstage right. Tim, as worship leader,
is set downstage left next to the bassist who doubles on vocals. The physical
orientation is designed to create a “
scattered” look with just enough cohesion
provided by the symmetrical projector
images. Candles, area rugs and random
art objects temper the tech-laden layout
while illumination is tightly controlled
to mask unsightly hardware.
Conventional Amendment:
Mainline update to the church built
in the 70s or 80s
In mainline denominations, tradition
holds the day. For Hickory Road Baptist
Church, the needed tech improvements
took a back seat to aesthetics. However,
some creative planning paid off, especially in the “sounding right” arena. The
church’s curved ceiling made a line array
speaker system the clear choice to prevent
room inclusion on the audio signature.
The committee, however, rejected the plan
out of hand. In place of two rows of six
speakers, the installation team mounted a
single Renkus-Heinz CE-153/12K speaker
to handle the audio chores for the five hundred-seat rooms. While not as capable as the
line array would have been, the single box is
adequate for the church’s blended worship
style and as a bonus, is tonally neutral. On
stage, the committee insisted the mic cables
be hidden, so all input plates were mounted
on the rear of the choir modesty rail. For
video, a single remotely retractable Draper
nine-by-twelve screen was mounted in the
molding above the baptistery. It is lowered
only during the song service and then recalled for the sermon.
Hoops to Hallelujahs:
Church in a Gymnasium
School gyms and cafeterias are built
for function, not beauty. Their concrete
floors, flat steel ceilings and cinder block
walls turn ordinary speech into a sonic
maelstrom. However, Bridgepointe
Church has managed to overcome these
limitations with yards of acoustic pipe
and drape. While portable churches
commonly use thin black sheets to
dress out school walls, there are better,
heavier materials available from Da-Lite
designed as acoustic treatment panels.
In conjunction with Auralex bass cube
traps, Bridgepointe was able to tame
the cafeteria acoustic and its aestethic
problems with one product. To improve
the visual element onstage, Jeffrey Melvin, Bridgepointe’s creative arts pastor,
bought reams of Transformit, a Spandex based material with reinforced side
seams and insertable grommets for tensioning. Akin to sails, the form factors
are a visual hit and can be easily washed
with color from PAR cans as well as
Fresnels. He pulls them into position
with stage trussing mounted vertically
and held in place with sandbags.
True Blue Update:
How to update the old country church with
respect for its history
Unlike Bridgepointe, Bethel Assembly
of God is in a decades-old fixed location.
This small country church had survived
the years but needed an update. Pastor
Clint Williams tried to introduce projected images but found the only suitable surface was a portable tripod screen. Sensing
the congregation’s wariness of the venture, he turned for help to a design team.
Their initial plan called for a video screen
on the rear wall. Unfortunately, the plan
had to be changed to meet the demands
of a parishioner who wanted the American flag left in its original position on the
rear wall. Thus, the team had to cut out a
section of the drywall ceiling in order to
mount a retractable screen above the stage
with enough clearance for the pastor to
stand unhindered at the podium. Proper
sound was an easier task, as the church
felt side mounted speakers were adequate
for their needs.
Starting Over:
Keeping the ultramodern church
looking and sounding right
Sometimes, it is easier to remove
an existing facility than to renovate it to
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