Audio Completes the Picture for First UMC, Wichita

May 5, 2005 5:47 PM

When Kirk Longhofer came on board as Director of Technical Ministries for First United Methodist Church of Wichita, Kan., he was given a seemingly simple directive: Find what's wrong with the sound system and fix it.

The church traces its origin to a small group of worshipers and an itinerant pastor who met in a livery stable around 1870 when the city of Wichita was still an emerging prairie town. Today, First UMC holds the distinction of being the largest Protestant church in the downtown area, with around 700 people attending two Sunday services, a membership roll of around 1,700, a number of community outreach and ministry programs, and a strong dedication to the arts, evident in stunning contemporary architecture and diverse music programs.

The current facility, completed in 1962, features a unique, circular design and a number of round rooms. The 135ft.-high bell tower is a city landmark, as is Bernard Frazier's 70,000-piece mosaic, which represents the Scriptural verse, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). The main sanctuary houses a Shantz 85-rank/four-manual pipe organ with a 32ft. Contra Bombarde—one of the largest in the Midwest. And, while weekly worship music leans toward the traditional with organ and chancel choir, its not uncommon for First UMC to offer blended services with jazz, Southern Gospel quartets, liturgical dance, and concerts by top contemporary Christian artists.

That diversity prompted audio needs to expand beyond live sound to include recording, tape duplication, and radio and live television broadcasts—all of which proved to be a strain on the 40-plus-year-old sound system, coupled with the challenges of a round sanctuary with a height of about 42ft. from the floor to the domed ceiling and a staff consisting primarily of volunteers.

"Architecturally and acoustically, we have the two most difficult situations," explains Longhofer. "The original system split the sources by 65ft. and had a lot of low-quality components—basically what had been piecemealed together as budgets became available. The speakers were shot, and the older analog mixing consoles, which required manual repatching, were showing intermittent failures and other signs of old age. So for 40 years, everyone struggled with sub-par audio in the room."

Around May of 2003, the technical staff began to investigate options, and recommended hiring a qualified consultant who would assist with acoustics and a new system design. After soliciting a number of proposals, First Church selected Acoustic Dimensions of Dallas, Texas, based on its reputation in dealing with large reverberant spaces. "This is one of those rooms where you need to retain that 'live' feel, yet have articulation in a sound system," Longhofer says.

First UMC worked with Wichita-based AV contractor McClelland Sound in replacing existing consoles, patchbays, mic splitters, outboard processing gear, speakers, and cabling. A total of 65 inputs from the main platform are routed to a 48-channel transformer split that feeds a Yamaha DM2000 digital mixing console at front of house, a distributed hallway system, and a production room with 24-track digital recording capability and a second DM2000, dedicated to mixing audio for video. The monaural PA system includes a center cluster composed of six EAW KF730 line array cabinets driven by Crown CTS Series amplifiers and Biamp Audia system processors.

Although the decision to install a monaural, rather than an L-C-R, system was a budgetary issue, the console choice was based on the consultant and technical staff's recommendation to move the front of house area from the balcony to the main floor.

"I didn't want anything less than a 40-input board," says Longhofer, "but with all the aux sends, outboard equipment, etc., that's going to take up a lot of real estate. That began the discussion on digital consoles. I wasn't totally convinced that it was necessary or practical for a church, especially where we depend on volunteers to do most of our mixing."

Longhofer got a first-hand look at digital mixing options while attending Curt Taipale's Church Sound Boot Camp seminar in Dallas in October 2004. "Yamaha had provided Todd Bussart at Taipale Media Systems with a DM2000 for the seminar," he says. "That was my first exposure and my first opportunity to understand the signal flow and the physical mechanics. That made me feel a little more comfortable, but the real selling point was the physical footprint being less than half of that of an equivalent analog board. Real estate issues aside, having instant recall is a time saver, and onboard effects are a life saver. A lot of people participate in our services, so when switching between someone with quiet vocal delivery to somebody who is a little more energetic, being able to quickly pop in a compressor on a channel is great. That flexibility is a wonderful tool: parametric EQ on every channel, compression on every channel, eight effects engines, and all those tools at your fingertips really makes a world of difference.

"Once I got my hands on the DM2000, my concerns about being able to teach volunteers to use it effectively went away," he adds. "I think the training process for a new person is actually easier on a digital board than its analog equivalent, with its acres of knobs and sliders. With digital, it's a lot easier to get focused on the mix, and then worry about EQ, compression, and gain structure. Having a visual cue also helps people understand what it is that they're doing: When adjusting a channel EQ, the frequency response graph on the screen shows you the actual response of the curve. When you select a frequency, you can see it sweep across the screen. So far, both the staff and the volunteers have accepted it quickly, including the folks that had some audio background, and some newbies. We have one young man, for example, who mixed a service the first Sunday the weekend after the system was installed."

Accelerated training took on new significance well before the system was completed. First UMC had initially planned a four week construction window, with voicing and commissioning scheduled to be finalized in time for a busy Advent season: a major cantata production, a children's Christmas program, and the Christmas Eve service with a live broadcast. However, it was an unscheduled event that moved up production—the funeral of a popular congregation member.

"Both McClelland Sound and the electricians worked long days and into the night to get everything finished," Longhofer says. "We got the last of the voicing done two days early. We had the system up and operational for the funeral, which turned out to be the first use of the system."

Future upgrades include new recording gear and, according to Longhofer, the possibility of digital enhancement systems for the organ to actually increase perceived reverberation time in the room. "With the line array, the articulation in the room increased dramatically," he says. "We managed to keep almost all the energy off the walls, so we're able to run much higher SPL levels and not really have any problems with echo or problematic reverberance. People have sonic expectations that are much higher today than they did 40 years ago."

For more information on the Add-On Effects packages, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Commercial Audio Systems Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90620; telephone (714) 522-9011; email infostation@yamaha.com; visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.