Our church was in the middle of planning for a sound system renovation for our worship center. Then came the live XPastor broadcast on Auditoriums Post-Covid: Big Ideas to Think Through When Designing Your Space. Just hearing about the broadcast raised questions. We had been wondering if all the bases were covered and not forgotten anything in our plans. Had we gone wrong in the design? Were we missing something? Were our plans the best for our situation?

We watched the broadcast and took away plenty of ideas. Now, a few months later, here’s an update of our sound system renovation at Christ Community Church of Laguna Hills.

New Equipment

We decided to install a new sound system—with all the bells and whistles. We replaced the 10+ year old mixer, amps, and speakers. We installed state of the art equipment. I won’t bore you with the entire two-page list of equipment. Here are the essentials of the renovation.

Here are some of the new items that we installed:

  • New Allen & Heath DLive C3500 fader surface.
  • New Allen & Heath DLive CDM48 Mixrack. This goes in a closet and is the brains of the system.
  • Dante distribution infrastructure.
  • L-Acoustics Speakers including two flown-in-the air KS21i subwoofers, four A10i wide speakers and two A10i focus speakers.
  • Mounted front of stage to fill in front rows are four X4i mini 4 inch fill speakers.
  • Complete removal of all the existing copper wires and replaced with new Dante connections and networks from front to back of house.

On the Stage

For the stage, we had a few changes:

  • Our six stage boxes were upgraded and we added a seventh box.
  • New copper wire from MixRack to stage for instrument and wired mics.
  • Dante connections in each stage box.
  • Speaker and monitor connections.

Acoustic Treatment

For the room we did some acoustic treatment. We had the building analyzed and found that there was a 5 second sustained echo, especially audible on stage. This caused performers and speakers to have an uneasy feeling. The room also had a very low frequency (150 hz) active resonance that would cause a runaway feedback loop. 

To mitigate these issues, we installed new acoustic panels up in the high center section of the church, as well as along the curved back wall. The acoustic panels reduced both the echo as well as the resonance.

Other Changes

There were some other items done for technical improvements:

  • We moved all the wireless microphone receivers to the back of house.
  • We installed new antennas for wireless mics and wireless headphone monitors.
  • We installed new wiring for the remote stage monitors and earphones to eliminate need for stage speakers.

Installation

We chose to work with a local contractor called Tech Arts. They were a single point solution who provided design, equipment, installation, and training. 

Obviously, a significant change like this does not happen in one week. Due to Covid, we had everything in place to worship outdoors for four weeks in the summer months. The congregation enjoyed a little outdoor time so that the contractor could have full access to the entire auditorium without interruption. During the installation, we held several special events outside, including a wedding. Ministry continued in spite of Covid and the installation of the new sound system.

Training and Use

We are still tuning the room; that takes a while as various groups and musicians use the room. 

We are getting the team trained on the new equipment. Two of us learned the new system and we have been training each user as they run the system for the first time. We have eight sound technicians to train. At this point, they have all run at least one service, wedding, or special event. The big training pressure is off, except for ongoing adjustments and fine tuning.

This photo was our first event with the new sound system—a wedding rehearsal.  A word of warning: Always consider shipping delays. The mix rack arrived three weeks late, which was two days before the rehearsal. It was hand delivered by the territory manager of Allen and Heath. Yea team!

For the rehearsal, the paint wasn’t dry yet. The room wasn’t tuned. But we had a wedding to produce! Quite literally, I had a backup plan to temporarily move our portable, outdoor “Covid rig” into the worship center to make this wedding happen.

Cost and Conclusion

The total cost, including for the equipment and installation, was about $150,000. Overall, we are very happy with the renovated sound system. 

Thanks for the broadcast on Auditoriums Post-Covid: Big Ideas to Think Through When Designing Your Space. We learned that what we planned on doing was the correct choice for us. We now have a sound system that will suit us for the next decade.