How do you select the best possible audio system that meets not only your immediate needs, but those in the significant future as well? You take time, you plan … and you do a lot of homework.
For those at Hillsong Church—a Pentecostal megachurch headquartered in the Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills—planning and research are old hat. As they should be: Since the husband-and-wife team of Brian and Bobbie Houston planted the church in 1983 (it was originally called Hills Christian Life Centre), Hillsong has expanded into two additional Sydney-based campuses, a location in Brisbane, as well as 14 extension services throughout Australia. Internationally, Hillsong has offshoots in Cape Town, Kiev, London, New York City and Stockholm, with services available in Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow and Paris. Hillsong Television is broadcast in 160 countries, and its annual conferences—including the Hillsong Conference, Colour Your World Women's Conference and the Hillsong Men's Conference—attract tens of thousands. The church's recording and touring ministry, appropriately dubbed “Hillsong,” has largely contributed to the organization's exposure and popularity on the world stage.
Recently, back at Baulkham Hills, the need for a new PA was growing increasingly urgent. Steve LeRoux, Hillsong's technical manager of production and facilities, recounts that since the building's inception in 2002—and the subsequent installation of its original PA—the technical team was aware that an upgrade was eventually in store. “It was right in the early stages of line array systems,” he says. “The box sizes in those days were pretty large, which meant the footprint that the box took to include the number of elements necessary was large and limiting with screens and sightlines.”
The worship center on Hillsong's main campus seats between 4,300 to 4,500. Configured in the shape of an elongated horseshoe, worshippers are seated at disparate distances from the stage—complicating, LeRoux admits, the design. “We wanted even coverage right to the back row,” he explains. “We also wanted something that doesn't change its character when you get up into the higher levels, where if you are running it at a low level, the sound should be similar when you are driving it hard.” In addition, Hillsong's leadership wanted to invest in a system that would last—and continue to be supported by the manufacturer—for about 10 years.
Sound Maneuvers
The new PA combines Adamson Y-Axis, Spektrix and Metrix line source systems to address Hillsong services, which range from quietly delivered spoken material to concert-level rock ‘n' roll. Thirty-four Adamson Y-10 line source units are supported by an under-hang of eight Spektrix 15-degree enclosures. Eighteen Adamson Metrix's serve as delays, and six T-21 subwoofers flown in a dual-cardioid configuration handle low frequencies. Simon Tait, pro audio product specialist at CMI Music and Audio—the Brooklyn, Victoria, Australia-based distributor that provided the Adamson system—explains that this directional, cardioid configuration solved a number of issues concerning bass. “It was difficult to get pristine, tight bass in there. That is why we came up with the cardioid arrangement in the roof,” he says. To extend the low frequency, six additional Metrix subwoofers are flown behind the main speaker arrays, and two T-21 and Metrix subwoofers are located beside the stage.
To power the speakers, Hillsong selected Lab.gruppen's PLM Series Powered Loudspeaker Management System, which includes the manufacturer's integrated Lake processing and monitoring. The system is comprised of 20 PLM10000Q's and four PLM20000Q's. Two FP10000Q's drive the stage monitors. The PLM system's LoadSmart software function enables users to conduct a complete system test in three seconds to check for cable problems and driver failures. This feature also allows for real-time monitoring during an event.
Brad Law, president and owner of Cuepoint Productions, a full-service A/V house based in Sydney, assisted with the coordination of initial product demonstrations and then, once the system was selected, oversaw its integration. He underlines Hillsong's need for seamless coverage from top to bottom: “Coverage in the horizontal was one thing, but securing the desired vertical coverage was challenged by rigging restrictions found in the required integration into the existing venue's movable gantry,” he recalls. “From here we had to ensure the sub coverage across the room was even also. Given the nature of the worship and creative elements Hillsong is renowned for, all involved understood that sub was critical.” In other words, it needed to be “plentiful in supply” and had to hit all the seats.
One of the main reasons that Hillsong required even coverage right to the back row is to accommodate smaller weekday events. For these activities, the auditorium can be divided by sliding walls that decrease the seating capacity of the main space down to 2,500, while at the same time creating nine separate lecture rooms with a capacity of approximately 200 each. “The old PA ended before these walls came in—midway through the auditorium—and we had delay speakers that covered the rear section,” LeRoux explains. “When we did this design, we wanted the main system to hit the very back row, regardless of whether the walls were up or not.” While the new system features delays as well, the main system is capable of hitting the back wall. “With the old design, we were relying totally on those delay speakers.”
Hillsong continues to utilize its existing Digidesign Profile for front-of-house (FOH), but LeRoux lauds the new Adamson system for the consistency it provides with respect to mixing. “The old system didn't respond in a linear fashion when you went from low level to high level—if you were running at 90 dB at one level and you wanted to get louder or softer, when you adjusted it, your whole mix fell apart,” he explains. “Now, we just push the level up and it's linear across that SPL increase.”
Tait observes that Australian houses of worship are beginning to embrace high-tech audio. “Australian houses of worship lag behind what is happening in the United States,” he says, “but there is a growing recognition that if they want to hold contemporary services, they need the right tools for the job.”
Design Considerations
One of the unusual aspects of this project was the way that Hillsong chose to attack the design. Instead of using one consultant, the technical team enlisted the engineers at several manufacturers to propose systems based on their own technology. “In opening it up, I believe we got the best result, rather than a single consultant's result,” LeRoux says. However, it did require a considerable amount of attention and coordination: Over the course of several months, Hillsong invited manufacturers into the church for two weeks at a time. During this period, the manufacturers' engineers would install, configure and tweak the systems, giving technicians at Hillsong the opportunity to test the technology during two separate services. “It was intense, but looking at what we've got now, it was definitely worth the effort.”
LeRoux—who has provided A/V consulting services to other organizations—urges churches to explore this approach, even if it does create additional work. “It's good to open up to the skill sets of different people,” he says. “One person's design may suit your auditorium and another—while there may not be anything wrong with it—may not be the best solution in that circumstance. By giving a number of people a chance, you are opening yourself up to these companies and their skills.”
