LETHBRIDGE, ALB. For a space that was once a school gymnasium, the acoustic challenges at Victory Church associated with finding a system that would deliver lots of energy and impact were admittedly complex.
For Victory Church Lead Pastor Kelly Stickel, a significant amount of research had begun with the help of acoustic consultants from RWDI Consulting Engineers & Scientists based in Calgary, about a year ago, before they turned to Ben Burrell of Sapphire Sound, also located in Calgary, after which they had their equipment ordered the following month.
"It was originally designed and built as a school, and the sanctuary was a gym," said Stickel. "It sounded like a gym and it was terrible for acoustics."
The improvement sought for the 700-seat space was with an aim to achieve a quality reinforcement system for both speech and musical performances, but it was thought that the recommendations sought by RWDI would make the room relatively "dry."
To Stickel, with his background in music and sound, he made it very clear that the new system needed to deliver plenty of impact. That was so it could suit the highly dynamic musical component of Victory's services, all while ensuring that lower frequencies were very controlled. With those being his key requirements, Burrell determined the ideal system should feature d&b audiotechnik Yi8 and Yi12 line array speakers, Yi subwoofers, and D12 amplifiers.
In upgrading the system, it meant moving on from speakers estimated to be about 20 years old and amps about 15 years old.
The new system, installed in April, only took a day for the work to complete, with reformatting and testing taking a part of the next day. "It took just about a day and a half in all," added Stickel.
For volunteer sound tech Jamie Folden, the changes borne from the new system have been incredibly significant.
"Oh my goodness, it's night and day from what we had before," said Folden. "The sound quality from the microphones is now a clean, crisp sound. We used to have a low-budget PA system you can't even compare it to what we had before."
The new system, according to Stickel, includes five speakers per side, made up of four d&b audiotechnik Yi12s, and one Yi8. In addition, there are four subwoofers and four amplifiers as part of the configuration. A couple years prior, the church updated its mixing board to an Allen & Heath GLD-112.
With the help of ArrayCalc software, a simulation tool for d&b line arrays, Trevor Nash, Regional Manager for d&b audiotechnik in Canada said, "It seemed pretty clear that (Burrell's) suggestion was the way to go." To further drive home the idea that a d&b system was the right choice, Burrell arranged for Stickel to attend a Y-Series demo at a large church a couple hours away.
Upon hearing the system, Stickel was impressed, stating that "I'd heard about d&b from other pastors, but witnessing a system in action at the demo was essential. I fell in love with it right away."
Even though the demo had been set up at a much larger space than Victory's, it was the same system as that being proposed for Victory. "The room we were in had an auditorium of about 2,400," noted Stickel. Despite the size difference, he explained, "What we did at that demo was we pared down the system to the size we were experimenting with."
To Stickel, it was also a matter of how even the sound was throughout that large space. "I walked all over and couldn't identify a hot or dead spot anywhere." During that demo, "we demoed both music and the spoken Word and the clarity for both was remarkable."
To Burrell, recognizing the desire by Stickel that sound control needed to be a priority, he designed the system with the combination of Yi8 and Yi12 line arrays with Yi subwoofers. The Yi12 line arrays are virtually identical to the Y12 line arrays, featured in a recent WTD slideshow. The primary difference between the Yi12 and the Y12 line arrays is that the Yi12 is the installation version, differing in cabinet construction, finish and mounting hardware.
For Victory, with its service broadcasts on national TV as well as online, the push for a solid low end could not also negatively impact speech clarity, with the Yi subs helping to achieve that goal. Accounting for the shape of the room, which is wider than deep and a fairly low ceiling, the passive two-way Yi8 and Yi12 line arrays work well, with their 80-degree and 120-degree dispersion respectively.
The issue of clarity, noted Stickel, has most often come up when hearing comments from congregants about the new system.
"We'll most often hear how we can hear and understand,' or we can hear each instrument,' or the spoken Word is much clearer,' where before we had almost weekly complaints with the sound to now where we now have had zero complaints," said Stickel. "It was a huge thing we had to address, because we used to have spikes and bounces, and it was hard to get clarity, unless you went to a certain volume."
In addition to Stickel, Folden also has heard largely positive feedback from the congregation following the install.
"At first, they might have been a little too high in their expectations, before we knew how to run it properly," said Folden. "Now the congregants are saying that they really understand what we are doing and that they can follow along and go along with the rhythm."
Since the install was completed about eight months ago, Folden admitted that some of the things he used to do while operating the old system while trying to get the most out it - were no longer necessary with the new d&b configuration.
"You used to have to dump frequencies, because the middle of your frequencies were muddy. That meant that you had to take out vocals and instruments, to where there was no body to your mix," said Folden. "I figured that we'd have to do all sorts of funky EQing with the new system when we didn't have to. Once we realized that we instead needed to start with a flat EQ, it's been fantastic. Now you plug in an instrument, and you can boost those same frequencies, along with some minor adjustments, and it's clear as day."
With their limited size, the Yi8 and Yi12 speakers also benefit the Victory's space by not interfering with projection or sightlines at the church.
Aside from the congregants, those who also have benefitted from the change has been the Victory choir, as Stickel noted that "We have a big choir, but previously we could not use what was coming down the line from most of the choir mics because there was too much room in there." With the change to the system, "Now straight away, we could use them all."