Oak Pointe Church, Novi, Mich.
Church acoustic problems are no anomaly in the world of AVL design and consulting. And certainly not at Oak Pointe Church in Novi, Mich., its leaders report.
The church initially called in local Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems to evaluate its worship space and provide acoustic analysis and treatment to eliminate room anomalies, a process that would eventually lead to a new audio design based on a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Compact line array solution.
Sound issues & solutions
Trent Keeling, senior design consultant for Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems, explains that the sanctuary had significant acoustic issues, its existing PA system lacking intelligibility, pattern control and musicality.
"The church wanted to bring the stage experience closer to the audience, so they built a 30-foot by 40-foot circular thrust that comes out into the congregation with 130-degree seating around the stage." Trent Keeling, Senior Design Consultant, Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems, Novi, MI
“Part of the upgrade was to architecturally emulate a high school auditorium, what we affectionately call a ‘praise-a-nasium,'" Keeling notes. "The original stage was low with poor sightlines. The church wanted to bring the stage experience closer to the audience, so they built a 30-foot by 40-foot circular thrust that comes out into the congregation with 130-degree seating around the stage."
Speaking with Charlie Koopman and Anthony Progar, the church’s worship leader and technical director, Keeling found: “They needed a multifaceted space because the church is very involved with the local community––they might put on off-Broadway plays, a dinner theater for 1,500 one night, and contemporary praise and worship the next. Typical attendance is between 1,200-1,500 per service, with the room capacity around 2,000.“
To accommodate this challenging situation and provide uniform coverage, Advanced designed a main stereo-configured left and right line array system from Martin Audio that was designed to cover from the downstage lip forward, while avoiding the near seats and also including everything 180-degree diagonal to the stage, which are treated separately. "The stage is actually mobile––it comes out so when they strike it, they seat that area," Keeling adds.
System specifics
The system consists of six WPC enclosures ... side flown just ahead of the thrust lined up with the downstage lip to avoid impacting sightlines for center, left and right video screens and stay out of the way during play productions. Power is provided by five Martin Audio iK42 amplifiers.
Keeling notes, “We used two-box resolution [two WPC enclosures per channel], with an eye to expanding to single box resolution with the spare iK42 that we have, but it sounds so nice we haven’t made any changes. All of which is why we greatly appreciate the small footprint of the Martin Audio WPC array. Also, [we appreciate] the very flexible rigging that allowed us to easily optimize the system to the room without compromising performance."
“We used two-box resolution [two Martin Audio WPC enclosures per channel], with an eye to expanding to single box resolution with the spare iK42 that we have, but it sounds so nice we haven’t made any changes." Trent Keeling, Senior Design Consultant, Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems, Novi, MI
There are two hangs of three SX218 subs flown in a center cluster with a cardioid subwoofer pattern for directionality towed out at 45-degree to one another so we can avoid overlap. The PA also includes eight Martin Audio Blackline X8’s for nearfield custom cut in and wired into recessed areas of the rolling stage. There are three XD12’s for outfills and center fills covering the oblique seating at 180-degree for house left and house right behind the line array that also cover the close seating from the front lip when the circular stage is struck. The nearfield, outfills and center fills are powered by a Martin Audio iK81.
Image courtesy of Martin Audio.
Asked why they chose Martin Audio WPC line arrays, Keeling responds, “One of the main criteria for the church was fidelity. We didn’t want a traditional crossover point in the high frequencies or a typical compression driver at 1.2 kHz because of the way it sounds to the audience. The church does marathon events and they wanted a system the operators and audience could listen to for two or three hours at a time without ear fatigue."
“We needed control and directivity to avoid coverage where we didn’t need it, which we get from the system’s Hard Avoid capability." Trent Keeling, Senior Design Consultant, Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems, Novi, MI
He closes, “We needed control and directivity to avoid coverage where we didn’t need it, which we get from the system’s Hard Avoid capability. The surfaces are brick and steel with a huge reflective wall at the back of the room, and the PA system drops coverage a few feet beyond the operator at the back of the house while staying off the ceiling, as well.”
For more about Martin Audio, visit www.martin-audio.com.
