How a decade-long partnership and cutting-edge Chroma-Q and PROLIGHTS systems helped shape a purpose-built worship experience in Shreveport, Louisiana
When it came to TruBlue Audio Visual’s permanent installation of an extensive AV and lighting rig, including Chroma-Q and PROLIGHTS fixtures, at Celebration Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, there were definite benefits to the longstanding relationship between TruBlue and the Church.
Being brought in early on projects, in any situation, allows the company to serve clients more effectively, says TruBlueAV owner Ronnie Jordan, adding that, in this case, the company became involved roughly a decade before this most recent install. Celebration started as a church plant. When they opened their doors about 16 years ago, they rented the auditorium at the LSU satellite campus here but built up their congregation to a point where they needed to either build or purchase a property.”
Ultimately, they ended up purchasing a property in a part of the city that was once home to many auto dealerships. “Those buildings all had pretty much the same layout – a car lot, showroom, and a mechanic/service bay,” he continues. “At that time, Celebration was still in the early stages of growth, and, believe it or not, a lot of the things in that type of building were ready to go for a church – a big lobby, existing office for educational spaces, and the service bay for an auditorium.”
Initially, Jordan acted as a consultant. “They had very tech-savvy people to draw on. But they weren’t certain what to purchase and where, so they asked if we could help get them going.”
Installing Chroma-Q Inspire fixtures in the former service bay/sanctuary, along with other production systems, was one of Jordan’s first installs and the beginning of the relationship. In the interim TruBlueAV provided occasional consultation on camera systems and additions to their lighting rig as the congregation grew.
Eventually, the church reached the point where it became necessary to build a larger space, for which TruBlueAV provided design for the advanced audio, video, and lighting systems, including Chroma-Q and PROLIGHTS fixtures.
“This was a new, purpose-built 1,000-seat Worship Center on their existing campus,” says Sam Paris, TruBlue’s Sales and Systems Manager. “And PROLIGHTS and Chroma-Q deliver excellence consistently. For house lighting, there’s no comparison to the Inspire range of fixtures. They’re extremely feature-rich, offer high control capabilities, and accurate color representation across the entire fixture deployment, as well as providing excellent on-camera color.’
The new system includes 7 PROLIGHTS RA2000 Profiles, 12 Pixie WashXBs, 8 Jet Spot4Zs, 38 Chroma-Q Inspire XTs, and 7 regular Inspire fixtures. TruBlueAV also provided control systems, a 50′ w X 16.4′ h video wall, camera systems, D&B Audiotechnik line array system, and Netgear M4250 ProAV switches for the AV systems.
“Celebration Church has a high production standard for their worship experiences,” Paris continues, “so they wanted only the best for their space. They had Chroma-Q Inspires in their previous worship space and wanted to replicate and expand that experience in the new building; high CRI, high intensity, and rich fixtures were the requirements from their production team.”
The pandemic put the planned build on pause, but during that time, “Celebration built a stronger team and developed a stronger idea of what they wanted,” Jordan says.
The church also spoke to other, larger firms from out of state. “That’s wise for any church to do,” he continues. “But, after meetings with TruBlueAV, chose to engage us for the design,” once again bringing TruBlueAV in early on.
Over time, TruBlueAV has grown substantially as well – developing a sophisticated approach to design and emphasizing the provision of innovative, long-term solutions that offer plenty of room for growth.
In doing so, Jordan explains: “We separate design from installation and integration – so clients get full attention to detail from us. Then, when we finish the design, they end up with a proposal – a full, intact design that they can choose to implement with us or that they can implement (in another way.”
That process includes the creation of highly detailed 3D renders that allow TruBlue to show exactly how various systems will function and look virtually. “We can’t recreate the sound in the room in the virtual experience. But we can do that with the lighting, the visuals, the video wall content, and design to show the worship space – with seating, everything else we know they’ll have in there, and all the gear we’ve identified, in place. Then, we take them through a (virtual) service and a queue list of a lighting show from multiple viewpoints. That type of relational process instills confidence, and it helps clients capture their vision,” he continues.
In every project, TruBlue emphasizes balancing innovation and practicality to meet the needs of each client in a way that works for their budget, meets their current requirements, and provides room to grow. Jordan and his team employ a comprehensive approach to a wide range of AV design/install services, including theatrical lighting, video production, LED video walls, audio systems, and video distribution systems.
For Celebration, that included a comprehensive demo process, Jordan says: “So I asked (AC Lighting Sales Rep) Marcus Hammond to demo the RA 2000s, the Jet Spot4Zs, and Pixie WashXPs in Celebration’s old room to do a one-to-one comparison with another brand they were considering.” A brand of fixtures, he adds, that the church already had on hand and had used in their first space. “And, even though the Jet Spot had the same wattage rating, it outperformed the other fixture significantly. They were like, ‘Wow, the performance, the color – this is impressive.’ Seeing the Jet Spot outperform that other element opened their eyes.”
Demoing the RA in the old space allowed Jordan to display their feature set. “There was no way to showcase what the RA would do in the new building, where I wanted to put it as a main spot, on the front truss, but that’s where the rendering software steps in.” In the rendering, they had 7 RAs on the front truss, but when Jordan was last at the new space, they had deployed 4 RAs to cover the entirety of the 70-foot stage and used the remaining fixtures to provide texture and color elsewhere.
The Jet Spots are positioned on the rear truss above the video wall, serving as both fill and down lighting. The Pixie Wash fixtures are strategically placed – some mounted on columns between sections of the video wall and others for effect lighting. In the end, most of their previous building’s lighting, much of which the church thought they’d need to reuse, was left in the old space.
Jordan adds that Celebration, being innovative, has often rearranged fixtures and added additional elements to refresh the lighting in the past. “This is an educated church, so they look at their system and say, ‘That’s performing well, but this isn’t.’ In the old building, they did that a lot. With this setup, however, they’re not only satisfied, but they have continued to be able to be creative with the new lighting to make it look different and not feel like they’re in a rut.”
Ultimately, the new lighting and AV systems provide far greater flexibility, but also stability,” Jordan sums up. “So now they can focus on the areas that need improvement across the campus, instead of continuing to put band-aids on things, which is what they had to do in the past.”
