House of God Productions, a provider of audio, video, and production services for houses of worship, recently partnered with dBTechnologies to upgrade the live sound experience at Jesus Culture’s San Diego and Sacramento church locations.
“I had been working with Jesus Culture for a number of years on various projects and last year, they asked for help in procuring live sound reinforcement for an outreach event in San Diego,” explains Justin Lusignan, founder of House of God Productions. “I suggested they work with a local ViO partner for this year’s event. A number of key people from Jesus Culture flew in for the demo and suffice to say, they were blown away by the VIO system’s performance.”
Daniel Blackman of Jesus Culture’s production staff adds, “In San Diego, our existing audio system wasn’t suited for larger events, it was essentially portable PA speakers on stands. We were impressed with the dBTechnologies VIO system’s performance, especially the L210s. Their coverage was fantastic, and they packed a punch. So, we decided to upgrade the audio system in San Diego. With Justin’s help, we landed on L210s for the mains, X205 for front fills, X206 for side fills, and S118 18-inch subwoofers. Since the installation, I’ve been thrilled with dBTechnologies’ performance, and it was the natural choice when we then upgraded our system in Sacramento.”
The installation in Sacramento posed its own set of challenges, equipped with an existing system that was transferred from a previous location that had a theater-style configuration. The new location had much different spatial dimensions, most notably much lower ceilings with only nine feet of clearance. The former system overpowered attendees at the front of the room yet lacked the throw necessary to reach the back of the room. In addition, the system’s subwoofer complement was resulting in complaints from the neighborhood.
“For Sacramento, we needed a clean slate and configured a VIO system tailored to meet the specific needs of the room. We had two main flys of VIO X206 line source boxes, side flys of the same X206 boxes, three point source X205 front fills, three X205 delays, and two groups of S118 subs in cardioid configuration” explains Lusignan. “I believe that the VIO X206 boxes are some of the best speakers dBTechnologies makes. They offer great sound quality and incredible versatility. I was amazed at how well they could match the tonality of other VIO series speakers, allowing us to create a consistent sound throughout the space. This tonal consistency is crucial when working in worship environments where different artists and bands perform.”
“Transparency is vital to me when it comes to choosing a sound system. While I hadn’t worked with dBTechnologies before this installation, the transparency, balance, and flat response of the VIO system stood out to me,” adds Nate Miller of the Jesus Culture production team. “And considering the size of the smaller boxes we have installed, the VIO system delivers impressive low-frequency output. We’ve received numerous compliments.
“Having the VIO S18 subwoofers in cardioid configuration provides incredible rear rejection. We have neighbors nearby, and before when using subs in omnidirectional configuration, we faced complaints about noise. Now, we can push the bottom end without disrupting the neighbors. It’s been a significant improvement in our sound quality and our relationship with the neighborhood. Everyone is happy.”
“We used the VIO Series’ built-in processing and tuning capabilities for the installation, which simplified our setup. The fact that these are powered boxes, without a need for external amplification also simplified things and saved Jesus Culture money,” Lusignan concludes. “The ease of saving system settings to the speakers was also a game changer! In Sacramento, we ran all the data cables from the PA to a RdNet controller, which allowed for quick adjustments. In San Diego, we didn’t need the controller, so we unplugged all the data cables. The system had already saved the necessary settings to the speakers themselves, simplifying the installation process. This feature offers flexibility, and it’s another great cost-saving option.”
