Feature: Adding a new dimension
When Soundus Corporation was commissioned to supply and install a digital console mixing system into the 4,000-seat Manna Methodist Church in Bundang New City in 2012, its ability to deliver quality and reliability has earned the company repeat business. Extending beyond mixing duties, the distributor and SI was requested to supply bespoke loudspeaker solutions that would overcome their smaller, but variable venues down below. Fortunately, in Coda Audio, they have brought an end to unintelligible audio and inconsistent coverage.
Attracting some 10,000 worshippers each week, the main Zion Hall features a live worship band with a choir, organist and orchestra. As such, a high-input channel count was required, together with an ability to mix live audio for broadcast streaming services over the internet. Connected to four SD-Racks, a DiGiCo SD7 console operates at FOH with an SD8-24 handling the live broadcast mix. For Manna’s further requirements, the DiGiCo inventory was extended to include an SD9 as a portable system, together with an SD11 for the video-editing suite.
“The decision to use DiGiCo consoles was based on the SD7’s ability to handle more than 200 input channels, the dual engine offering stability, reliable redundancy and excellent sound quality,” explained Soundus’ CEO, DJ Kwon. “As the church also needed additional mixing consoles, the DiGiCo solution maintains user familiarity and a consistency in audio quality.” Providing both versatility and future expansion requirements, an Optocore fibre-optic network was added as part of the upgrade.
Vindicated in its choice of digital mixing console, Manna Church requested Soundus to return in 2017 to fulfil its upgrade works in the smaller Space Pagus Promise Hall. Occupying two levels on the ground and first floors, the 21m x 20m (WxL) venue is used for seminars and events. Capable of receiving up to 48 input channels, the rack-mountable SD11 digital mixer was selected for the venue’s multifunctional audio requirements.
Beyond the digital mixing desk, Soundus was requested to provide the entire audio solution for the Promise Hall. Project manager Kyungmo Kang worked closely with designers GunSik Kim and JiEun Kim to create accurate simulations based on a Coda Audio point source system. L-R ceiling-mounted Coda Audio G712-96 three-way cabinets and G18 1,250W-rated subwoofers are supplemented by a further three ceiling-mounted D8 8-inch models for the balcony seats. Linus5 4x1,250W and Linus10 2x5,100W amplifiers provide ample headroom in addition to remote DSP functionality, management and control via LiNET.
“Despite the interference difficulties sometimes encountered with L-R configurations, we opted on stereo imaging to cover the width of this rectangular-shaped space,” explains JiEun Kim. “The main objective was to ensure the SPL levels were even across the entire venue. Asymmetric interference can be reduced between frequency bands on the G712 model and the horn could be rotated. To cover the full 21m width, the 90° x 60˚(HxV) option was selected.”
Stage monitoring options include four traditional Coda G308-Pro 8-inch trapezoidal wedges or an Aviom A360 personal monitor system. A DiGiCo D2-Rack accommodates up to 32 microphone inputs including the inputs feeding the Aviom D400 A-Net distribution panel and the SD11 that operates over the Optocore network. Four channels of Line 6 XD-V75 receivers together with handheld and bodypack transmitters operate over the 2.4GHz UHF frequency spectrum by virtue of an antenna distribution.
Most recently, the same Soundus team was called back to site to fulfil an audio upgrade in the basement venue. With a restricted ceiling height of 4.1m, the width of the Daniel Hall is almost three times that of its length and therefore poses a unique set of acoustic challenges. “Together with the height restriction, the floor slopes,” highlights Soundus sales manager, JaeSeung Park. “As such, we had to carefully select a powerful, yet compact, sound reinforcement system that would not block the audience’s view of the stage from the seats, especially towards the lateral walls.”
As above, a Coda Audio solution has been designed and engineered to overcome the problematic asymmetrically shaped room. Dual L-R APS (arrayable point source) 10-inch speakers cater for the low frequencies down to 50Hz (–6dB), while the mid-highs are served by a 9-inch coaxial neodymium 20° curved-wave-driver (DDC) which takes control above 500Hz. Coverage is appropriately applied in the wide but low venue by virtue of the APS’s Coupler with variable horizontal dispersion characteristics and restricted 20° vertical pattern. The four APS cabinets have been configured to be directed between 60–120° across the horizontal axis as required. In addition to minimising frequency interference between speakers, the coaxial transducer radiates a coherent 20° curved wavefront from a rectangular piston without internal diffraction.
Ceiling-suspended behind each pair of APSs, single compact APS-SUB 18-inch subwoofers extend the LFs down to 28Hz (–6 dB). “The addition of three HOPS8i and single G512 models as delay fill speakers ensured that the coverage is uniform throughout the venue without any hotspots,” confirms Park. “We achieved uniform SPLs across the sloping area and behind the seats where the SPL decreases over distance away from the main APS hangs. Finally, the relatively low 291mm height of these APS cabinets ensured that each APS pair does not restrict the views of the stage for the audience.” Following their successful deployment in the Promise Hall, Manna Church insisted on extending its inventory of G308-Pro monitors.
A single Linus 10 together with three Linus 5 amplifiers provide sufficient power and DSP management control to the APS-SUBs and three-way loudspeaker system, respectively. Microphone inputs can be inserted into four floor boxes onstage and a 16-input wall panel to a DiGiCo 32-input D-Rack connected via Optocore to a DiGiCo S31 console located in the soundproofed lateral control room.
The compact S31 integrates three 10-inch touchscreens over three banks of 10 faders, providing visual feedback and control of 30 channels, but should the technician prefer to mix within the venue, an iPad touchscreen is available for remote control. An Aviom A-360 personal monitor system has been added along with four channels of Shure QLXD2 UHF wireless with Beta 87a handheld transmitters and a DPA 4288 flex-directional headset for hands-free presentations.
Having successfully completed the upgrades in the Zion and Promise Halls, Soundus fully appreciated its client’s requirements. “In addition to providing pristine audio, ease-of-use features and even coverage for each interconnected venue, the client knows that the current setups have to date not failed them during any of their events,” adds Park.
This feature appears in the November - December edition of Worship AVL. Subscribe at www.proavl-central.com/subscribe/worship
By using our website, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more
Cookies are short reports that are sent and stored on the hard drive of the user's computer through your browser when it connects to a web. Cookies can be used to collect and store user data while connected to be able to provide you the requested services. Often cookies are getting deleted when the user leaves a site or logs out of it.
There are several types of cookies:
When you keep using our website, in compliance with Article 22 of Law 34/2002 of the Information Society Services, in the analytical cookies treatment, we have requested your consent to their use. We use cookies to improve our services. For more details please refer to our Terms of Use and/or our Privacy Policy.
Please note that you can enable or disable and delete cookies in your web browser.