MAG Church | Bowling Green, KY | Audio Visual Install
When I first got the call to start designing a system for MAG Church in Bowling Green, KY, I was pumped. This shell of a building was dripping with potential from day one. It didn’t come without some obstacles but boy oh boy was it worth it. The building was previously used as a video studio, which honestly seems huge for that but hey, you do you.
First off let’s talk about the church in general. I guess I wasn’t aware that the Burmese community was so large in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Nevertheless, the community there is thriving. The hospitality that these people gave my team and I was next level. Their tech team seem to have grasped the huge changes from the existing system to this system rather quickly, allowing for even more deep dives.
The Challenges
Now, back to the building. The two biggest obstacles we faced with this building were pre-wiring distributed audio and video, and the HVAC system. The distributed audio and video situation was a little tricky and we had to make sure we got that right from the beginning. Reason for this is that the ceiling is drywall as opposed to a traditional drop or open ceiling. Because of this, we had to drill through a ton of wood to get cables into the correct area. This also applies to the PTZ camera system that we put into the sanctuary. The problem that the HVAC caused was a little niche’ to a degree. We had originally planned on placing the LED Wall on that wall and cover most of that wall, without a lyric strip. The plan was for a large 16x9 screen and two smaller 16x9 screens for IMAG on the sides. We met with their team and decided that we could downsize the screens a touch, do two tall columns on the sides, and add a Multipurpose (lyric) Strip that took most of the width of the room, and place that strip in front of the HVAC ducts to hide them. Winner winner chicken dinner.
The Gear Choices
There’s so much gear involved in a fresh install like this, so I won’t list off everything that was purchased installed but we can cover some basics. The church basically started from zero and kept very few things from the previous building. This gave us a ton of creative and technical control and let us really design an incredible system.
Audio
Front of House speakers are RCF HDL-6A Line Arrays. We used four HDL-6A’s on each hang. Each hang was mounted with an HDL12-AS on top. Four additional HDL-6A boxes were used on the stage as front fills. We also placed one RCF SUB 905-AS directly in line with the arrays, but under the stage. We used the subs on the ground to give us punch but the top subs for clarity and more defined tonality. As for stage wedges, we used four DB Technologies FMX 10’s. They wanted something that was tiny, pleasing to the eye, yet still great. I can’t recommend these monitors enough. We supplied Shure PSM 300 wireless IEM units for vocalists as well as Allen & Heath ME-1 units for the band.
The FOH console is an Allen & Heath Avantis, Speaker processing is all handled via Allen & Heath AHM-16 over Dante. This is a very Dante-Driven system and we absolutely love it. The Avantis sends all input channels into the broadcast suite via Dante to then be mixed down in Logic Pro X before hitting the livestream. Power and RF distribution for IEMs are handled from an RF Combine Distro 8 with an Architectural series antenna.
Microphones are QLX-D units from Shure with SE V7 MC2 capsules. Power and RF distribution for Microphones are handled from an RF Venue Distro 9 with an Architectural series antenna. We also provided a full set of SE Drum Mics. The drum enclosure was custom built by Goplin Enclosures out of Dallas, TX. This particular enclosure is a modified G2+ model.
Lighting
I’m a firm believer that most companies making lighting software and control far too complicated for the average end user. Though I love products like GrandMA and Avolites, I just can’t justify those for most church installations. This lighting system looks great but it is rather simple, which makes the choice to go with ADJ MyDMX 3.0 the right move for this installation. We used a mixture of Chauvet EVE F-50Z and Chauvet EVE E-50Z fixtures for key lighting. I love using these budget-friendly fixtures for smaller rooms such as this one. The get all the coverage you need (and a beautiful, camera-friendly, warm white) in a room this size without having to go overkill on your lighting budget. As for moving head fixtures we went with eight Chauvet Intimidator Spot 375 fixtures with after-market gobos in five of the slots.
The LED Wall
We used the LRC VUE Wall system for this job from LRC Wireless and love it. Driven by two NovaStar MX20 units. On the ProPresenter side of things, we used a Sonnet Echo with Blackmagic Decklink Quad 2 to speak to the NovaStar, Confidence Monitor, etc.
Power Sequencing
We used the JuiceGoose System for this installation. Two CQ1520’s, an RC5, two PD1A units, and a several CQ2200 boxes. You could say there was an entire gaggle of geese involved on this installation.
Video Broadcast System
The church already had a rackmounted Blackmagic switcher, so everything is driven from that. However, we did install the system with five cameras. 2 Wireless Roamer Blackmagic 6kG2 cameras with 70-200 F/2.8 Canon Lenses, 2 PTZ Optics Move 4k (controlled by PTZ Optics SuperJoy, 1 Blackmagic 6k Studio Camera with a monstrous Canon CN-E 70-200mm T4.4 Compact-Servo Cine Zoom Lens with Blackmagic Zoom and Follow Focus control via the tripod arm. The two wireless roamers are using Tilta Cages and Hollyland Mars Wireless HDMI systems. Everything on the roamer systems are powered with a single V-Mount Battery on a plate made by IKAN.
Final Results of This Amazing Bowling Green, Kentucky Audio Visual Installation
Everything that went wrong, everything that went right, was all combined to create a phenomenal installation that this church will use for years to come. It combines an absolutely incredible starting point but leaves plenty of room to grow if they ever decide to expand their system later into the future. ‘Twas a pleasure guys!
