When Parkway Bible Church decided to launch a major renovation of their aging building and AV systems, they called on Ridge AV to design an all-new production-grade AV system that included sound, audio, video, lighting, electrical, and control systems. Along with updating systems, project goals included a complete redesign and relocation of their FOH Booth, and building a high-quality streaming system. Ridge AV provided full design services and turn-key installation.
AUDIO
Being a contemporary church, the expectations for sound were rather high. The speaker system we specified was the A10 line of speakers from L-Acoustic. Two main hangs of four cabinets provided an excellent sound field in the Worship Center. 12" side fills were used to cover the extreme sides of the room while four 21" subs easily handled the low-end. The speakers were driven by 12 channels of amps.
Allen & Heath audio consoles were installed, with the Avantis at FOH driving the live sound and an SQ-5 in the Control Room driving the sound for the online audience. Both consoles communicate and share all inputs over the data network. Twelve Shure QLXD wireless mic systems are fed into the Console(s) via Dante for a completely digital signal path all the way to the amps. 3 floor boxes and five wall plates provided ample connectivity from the stage to the audio system.
A wireless in-ear system from Allen & Heath provided vocalists and musicians with 64 channels of independent mix. All external audio sources were converted to Dante and brought into the audio consoles. A Biamp DSP provided routing and control of the sound as well as auto-mixing of audio sources.
LIGHTING
The lighting system had two main goals. The first was to provide a creative and contemporary environment for the live audience. The second goal was to provide cameras with precise lighting levels and color temperatures that make the cameras look amazing.
12" Box trusses were flown to provide the lighting positions required for the system. A 50' truss was flown above the audience, while a 20' truss was flown downstage, and two 10' trusses were flown upstage. Twenty ellipsoidal fixtures provide a consistent wash across the entire stage, while 8 moving head fixtures provide aerials and effects. Six battens along the side walls provide environmental lighting.
CONTROL & ELECTRICAL
This system included a custom control system that controls almost all devices and electrical panels. Using 10" color touch screens at the FOH Booth and Control Room, operators can power up all systems by simply selecting a preset config button. Controlled systems include Lighting, Audio, and Video. This level of automation also made it possible to provide one-button selection to launch all systems into various preset modes for unattended events like business meetings and studies. Being able to utilize the space without technical staff is a massive benefit to the church.
Electrically, Ridge AV designed and specified the electrical systems, down to outlets and electrical panels. Of course, we aren't licensed electricians, so the actual work was confirmed and installed by an electrical contractor. Finally, to protect this large investment, Ridge AV specified and had installed, robust electrical surge protection for all circuits that AVL hardware was connected to.
VIDEO
On stage, the video system consists of a 16' X 9' video wall that is fed from a video router. At the FOH booth, the video system consists of twin 80" displays showing the stage feed and program video. At the FOH rack, a Crestron Matrix Switcher and SDI Switcher handle all routing to devices on stage, in the FOH booth, and in the Control Room. Two Panasonic manned cameras sit in the center of the booth at a height that puts their lenses even with eyes on stage.
The Control Room for this project involved turning storage space into a state-of-the-art isolated Production Room that houses the Online Switcher and Broadcast Mix systems. A Ross video switcher sits on professional NOC furniture and faces a 75" multiview display. Behind it on NOC furniture sits the Broadcast Mix position. Separated by a pony wall is the Rack area where hardware is rack-mounted.
FOH BOOTH
Ridge AV was also asked to design a new FOH Booth from the ground up. For this application, we designed a booth that was 24' wide and 10' deep. It was configured to have dual manned cameras in the center that were elevated, and then flanking each side at lower elevations would be the audio console and producer to the right, and Lighting/ProPresenter on the left.
As the church struggled with light coming in from the dual center doors, we chose to build the booth directly in front of the doors, but inside by 8'. This created a light block from the doors and gave the space a more formal feel as guests come in and enter the space to the left and right, around the FOH booth. But most importantly, this location put the booth dead center of the sound field. Supporting the large back wall of the booth are two support arms that connect to the main wall. These 8' spans not only supported the tall wall, but they also provided a convenient location to hide conduits.
The inside face of the booth includes large counter space for computers and consoles, and we had ample electrical outlets everywhere one could possibly use one. On the inside wall, all connections to booth hardware are conveniently available with custom wall plates.
CURTAINS
As we explored ways to update the look of their space, we designed and installed a new curtain system made up of 22oz Velour Black Curtains. The curtains enclosed the stage with two layers of side travelers that created more backstage space and pulled the stage in more towards the center. The goal wasn't to make the curtains visible but rather to make the side and back walls disappear. Additionally, the 22oz curtain weight was used to greatly dampen on stage noise.