‘Lamb Of God’ Tour Finishes Its 15th Sold Out Year

In Install Newsby tfwm

Some new faces include Allen & Heath’s ME-1 personal mixer

BenShiveME1The creation of Singer/Songwriter Andrew Peterson, ‘Behold The Lamb of God’ recently completed its annual tour in grand style with a sold out concert at Nashville’s majestic Ryman Auditorium. A unique concert that begins with all musicians seated in a circle sharing stories about a particular song’s inspiration, then performing it with each other. This ‘circle of songs’ is repeated twice then followed by a start-to-finish performance of Peterson’s folk music styled retelling of the life of Christ in the concert’s second half. “This is a community effort, we all do this tour with our unique gifts – it’s about the synergy of talents and songs” shares Harold Rubens, FOH Engineer for the ‘Lamb of God Tour’ now in his fifth year at the audio helm. “We start rehearsals a few days after Thanksgiving, two days before we open our first show” says Rubens. “Most of our Artists come from Christian Music, some from non-HOW bands as well.” Rubens adds. The ‘Lamb of God’ Tour has attracted some of the highest profile singers and musicians over the years including Alison Krauss, Steven Curtis Chapman, John Foreman and David Wilcox.

The tour travels the mid west and southern states of the US during December with sixteen stops leading up to the concert at the Ryman. During the tour the band consists of 11 musicians including Peterson.

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Countryman Associates Debuts I2 Instrument Microphone

In Product Newsby tfwm

12Instrument_Mic_HiThe new I2 Instrument Microphone has been engineered from the ground up for smooth frequency response, low noise, and precise polar patterns with deep nulls and natural on- and off-axis response. Their combination of small size and sonic precision makes them ideal for X-Y, M-S, and other techniques that rely on accurate coincident positioning and consistent patterns. Their tiny size makes them perfect for distance miking that is invisible on camera. Flexible new close miking techniques are aided by Countryman’s new line of instrument mounts, which are designed to mount securely and gently to many different instruments. www.countryman.com

Paragon 360 Calls On CHAUVET Professional To Help In Top-To-Bottom Church Renovation

In Install Newsby tfwm

Chauvet-2Emmanuel Baptist Pastor Wade Burleson described the results of Paragon 360’s recent renovation project at his church by saying “Paragon hit a homerun with this one.”  To extend the baseball analogy a step further, one impressive result of that renovation is that Emmanuel Baptist can now make the transition from a traditional service with a choir to a band-led contemporary service in about the same time it takes Major League teams to complete one inning of play.

Springfield, MO-based Paragon 360 accomplished this feat at the 35-year old-church by adding new architectural elements and upgrading the audio, video and rigging system, in addition to installing an impressive collection of lighting fixtures from CHAUVET Professional. As a result of these changes (and the hard work of church staff ) Emmanuel Baptist is now able to change its sanctuary space from a traditional to a contemporary worship area in 20 minutes. (The average inning takes 18.3 minutes according to Major League Baseball.)

The ability to make this smooth transition quickly was important to Emmanuel Baptist, in part because of the growing popularity of its contemporary service, which was being held in a smaller venue.  Creating a single worship area that could reach the young and the unchurched, while still remaining welcoming to congregation members seeking a more traditional service, was of paramount importance to church leaders. Additionally, the church wanted to create a smaller modular choir loft to replace the oversized wooden platforms from its original construction.

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Highland Park Baptists Church Chooses Danley Speakers and Ashly Processing and Amps

In Install Newsby tfwm

HighlandPark_Church_InteriorAs it approached its hundred-year anniversary as a congregation, Highland Park Baptist Church in Columbia, Tennessee sought to revamp its four hundred-seat sanctuary. It hired Church Interiors of High Point, North Carolina to help design and organize the work, which included structural and aesthetic improvements, as well as a new Sharp/Extron video system based around three huge LED screens and a cutting-edge sound reinforcement system. Now, Danley Sound Labs horn-loaded loudspeakers and subwoofers deliver musical and highly intelligible sound, with power and processing supplied by rock-solid Ashly Audio amplifiers and digital signal processors. The sound system is zero compromise, exceeding Highland Park’s hopes for fidelity and quality while still meeting their budgetary requirements.

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The Digital/Analog Debate

In Web Articlesby tfwm

by Bryan Cole

Focusrite_Console_02-300x199I almost titled this “sparring with signal path…”  The sides of this debate are both pretty set in their views, and much like sports rivals, the viewpoints expressed by each side can be, shall we say, very impassioned!

In my world, I almost exclusively place digital consoles, due to the amount of processing and routing that is available at the digital price point. We are now seeing small format digital consoles selling at the cost of their analog brethren – and since I’m always searching for value, Digital often shows up as the value leader. Value takes so many things into account; Price, usability, durability, sonic quality, environment, etc. If you choose one of those things and make it the supreme goal, you may very well come out with an all analog signal chain as a requirement – it’s not always a “cut and dry” sonic decision.

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Vista Systems’ Spyder picked for Video Projection System in Faith Bible’s New Sanctuary

In Install News, Projection, Projection Install Newsby tfwm

Spyder X20 Front TransparentWhen Faith Bible Church, a Bible-centered church in The Woodlands, Texas, built a new 900-seat sanctuary, Houston-area AV contractor Hairel Enterprises selected a Vista Systems Spyder X20 0808 as a key component of the new video projection system.

Faith Bible marks the first use of a Vista Spyder by Hairel, which provided full AV and theatrical lighting for the sanctuary.  “I knew about Spyder and got in touch with Vista because I thought it would be a perfect fit for this installation,” says systems designer Bruce Simmons.  “My cold call to Vista turned into a four-hour conversation.  They arranged for a demo, and the church was elated by what they saw.”  The video projection system will be operational in late January 2015.

The new sanctuary has a raised platform area at its center.  A motorized 25×9-foot screen drops down from the ceiling for use in worship services and special events and productions.  Two additional 16×9-foot screens flank the center screen and are permanently affixed to the walls.  A two-projector center edge blend and the two outer single-projector images are accomplished with four Barco RLMW8 projectors and a Spyder X20 with 8 inputs and 8 outputs.

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Renkus-Heinz IC Live Solves Intelligibility  Issues in Dodge City Cathedral

In Install Newsby tfwm

Renkusheinz-dodgecity2-1Dodge City’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a stunning architectural achievement that embodies the classic disparity between traditional and contemporary worship. With its soaring ceilings and open, 270-degree seating, this 1400-seat sanctuary creates a wonderfully reverberant sense of musical majesty, but at the expense of the intelligibility needed to deliver the message.

To address these issues in the 12 year-old building, Amos Yost of Montezuma, KS-based Montezuma Sound was contracted to design and install a new sound system. His solution for creating clear intelligibility amid the room’s glorious reverb was centered on the IC Live digitally steerable array system by Renkus-Heinz.

As Yost explains, the room’s circular design and abundance of hard, reflective surfaces presented a number of challenges, and the existing distributed PA’s speakers were aimed almost straight down at the tile floor, creating uncontrolled reflections that exacerbated the room’s ringing 3.5-second reverberation time.

“The organ and choir music sounded pretty good, but voice intelligibility was sorely lacking,” notes Yost. It was clear that a steerable array system would directly address the room’s issues, but because the sanctuary is a circular space, effective deployment would be tricky.

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