Saint Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Located in North Carolina's capital, the Catholic Community of Saint Francis of Assisi was founded in 1982. Today, the church is actively engaged with its congregation through music, social media, and a variety of ministries. This was not always the case, however. In an ongoing effort to make services more relevant to a younger generation of worshippers, churches across the country are incorporating contemporary programs, in addition to their traditional services. For the Catholic Community of Saint Francis of Assisi, accommodating both types of worship services involved upgrading the church's sound-reinforcement system in order to improve speech intelligibility and music reproduction.
Cary, North Carolina-based AVCON Audio Visual Concepts, an audio-visual systems integration firm that specializes in audio, video, and lighting technologies for installation in the commercial and worship markets, was contracted to design and deploy the new sound system at Saint Francis of Assisi. Frank B. Yarborough, owner and president of AVCON, and Eb Strickland (who served as the project's lead systems engineer while overseeing DSP programming, system commissioning, and end user training) spearheaded the Saint Francis of Assisi project. Working in conjunction with Hugh Sarvis, then CEO and principal product designer for Greensboro, North Carolina-based WorxAudio Technologies (currently director of PreSonus' loudspeaker group, which includes WorxAudio), the group planned the church's sizeable new sound system, which consists of loudspeaker enclosures from WorxAudio's TrueLine and Wave Series product catalogs.
“The new sound system is a direct reflection of the changing requirements that many churches face these days,” Yarborough explained. “Saint Francis of Assisi has primarily been a traditional worship facility. They're now evolving to support a more contemporary style of worship, while maintaining their traditional style. With the trend toward praise bands—with their assortment of electronic musical instruments—and the vocal praise teams that handle much of the singing, there is a very real need to have a sound-reinforcement system capable of supporting them. The previous sound system suffered from poor speech intelligibility, and this was compounded by uneven coverage throughout the sanctuary. If the audience can't clearly hear what's taking place, it becomes next to impossible to engage them.
“Music plays a vital role in the church's services,” Yarborough continued. “While their traditional services continue to utilize a choir and orchestra, the contemporary services radically changed the sound-system requirements of the space.”
A Challenging Environment
Saint Francis of Assisi's sanctuary was a challenging environment in terms of sound-system design. Shaped essentially like the letter “T”, the chancel (stage area) at the top of the space faces the main congregation seating area, which spans approximately 120 feet in length. On each side of the stage, which measures 18 feet in width and rises roughly 2 feet off the main floor, the area extends approximately 60 feet for stage left and 60 feet for stage right.
Adding to the challenges of designing sound for the space is the fact that the floor slopes upward from the stage approximately two feet—both over the length of the room and on the sides of the “T.” Further, the musicians are positioned in an area at house right, while additional seating for the congregation extends still further to the side of them. This arrangement necessitated a delay system for stage right so as to properly accommodate those seated on the far side of the musical ensembles. Seating is fixed and accommodates 1,200 people.
"While their traditional services continue to utilize a choir and orchestra, the contemporary services radically changed the sound-system requirements of the space."
Frank B. Yarborough
Owner and President, AVCON.
To address the acoustic challenges of the space, the AVCON team deployed a three-cluster, left-center-right system totaling 19 WorxAudio V5T-P line-array elements. The center cluster utilizes eight V5T-P line array modules, while the left hang encompasses six enclosures. For the right, three enclosures are flown for congregation members seated closest to the choir area, while another two V5T-P enclosures constitute the delay system for those seated on the far side of the instrumentalists. The two delay loudspeakers are positioned approximately 25 feet further right than the cluster of three V5T-P enclosures. The various loudspeaker clusters are flown at a height of 18 feet.
A recent addition to WorxAudio's TrueLine catalog, the V5T-P uses WorxAudio's new PSD-700 power amp module. Dedicating 350 watts to the loudspeaker's LF section and 350 watts to the HF section, the module—located on the rear of the enclosure—utilizes four digital programs and has male and female (loop-through), XLR isolated I/O, in addition to AC PowerCon I/O. The V5T-P features four-point rigging and utilizes a modified WorxAudio TrueGrid suspension system that allows rigging for both the powered and unpowered versions.
For low-frequency support, a single WorxAudio UltraWave UW18i-P sub-bass system is flown behind the center loudspeaker cluster and positioned close to the back wall. Designed to satisfy the requirement for an extremely high-SPL, sub-bass loudspeaker system, the UW18i-P utilizes a direct-radiating 18-inch 1,200 watt cone driver in a tuned enclosure, which provides maximum output with minimal distortion and smooth extended low frequency response. This system uses WorxAudio's new PSD-700 power amp module.
Also integral to the success of the church's new sound system are six WorxAudio 8M high-efficiency, 2-way monitor systems from the company's WaveSeries product line. Six of these enclosures are provided for the use of the choir and instrumentalists, while the remaining two are located at the ambo and cantor. The WorxAudio 8M has a one-inch-exit compression driver coupled to a 75 x 75-degree wooden waveguide horn for the high frequencies and an 8-inch cone transducer in a tuned enclosure for the low frequencies.
When queried about the various system attributes that made the WorxAudio V5T-P line array enclosures the “right tool for the job,” Strickland reported, “This was the first deployment of WorxAudio's new V5T-P loudspeakers. Using powered loudspeakers streamlined the installation by enabling us to avoid long loudspeaker cable runs and large head-end equipment racks. Each array provides excellent horizontal and vertical coverage, with minimal lobing issues where the left-center-right coverage patterns overlap. I attribute this to tight pattern control and the FIRmaker filter sets that were employed during the system focusing and steering setup.”
As one of the first loudspeaker manufacturers to license AFMG Technologies' EASEFocus line array software with FIRmaker technology, which aids beam-steering capability, WorxAudio's Hugh Sarvis was eager to utilize the technology on this project and to be one of the first in the world to showcase it. Yarborough commented on the outcome, “The acoustical evaluations for loudspeaker performance were based on the full occupancy measurement. Hugh Sarvis and Charlie Hughes, a contractor for AFMG, provided both off- and on-site testing and measurements. The end results exceeded our expectations. The system is stable and within ± 2 dB throughout the listening areas. Eb and I were both very impressed.”
"If the audience can’t clearly hear what’s taking place, it becomes next to impossible to engage them."
Dan Yarborough
Owner and President, AVCON.
According to Strickland, the average channel count for the various signals being mixed during services totals roughly 24 inputs. These signals include a combination of 6 Sennheiser EW300 series wireless microphones for spoken word, 12 Audix model ADX51 microphones for choir and instruments, and 2 Audix Microboom microphones for ambo and cantor. Radial Engineering direct boxes are utilized for bass, guitar, and keyboard inputs.
Mixing Provisions
“There is no traditional mix position at Saint Francis of Assisi,” says Strickland. “There are two mixing systems. A Roland M-200i 16-channel live digital mixing console is used for the various inputs from the choir and instrumentalists, while a 16 X 32 Biamp TESIRA I/O server with audio-video bridging provides mixing of attended and unattended speech microphones. All hands-on mixing is performed with the use of a Crestron control system and an Apple iPad. Additionally, there really isn't any signal processing in the conventional sense. The FIRmaker settings were imported into the Biamp TESIRA for system voicing and room tuning of the mains loudspeaker system. The TESIRA handles complex auto mixing, routing, and recall of presets.
Between the use of AFMG Technologies' FIRmaker technology for the loudspeaker steering, the unique mixing provisions of the system, and the touchscreen mixing interface, the Catholic Community of Saint Francis of Assisi has a top-notch sound system. The system has been operational since October 2013, and since that time, everyone involved with the system appears thrilled.
A Most Effective Sound System
“Saint Francis of Assisi made a significant investment toward embracing contemporary worship as an integral part of their ministry, and this new sound-reinforcement system is a direct reflection of that commitment,” Yarborough said. “With any large project of this size, it becomes a team effort from concept to delivery. We are very pleased with the technical know-how WorxAudio contributed to this project. Our client is very satisfied with the end result. The system is meeting their requirements, with speech clarity, coverage, and support of both traditional and contemporary programs working out exceptionally well.”
Ben Whitehouse, Director of Parish Operations at Saint Francis of Assisi, concurs, “On behalf of our friars, congregation, and staff, I would like to pass on our thanks and appreciation for our new church audio system. Your team met or exceeded our expectations of sound quality. We look forward to our continued partnership as we consider maintenance of our current systems and future audio/visual needs."
