Bog Langlois gives us some insight into the experience he had with his dream project

The Rock Real Community Church is a beautiful facility designed by Lee Architects located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Castle Rock Colorado. This however was not always the case. The church grew from a small strip mall fellowship to their current facility over a long hard road, one member at a time. This is a very special church for me personally because my wife and I fell in love with the people right from the very beginning.

When Audio Analysts was first approached by “The Rock” we were initially just thrilled to have an 850 seat local church right here in our neighborhood.

When we started the design process we realized that this was a church partner we could work closely with to show the rest of the country how to do a state of the art design that small to medium size congregations could afford. We didn’t realize this would become the place that is home for two of the guys who build mega sanctuaries like New Life and Lakewood.

Pastor JR and Pastor Michael along with Pastor Ron and the rest of the staff were just amazing to work with. This was the dream project we all like to have on a relationship level.

The Rock had a definite list of requirements that had to be met. Absolute clarity of the spoken word, a real performance system for the church’s worship team that “Rocks”, and last but not least, keep the project on time and on budget.

While looking at the architect’s design we knew right off that we needed a small footprint line array that would deliver sound pressure levels at the mix position to concert levels. The Rock has always wanted national entertainment in their sanctuary and we wanted to give thm a venue to do just that. The idea of course is also to be expandable for the future as the churches needs grow. This is an intimate space that has all the function that you would expect for a worship/performance space and on the evening of September 17th, Desperation Band came in and “rocked” The Rock.

There are two things Audio Analysts will not compromise on. One is phase coherence in the frequency response of the array and the other is the quality of the amplifiers delivering the signal to those arrays.

We tested many speakers and found that the McCauley In-Line was the choice for this church. It not only fit the budget for the project but, met our strict criteria for phase coherence. We paired these cabinets with the Crown I-Tech 4000 series amplifiers with built in DSP to get the most from these boxes.

We also decided to use a Light-Viper fiber snake with a TT24 Mackie digital console to finish out the system. The Light-Viper is the perfect partner for this console. It brings the console to a whole new level of performance that you would expect from a much more expensive desk. It also gave us the flexibility to use the fiber split to broadcast and keep the signal digital to the record split. The fiber also allows us the distribute audio to all the other parts of the facility and still be isolated from ground loops through the tie line panels. The Light-Viper is analog and digital simultaneously so we can pick and choose how we route and apply the audio signal. When all was said and done the fiber option truly was the right decision not only for the performance spec but, it was the most economical route as well.

The combination of all these components makes a truly transparent sound that is concert quality with very little ear fatigue. The small In-Line arrays are tucked up into the ceiling and the coverage is outstanding.

It is a real pleasure to mix on this system.

We also integrated into the design an AMX control system for the 16 X 9 format video system on a 21’ wide screen. We used two of the Sanyo 4000 lumen HD projectors in tandem for a future HD expansion. We then distributed an MATV system for the plasma screens throughout the facility that the church bought and installed with their staff.

The AMX integrates the curtain control as well. When the sun is in the western sky we can close the blinds for the video and when the sun goes down we can open them for a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains.

Along with the video we designed and basic expandable lighting system that is capable of not only theatrical looks but is expandable for operating moving lights through a DMX distribution hub. The lighting operator can also control the house lights from this position. As The Rock grows we will add more lighting for eventual DVD production and broadcast. We installed camera positions at five locations for this future expansion. There is one camera in the center location as part of phase one.

There is a really nice performance area for the youth that acts as an overflow when needed that “Rocks” on Wednesday night with a very energetic youth band. We installed a small TOA line array system for the kids along with the left over gear from the old sanctuary for one of the best youth systems in Colorado.

As this church and many churches now know, planning is everything. If you want to grow as a church and you can’t afford what you would like to have right away, you need to make sure the infrastructure is there for when you are. This staff had a clear vision of their needs and it made our job a lot easier in the design stage. If you are in Colorado and want to see a beautifully done medium sized project, this is it.