InteRise, a system integration firm based in Nashville, recently designed and and installed a new immersive sound system at the worship sanctuary on the Reservoir campus of Pinelake Church in Mississippi.
When it opened in 2003, the church originally had a traditional, full choir and orchestra worship style but since then has transitioned to a more contemporary style of worship that highlighted weaknesses as well as the aging of the then-current system.
“The sound system that was built in 2003 was not adequate for what we are doing now” says Kevin Hoober, director of worship technology at Pinelake. “Over the course of five years, we were discussing what the new PA would look like and we reached out to InteRise to discuss options and timelines.”
When Philip Hagood and Wade Russell of InteRise sat down with Hoober to discuss the new sound system, there were a variety of options from different manufacturers that were on the table. One of the main challenges InteRise was the building’s relatively low ceiling.
“There was a huge challenge with sight-lines because the roof is so low relative to the size of the room and seating sections, so we had to come up with a solution that created quality audio coverage across the room but also did not obstruct the visual space,” says Hagood, who serves as general manager of InteRise. “We looked at a number of different manufacturers, but ultimately, d&b Soundscape rose to the top of our options because it checked so many boxes.”
Many of Pinelake’s other campuses and facilities have d&b systems so the church was confident with that direction. The project kicked off with the InteRise team going on-site to take a 3D measurement of the space with a Leica BLK360 image lasering scanner in order to produce renderings that would show what the new sound system in the space would look like.
The d&b Soundscape system gives Pinelake the tools to mix the audio into the room in a way that creates an engaging and visceral experience. “Soundscape in this application brings the benefit of being able to mix with space and size that’s compelling to the audience while representing every seat in the house equally which we refer to as object-based mixing,” explains Nick Malgieri, a d&b support team member. “This allows the sound engineer to place objects in space and then the sound system re-renders these objects, so everyone hears the sound with proper localization to where the performers are on stage.”
Pinelake has stayed consistent in deploying Yamaha consoles at each of its six campuses. On this project, a Yamaha Rivage PM7 console was selected to drive the d&b Soundscape system because the higher channel and bus count allowed more flexibility while mixing.
“With the new system the band sounds amazing and the vocals are easy to understand. That’s so important in worship music to be able to hear the lyrics and sing along and the same thing is true for the message,” Hoober concludes. “The Soundscape system gives us all of those things wrapped up together.”
Equipment List:
(30) d&b Audiotechnik Yi12
(4) d&b Audiotechnik SL-SUB
(2) d&b Audiotechnik 24S
(7) d&b Audiotechnik 24S-D
(2) d&b Audiotechnik 8S
(4) d&b Audiotechnik 5S
(3) d&b Audiotechnik 21S
(1) d&b Audiotechnik DS100
(1) d&b Audiotechnik En-Scene software
(2) d&b Audiotechnik DS10
(8) d&b Audiotechnik 10D
(3) d&b Audiotechnik 30D
(2) d&b Audiotechnik D80
(1) QSC Core 510i
(1) Yamaha Rivage PM7
(2) Yamaha HY144-D-SRC
(4) Shure AD4QNP
(3) Shure AD1
(10) Shure AD2/K9B
(2) Shure ADX1
(3) Shure PSM1000
(1) Professional Wireless UX-8
(8) Shure SBC220
(1) Shure SBC240
(3) Shure SBC200
(30) Shure SB900A
