The New Year Means a New Building for FUMC
January 2009
The beginning of the New Year meant the beginning of a new chapter at First United Methodist Church of Clermont when they opened the doors to their brand new multi-purpose worship facility, the Wesley Center. The building is designed so that it can be used for multiple activities including, but not limited to, contemporary service, function hall events and even basketball! Air walls can partition the space into different rooms for meetings and special events when required.
FUMC of Clermont has a growing membership with multiple services on Sundays and during the week. The new Wesley complex augments the existing traditional church building and provides the space and technology to hold rocking contemporary services. Technical services are handled by volunteers with Rick Morris being the senior technical volunteer. The system was designed with volunteer help in mind but instead of dummying down the system, Atlantic Pro Audio designer Craig Beyrooti and Rick Morris chose to simplify operation without compromising performance or capability. Music Director, Angelo Ballestero, stressed the importance of delivering clean powerful sound without being overbearing so that the congregation can experience a moving and engaging emotional response. The system must also be capable of delivering concert level performance for visiting acts with minimal disruption to the regular set-up.
The well defined system requirements and expectations along with regular input from Rick and Angelo throughout the design/build process enabled Beyrooti to focus on delivering the desired solution. FUMC of Clermont also had some existing equipment such as wireless mics, playback devices, an Aviom system and wedge monitors that needed to be incorporated into the new plan.
Beyrooti began by designing two discrete signal distribution systems which would enable the regular church band to use one system and a visiting band to use the second. The primary signal distribution system is a custom flexi-patch solution based on Link USA products and the secondary one re-used an existing Whirlwind portable stage box and Mass connectors. The Link system connects the Yamaha M7CL-48 mixing console, which is located in an upstairs technical area, to the splitter stage box. Each of the seven floor pockets and the wall box multipin disconnects are color-coded at the splitter to ensure easy patching from any location. The Whirlwind system enables the rack-mounted portable stage box, complete with sub-snakes, to be connected to a W4 disconnect at the floor level alternate mix position. Tie lines to all locations allow access from either mix location to drive the system with either the M7CL or a guest act’s console serving as the master.
JBL VRX932-LA and VRX918’s make up the main PA with VRX928’s doing front-fill and delays. It is important for Rick and his team up in the tech booth to have an accurate representation of what the congregation would be hearing and so the delayed VRX928’s are employed to achieve this. JBL AE series speakers provide out-fill coverage and also can be accessed individually to provide localized coverage in the air wall rooms if required. Crown I-Tech 6000s provide power for the mains and XTI 4000s take care of the front-fills, out-fills and delays. These Crown amplifiers were selected because of their onboard DSP. By doing all house delays and EQ’s with the onboard DSP, the system remains protected and much simpler to use. A large benefit of digital consoles is their total recall capability but this can lead volunteer operators into trouble if they are unfamiliar with output routing and selective recall of scenes. This approach and locking out the output patch ensures that the Yamaha M7CL-48 is utilized fully without fear of mistakes.
APA also installed wireless Sennheiser in-ear monitoring systems along with integrating the existing Aviom system by adding a card into the M7CL. The entire system has remote power sequencing by Furman and can be powered up or down from the tech booth.
When asked about the install Beyrooti had this to say: “It was a pleasure working with Angelo and Rick again. Their needs were clearly communicated and as a result the whole design/build process was painless and resulted in a system that makes everyone happy!”
“In a world of lack of follow through and vendors not doing what they say, Craig Beyrooti and the Atlantic Pro Audio team surpassed our expectations for the Wesley Center Design and install. This is the second major install I have experienced with Craig and his team and he proves consistent.”
Angelo Ballestero - FUMC Contemporary Music Director