BEFORE THE REVAMP
the cluster on the bracket and winched everything up into place . It was a lot of fun as the pastor was recording the video for his Sunday sermon for online streaming at the time and they shot it so we were in the background preparing to raise the speakers . The problem was he was done his sermon before we were ready . They were trying to drag out the recording so the image of this going up in the background would be part of the message . In the end they did record us raising the cluster and put in as an Easter egg at the end of that Sunday ’ s service .”
On the wings covering the wraparound balcony are two KV2 ESD12s per side , which are two-way , passive full-range speakers . These are hung about 20 ft . off the ground floor . They ’ re primarily used for the live instruments and recorded music and video playback . Time delays , and the fact that the material is split , make up for the roughly 10-ft . height between the centre and left-right clusters .
“ We put four of those in and we align them so that you have a left channel material . And then there ’ s another speaker beside it go into the upper balcony , and that ’ s right channel material . I hesitate to say it ’ s stereo , but it is fuller sound … You are getting stereo information in 90 to 95 % of the seating .”
In terms of why he opted for the compact KV2 speakers , Jukes says it ’ s simple — clarity . “ I sold a lot of different PA gear over the years and I ’ ve never experienced the clarity that the KV2s have . Part of it is their amplification . I always undervalued the quality of a power amp until I experienced this . That ’ s part of it . The other part is their speaker design , components , and they ’ re point source , not line array ,” he notes .
The original spec also called for underbalcony speakers , but because there are only two or three rows of pews under the balcony , and because of the clarity achieved with the other speakers and improved acoustics , they were able to nix those from the plan .
“ So , we don ’ t actually have any under balcony speakers and that ’ s pretty amazing . You can sit under there and you can hear fine . It ’ s also easier for the sound man to get a good mix . They really like the mix they ’ re getting with less listener fatigue . So , they don ’ t get worn out , especially if they ’ re older people .”
Speaking of the mix , at FOH there is an Allen & Heath SQ7 , a 48 channel / 36 bus digital mixer , with a GX4816 96kHz audio expander . Though the church volunteers who run the sound day-to-day are good , like in any church setting , user-friendliness was a key consideration in choosing a console . Previously , the church had a simple 32-channel Qu-32 mixer from Allen & Heath .
“ Because I have a left-right-centre system , I needed more output controls . So , I have dedicated two faders , one to the sub and one to the left-right , and then the main fader is for the vocal cluster . That was important and it was one of the key reasons to go up in a mixer even though they had a perfectly fine mixer , it just wouldn ’ t meet that need ,” says Jukes . “ By putting all the stereo feeds on one fader , it ’ s really simplified a lot of things for them . With external processing with delays , there ’ s not a lot of EQing going on . So , they have the channel EQ that they can fiddle with , but it made it a lot simpler for their operators .”
The FOH position , though , is not ideal , being off to one side , rather than in the centre . But Jukes did successfully insist that the mix position be kept out from under the balcony . Now , obviously the other major change is the stage . That was the initial focus of the church ’ s desire to make its space more practical for the local arts community . As mentioned , the church historically had a four-level pulpit . Again , it looked cool , but couldn ’ t be used for concerts or theatre . From that traditional design , it has been transformed into a one-level stage that ’ s roughly 30 ft . deep and 40 ft . wide .
“ The way you build a stage is really important from an acoustics perspective ,” says Jukes . “ We use a 12-in . centre and we have knee walls every 4 ft . So , it ’ s quite rigid with double layers of plywood . Invariably , everybody said , ‘ Oh , that ’ s such overkill , we don ’ t need to do that ,’ and they didn ’ t want to do it . I twisted their arm and they did it , and now we don ’ t have any boom , boom , boom when you walk across the stage . You don ’ t have any resonance , and you don ’ t have frequencies coming off mic stands . So , that ’ s worked out really well .”
42 PROFESSIONAL SOUND