“Over time, our staff has changed, and our worship style has changed as a result—it’s now more dynamic and contemporary. Ultimately, our leadership team gave us a direction where they wanted to go, and then we worked to carry out that vision as best we can,” says Worship Production Director Jonathan Rasch. Photo by Shana Wooley.
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Like many churches, Grace Church (Overland Park, KS) has experienced changes in leadership and worship style as time has passed. “Our church has grown in how we do worship services,” states church Worship Production Director Jonathan Rasch. “Over time, our staff has changed, and our worship style has changed as a result—it’s now more dynamic and contemporary. Additionally, our audio system was about eight years old. We had several things we had to keep doing with it—replacing power supplies and drivers—and we were not running it extremely loud. Ultimately, our leadership team gave us a direction where they wanted to go, and then we worked to carry out that vision as best we can.”
This opened up the opportunity for Rasch to get rid of equipment they didn’t need, or which no longer facilitated their new direction in worship service style, and bring in equipment that better fit both their new style, as well as the room itself.
PA System
“I know several people who have had Martin Audio PA systems installed,” says Rasch, “and I’ve really liked them. The tone of their speakers is a little warmer than other PA's I’ve listened to, and they provide good value for the price. Our prior system had more of a ’bite’ to it.”
Rasch reached out to Summit Integrated Systems (Denver, CO) to design the PA replacement. “We’ve worked with Grace Church since 2014,” comments Deron Yevoli, Director of Projects at Summit and also the project manager for this install. “The church wanted more output from a new PA system, and there were coverage gaps that needed to be addressed. Also, their audio console was failing—sometimes during the service—and replacing it with a new console that better accommodates their I/O needs and does a better job at integrating Dante (a digital audio transport protocol) made more sense than repairing the console.”
Yevoli recommended the Martin Audio WPM line array series for the installation based on vision, SPL, coverage and budget considerations. “The WPM speakers have all the power of the MLA self-powered line,” describes Yevoli, “but in a passive [unpowered] configuration. Access to the installed line arrays would be challenging, therefore a passive system with amps in an easily accessible rack made more sense in order to accommodate future maintenance needs.”
Summit Integrated installed two main hangs of WPM cabinets, eight boxes per side. For low-frequency extension support, four Martin Audio SXF115 single-15-inch subwoofers are hung behind each line array. And for that low-end kick, ten SX118 single 18-inch subwoofers are located on the main floor in front of the stage. “The spread of subs on the floor provides solid bass coverage throughout the room with no hot spots,” stated Yevoli.
And for that low-end kick, ten Martin Audio SXF118 single-18-inch subwoofers are located on the main floor in front of the stage. Photo by Shana Wooley.
Amplifiers for the system include Martin Audio’s iK81-Dante and iK42-Dante amps, with Dante built-into the integrated DSP units. “We really like that the amps are on Dante natively,” adds Yevoli. Additional DSP processing is provided by a QSC Q-Sys Core 110F system.
Yevoli used both Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software as well as EASE for configuring the PA system and setting each speaker’s optimal DSP settings. “Once the parameters were loaded into the amps,” Yevoli commends, “the sound coverage in the room was very even. We are very impressed with the results.”
Martin Audio CDD6 ultra-compact speakers were added as front-fills and the larger companion CDD15 speakers were deployed as side-fills.
Audio Console
For replacing the FOH console, Rasch looked to Allen & Heath’s DLive digital consoles, something that Summit fully supported. “The DLIVE series really ‘punches above its weight class,’” describes Yevoli. “It has the most I/O options for its price point and is extremely flexible. We placed a S7000 at FOH, and a C3500 for controlling monitors.”
The monitor mixer is run from FOH by the same audio tech. “We wanted a dedicated console for monitors for the mix bus count,” explains Rasch. “And we can easily EQ the input channels specifically for the in-ear mixes with a second console.”
“We are extremely volunteer-driven,” says Rasch, “and our previous console was difficult to train on. It looked very intimidating. The DLive workflow is much more intuitive and quicker. We can quickly set up scenes to help the volunteers, which was convoluted to do in our old console. The DLive has been a nice transition—our volunteers feel much better equipped with these consoles.”
“We are extremely volunteer-driven, and our previous console was difficult to train on. It looked very intimidating. The DLive workflow is much more intuitive and quicker," says Worship Production Director Jonathan Rasch. Photo by Shana Wooley.
A small eight-fader IP-8 control surface is used by the broadcast team to control the mix for the video team coming from the FOH console. “This lets their video team be able to adjust their mix, cue any input before going live or some folks actually use it to monitor the broadcast mix without needing a dedicated audio console,” explains Yevoli.
Lighting and Video
While audio was the focus of Grace’s latest tech updates, lighting and video play a key role in their service production as well.
About three years ago Grace replaced their side projection screens with a center-stage LED video wall. “We are a multi-campus church,” describes Rasch, “and when the message was coming to this facility via video, it was hard to view the message from the front seats with the side screens—they were too far off center. Several hundred people would have sore necks trying to watch the sermon. And we really couldn’t do a center-stage projection screen because of the lighting angles—there would be too much spill onto the screen. Therefore, we removed the side screens and added an 11-foot by 19-foot center stage video wall by Blizzard. It has met our needs and is very budget friendly.”
“For the rest of the video system,” Rasch continues, “we use Blackmagic Design URSA cameras and Canon C200 cameras, running through a Ross Carbonite 2ME switcher. We actually converted a storage closet for extra chairs into our video control suite.”
For lighting, A Chroma-Q Vista S1 lighting control system works with eight moving-head profile fixtures and eight moving-head wash fixtures, all from Mega-Lite. LED color bars are also used for pixel-mapped lighting effects, and a handful of other static fixtures round out the lighting package.
End Result
“This was our first project with Martin Audio,” says Yevoli. “They sent a tech onsite to make sure we were getting everything we wanted out of the system. It’s been a great experience.”
“For me,” adds Rasch, “it’s about what is going to be right for the room. How can we communicate the church's vision audibly and visibly in the space? And then, what gear do we need to make that happen? Martin Audio has made a big difference in our ability to engage our congregation effectively.”
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