New Freedom Church
By: Chris Eslinger
As most Tech Directors do, when I arrived at New Freedom Church in January of 2020, I began looking over all the systems and where the pain points were. I explored every storage area and back corners to see if there was anything that may have been forgotten about that I could use.
The PA was installed at least 30 years previous by well-intended volunteers from the church who did the best they could. In a 110’ by 60’ room there were two pairs of 2 x 15” cabinets with a trim height of 15’, hung right above the stage using chain that had been drilled through the building steel. Several of the tweeters were blown and only a few seats were covered clearly.
The front lights consisted of six Par 56s, hung at an 80 degree angle to the stage from a height of 21’. This created significant shadows in the eyes of anyone on stage and there were significant hot spots.
Live streaming was done from a single camera located at the back of the room locked on a wide shot.
No one seemed to know when the drumheads were last changed, and the cymbals were mostly small beginner cymbals.
The stage had a drop ceiling 8-10’ above it with multiple built-in platforms making anyone on the stage look like an animal in an enclosure at the zoo.
We quickly got to work, identifying all the problems that needed to be addressed, building a vision for the future, then putting the problems in order and tackling them one at a time.
Our vision wasn’t anything complex or fancy, it was simply to have the tools to create a quality experience that helped people to engage with Jesus. Practically, that meant having a quality, constant sound across every seat (including online), having an evenly lit stage with a consistent look for cameras, and having the camera systems tell the story of what happens in the room to an audience viewing through a screen.
The Three E's
Once we knew where we were going, we broke the issues down into categories that I refer to as the 3 Es:
Expense
how much does a solution cost and what can be accomplished with what we already have on hand. This also includes how much time and how many people it will require.
Effectiveness
how well a given solution accomplished the vision we were trying to achieve. So many times, the perceived “cool factor” of an idea overtakes the point of doing it in the first place. But how will the observer see it? Will they get the point in a way that impacts them and changes their life? and
Excellence
is the consistent standard of quality that can be achieved with each given solution. This can mean the difference between the “why” coming through clearly and stories being told about “that one time, yeah that was rough....”.
For example, our PA was going to be the single largest expense for replacement but was also the biggest challenge when it came to creating a consistent standard of quality across every seat in the room. While we could have replaced certain components of the system, it wouldn’t have effectively solved the coverage problems.
The lighting system on the other hand, was relatively inexpensive; we had to install a lighting bar at the proper angle and put up a handful of lights that had been donated by another church connected through a handful of dimmer packs we already had on hand. This got us closer to the desired coverage and angle even though they left a little to be desired with color temperature and lensing. In the short term it was worth the effort to put them up; the expense of hanging a lighting bar for the fixtures was one we had already planned on in the future.
First Things First
From day one, my primary concern was getting the sources to sound and look as good as possible. We started with putting good (Remo Emperor), fresh drumheads (top and bottom) on the drumkit and tuning it up, and also adjusting the drum mics we had to capture the source as best as possible, until we could get some better drum mics.
In addition to the lighting bar I already mentioned, we also worked to white balance all of the light based elements (LED color fixtures, front lights, projectors, and cameras) to the same white point.
Over the next 18 months, we would get a better snare drum (Ludwig Black Beauty), a nicer church-owned bass (Fender Player Plus 5 String Active Jazz Bass), and update the patches we utilized in our Nord HP 3 EX to the best sounding piano and pad patches Nord had available on their website.
We upgraded drum mics to the classic Shure Beta 91/52 on the kick, Beta 57a and SM57 on the snare top and bottom, Sennheiser e904s on toms, an Audio-Technica Pro 37 on the hats and a pair of Mojave MA-201fetVGs on the overheads.
We purchased a pair of Canon XF405s and, later, an additional pair of XF605s to better capture the story, all feeding into a deck link card in a custom built PC running OBS with an Elgato Stream Deck XL as a budget switcher surface.
Addressing the sources first meant that we would immediately begin hearing a difference both in the room and online. Each improvement made it considerably easier to build a quality, consistent mix.
At the same time, we were addressing the challenges with the equipment, we began recruiting volunteers and training them on the tools we had available. As we increased the number of needed roles with equipment, we had people to fill them who knew how to utilize the tools to their potential.
Larger Expenditures
Due to all the easy wins and improvement in the first year, when it was time to present to the church board and request larger expenditures, we already had built a reputation for fixing problems that had gone unaddressed for years.
The presentation strategy to leadership was to first define the issues in a way non-technical people could clearly understand. For the sound system we walked the board through the room with music playing and showed them where the inconsistencies in coverage existed, allowing them to experience how bad the problem was for themselves. Once it was clear they all understood the problem, the coverage maps of what the proposed RCF system would do made practical sense to them. These tools and experiences allowed us to show them a clear vision for the future so that when we asked for funds, we were able to say these dollars will pay for this specific solution to the problem you just experienced.
As a result of this preparation and clear presentation strategy, that same night the board approved a system consisting of 20x RFC HDL6-A, 2x RCF SUB 8008-AS, six channels of Shure’s QLXD with SM86 capsules and a DPA 4288F earset microphone for pastor, acoustic treatment, and a BSS London Blue for system control. They also approved a Yamaha QL5 64-channel digital mixing console with a RIO3224-D2 digital stagebox and four channels of Shure’s PSM 300s. We repurposed the Yamaha TF5 48-channel digital mixer we already owned to be a dedicated monitor console with the Yamaha monitor mix app, allowing the musicians to control their own mixes.
With the help of our friends at Sinewave Audio out of Anderson IN we were able to install this new system in a week’s time in March of 2021.
Why We Chose The Gear We Did (Equipment list at the end of the article)
We chose the RCF rig, because it was both cost effective and had a box design that worked extremely well for our space. The QL5 digital mixing console is both reliable and intuitive to use. It has a solid infrastructure for Dante and was a cost effective way to get the channel count and processing flexibility we wanted all in one unit. The built-in Neve 5045 Primary Source Enhancer is an especially useful unit for getting crystal clear speaking mics, lead vocals, and choirs.
When it came to microphones, the Shure SM86s are a solid option for a large number of vocalists, having the benefits of a condenser mic with a fairly flat frequency response at a very reasonable price. DPA has also always been a clear choice in my book for headsets; when you break church down to its most basic elements the message is one of the main reasons we gather each week, so it only makes sense to invest in making sure that is heard clearly.
After our audio needs were met, we were able to make another ask of the board to upgrade our lighting systems to install six ETC LED Source 4WRD II Daylight Gallery LEDs for front light, a MA Lighting grandMA3 Command Wing and 12 V-Show AURA Zoom Wash LED moving fixtures. The ETCs provide a very bright and even output with a solid color while allowing us to remove dimmers from the system altogether. The Command Wing gives the power of MA3, along with a tactile user interface at a fairly reasonable price. It also seemed like a good pairing with the QL5, as far as keeping all the disciplines at similar levels when it comes to control and price point.
We were also able to purchase a used Barco HDX-W20 FLEX 3-chip DLP Projector to make our center projection screen pop and look correct on camera, without having to address the challenges that come with filming subjects in front of an LED wall. We’ve had a handful of comments asking what LED wall we have from other area churches who have only viewed online. When the room design allows for enough distances between lights and screens, projection can be a solid way to avoid a lot of the potential headaches LED walls can present.
We are currently in process of demoing some options for a new video switcher to allow us to utilize multiple MEs to accommodate adding IMAG capability and potential additional cameras in the future.
There are days where it feels like it takes a long time to make forward progress, but when I look back at what we’ve been able to accomplish at New Freedom Church over the past three years I’m amazed by how much we accomplished in a relatively short amount of time.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Chris Eslinger has been serving in churches since 2014 as the staff technical director. He has worked in touring audio as well as corporate AV. He has a B.S. in Music and Worship from Johnson University in Knoxville TN. He also does AVL and leadership structure consulting work with church organizations. You can find more info along with his blog and podcast at chriseslinger.com
Equipment List
Yamaha QL5 64-channel Digital Mixing Console
Yamaha TF5 48-channel Digital Mixer
Yamaha RIO3224-D2 Digital Stagebox
Yamaha Tio1608-d Dante-equipped I/O rack
RCF HDL 6-A Active Line Array
RCF SUB 8008-AS Professional Subwoofer
Shure QLXD/SM86 Digital Wireless
DPA 4288F Earset Microphone
Mojave MA-201fetVGs
Sennheiser e904 Dynamic Cardioid Microphone
Shure SM57-LC Instrument Microphone
Shure Beta 91A Kick Drum Microphone
Shure Beta 52A Kick Drum Microphone
Shure PSM 300 In-Ear Personal Monitoring System
MA Lighting grandMA3 Command Wing
Barco HDX-W20 FLEX 3-chip DLP Projector
ETC S4WRDDG120 Source 4WRD II Daylight Gallery
V-Show AURA Zoom Wash LED Moving Head
BSS Audio BLU-100 12x8 Signal Processor
Canon XF405 4K UHD Camcorder
Canon XF605 4K UHD Camcorder