Specifically, it was Worship Pastor
Michael Larson who championed the idea
of delivering a perceived stereo image to
every worshipper in the room as a means
of enhancing the music ministry. As a re-
nowned composer whose songs are sung
by congregations around the world, Larson
knows full well the impact that music can
have on engagement and is a big part
of why First Assembly has earned such a
good reputation in that regard.
Wells, Larson, and Shane Penney, the
church’s executive director, brought Sap-
phire Sound’s Ben Burrell into the fold early
in their discussions. Burrell is a managing
partner with the firm and oversees its loca-
tion and operations in Calgary.
“We had worked with the church on
a number of things in the past – lighting
upgrades, small pieces of kit here and
there, that sort of thing – but this [would
prove to be] a project of a different mag-
nitude,” begins Burrell. “They wanted a
quality experiential dimension to audio
and imagined stereo imaging for everyone.
Our analysis showed that while this was
entirely possible, the room dimensions and
physical shape would require an unusually
large number of cabinets to achieve what
they wanted. It would also be a remarkably
complex system to manage.”
That initial assessment was done right
around the time that d&b audiotechnik
formally launched its Soundscape immer-
sive audio system. Anchoring Soundscape
is the DS100 Signal Engine, a system pro-
cessor based on a powerful Dante-enabled
signal matrix and manipulated by a pair
of complementary software modules: En-
Scene and En-Space. The former is a sound
object positioning tool that allows for the
individual placement and movement of
up to 64 sound objects. The module accu-
rately depicts stage scenarios so that each
sound object corresponds both visually
and acoustically, meaning audience mem-
bers can hear localized sound seemingly
emanating from its true source regardless
of where they might be seated.
As such, Burrell recognized its poten-
tial as the optimal solution for First Assem-
bly. Since the concept was relatively novel,
Burrell had no direct experience with
Soundscape, but had confidence based on
a years-long partnership with d&b.
“Everything we had used from them
so far performed exactly as they promised
it would,” he asserts, and that ultimately
turned out to be the case with this appli-
cation. “The functionality of their object
positioning tool within the En-Scene mod-
ule … presented a much more manageable
solution to the dilemma of First Assembly
– and, in many ways, a better and more
creative one.”
Wells was certainly intrigued. “When
Ben first presented the Soundscape
concept, it wasn’t simply ‘another way of
achieving what we aimed for,’” he offers. “We
had started to see the conversations in the
pro audio press about so-called ‘immersive
sound experiences,’ so even though it was
all pretty new, we saw the potential. Look-
ing at the d&b online videos, it was clear this
was something else.”
To get a better sense of how it could
achieve their collective goals, Burrell invited
Wells and Penney down to the 2018 Info-
Comm Show to take in a Soundscape demo
and also get hands-on with other potential
system components – like the Allen &
Heath dLive S5000 console they ultimately
sourced to control the system.
“We had already become convinced
this was the way to go,” Wells says about
Soundscape. “The demo was the final stamp
of approval. Staged in 360 degrees, it was a
very cool experience. Although the presen-
tation was more generalized about what
could be achieved with En-Scene and En-
ALLEN & HEATH dLIVE S5000 CONSOLE
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 39