KLANG delivers sound clarity at United Methodist Church
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The KLANG systems were purchased through Raytown, Missouri-based Progressive Electronics, Inc. (PEI), which did much of the systems integration for the 3,500-seat main sanctuary at the church’s flagship broadcast location in Leawood, Kansas as well as the renovation of its former sanctuary, which is still under construction but will soon be used as a second worship and event space.
The installation of the first KLANG:fabrik system was installed by the Leawood audio staff - lead audio engineer Tim Higinbotham and audio engineers Jordan Tracy and Steven Moduno - in the church’s main sanctuary and was, as Higinbotham describes, “so simple that it took us less than 10 minutes. It was clear that this was the direction we wanted to go moving forward, and we will be installing the KLANG system in our newly renovated space as well.”
But the simplicity of installation belies the significant benefits the systems have brought to the church. Tracy says they had been discussing options for the new sanctuary in-ear monitoring, but when it came time to make final decisions, they initially went with the older IEM system they’d been using in the old location for years.
“It was a great system - for 2005,” comments Tracy, citing issues such as high latency and low channel counts. In the course of installing the DiGiCo SD10 consoles that are now in the new main sanctuary and the newly renovated event space, they were introduced to the KLANG system. “When we realised that the KLANG IEM system can be seamlessly integrated with the SD10 consoles, we realized that this was the way we wanted to go,” he says.
Resurrection runs a combination of both KLANG and wedge mixes from FOH, providing them with a variety of ways to offer monitoring solutions. The church’s varying styles can consist of up ten musicians and vocalists on stage, and as many as 20 choir members, each with a handheld wireless microphone. “The musicians that utilize KLANG can use any device to do that - an iPhone or iPad, even a Kindle Fire,” says Tracy. “With the old system, if a controller broke, it could cost up to $800 to replace it. Now, everyone can use their own device as a controller.”
This level of control over the monitor mix means that the church did not have to buy separate monitor consoles for these two spaces. “All we need is a MADI or a Dante connection on one cable, and we have monitors taken care of,” says Higinbotham.
But, at the end of the day, it was all about the sound, for the engineers and the musicians. “It sounds phenomenal,” says Tracy. “The spatial clarity of KLANG’s in-ear mixes is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced and it has changed everything.”
(Jim Evans)
