Evergreen Community Church has multiple campuses throughout Washington state, but it is the house of worship’s main campus in Black Lake that hosts the largest Sunday Morning gatherings, with two services in their 1,500-seat auditorium.
As more than half of the service is dedicated to the spoken word, Evergreen relies on the precision of DPA Microphones’ d:fine Single-Ear Omnidirectional Headset Microphones, d:fine 4066 Headset Microphones, d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones and d:screet 4061 Miniature Microphones to project the clear, natural sound of the Pastor’s voice and the supporting instruments of the Evergreen Community Church worship band.
As one of the key FOH volunteers at the Church, Duke DeJong is responsible for everything from ensuring the clarity of Lead Pastor Jim Ladd’s spoken message to mixing the worship band.
Also playing a dual role as Church Relations Director for CCI Solutions, he was able to work with both groups to provide all of the gear necessary for the Black Lake Campus to have an ideal mic solution after the church upgraded its PA system.
While providing excellent audio, the new sound reinforcement system also highlighted the noise of the church’s former mic setup, prompting DeJong to turn to the natural-sounding DPA Microphones for a solution.
“My number one requirement for any microphone is always clarity and intelligibility, along with a reasonable cost factor as well,” says DeJong. “DPA is especially incredible for speech, orchestra and acoustical instruments, filling all the needs of a house of worship.
“We primarily use the d:fine as our go-to speaking mic, the d:vote for our grand piano and the d:screet for our stringed instruments, most often violin. The spoken word is over half the service, and the church has a long history of great orchestra instrumentation, so the audio quality has to be great.”
The clarity of spoken word at Evergreen Community Church is achieved through a combination of a d:fine Omnidirectional Headset Microphone and a d:fine 4066 Omnidirectional Headset Microphone. Aside from accurate audio, both models are extremely comfortable for extended use, an important factor Evergreen Church looks for in a headset mic for the Pastor.
“I have a personal d:fine that I use when I go to speak at conferences,” adds DeJong. “I forgot it for a recent conference I spoke at, and I had to use a competitor’s headset microphone.
“I ended up finally taking that off and not wearing a mic at all. The other mic just wouldn’t fit right on my ear or stay put once I got it situated. I also find that competitor mics may not hold up over a long duration.
“Durability, stability and comfort are critical if our pastor is going to be up there speaking for 30 minutes. I need him not to be fussing over the ear piece the entire time.”
To ensure full comfort, the d:fine is adjustable to any ear or head size and shape, and is easily customizable by swapping from dual-ear to single-ear modes.
In addition to the d:fine, the main venue uses two d:votes with piano attachments and a d:screet for the violin to solve the church’s need for accurate instrumental audio.
“After we installed a new PA system, it was obvious we would also need to upgrade our instrumental microphones,” continues DeJong. “We tried many different microphones on the grand piano, and it just never sounded good. Once we set up the DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones on the grand piano, we were in love with the clarity and fullness of the sound.
“We then added the d:screet 4061 Miniature Microphone on our violin. The instrument sounded so beautiful and natural that it was like I was standing right next to it. I also love the versatility that DPA mics offer, so occasionally I borrow them from the instruments to serve other purposes as our needs at the church change from time to time.”
The d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphone is a unique, lightweight, microphone that has mounting options for almost all acoustic and woodwind instruments, solving the needs of the worship band’s musicians during service.
The 4061 Omnidirectional Microphone is designed for theater, live and studio applications, boosting the natural sound of acoustic string instruments. Both the d:vote and d:screet are easy to modify to fit multiple needs.
“To say it simply, I’ve used DPA Microphones for almost a decade now because they are one of the clearest, most natural and best sounding microphones,” says DeJong.
Evergreen Community Church has two locations in Olympia, Washington in addition to the Black Lake campus. On Sunday nights, the church holds an outreach program at the Evergreen Community Center, combining music with discussions about challenges and faith.
