KLANG:vier performs at Christian Life Assembly
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The worship centre at the Langley Campus, built in 1978, was expanded to hold 2,000 churchgoers in 2008 during renovations that also readied CLA for multimedia technology. Most recently, the church has taken its audio technology to the next level with a new DiGiCo SD12 digital mixing console at front-of-house and a KLANG immersive IEM mixing system, all specified and integrated by Ellis Pro Media of Tacoma, Washington.
“The SD12 has been super-flexible for anything we have wanted to do,” says CLA assistant technical director Will Lee. “I haven’t had a situation where I’ve thought, ‘I wish the SD12 did such-and-such’. Any situation we think up, the board can handle it, and I’m very happy with that.”
The new system further includes four KLANG:vier units, which support individual In-Ear mixes for up to five musicians each, and a KLANG:quelle, which offers four channels of Dante-enabled digital-to-analogue conversion and high-quality headphone amplifiers. The system at CLA interfaces with the SD12 via a Ferrofish A32 Dante 32x32 AD/DA converter but could alternatively be linked using an optional DiGiCo Dante interface card.
Lee, who is also a FOH engineer, generates the 24 channels feeding the KLANG system for the church’s contemporary praise band using a combination of SD12 resources, including the Copy Audio function in the router. “We use aux sends from our board and combine, say, ‘kick in’ and ‘kick out’ into one kick auxiliary channel. Same with snares, overheads and toms; we group them together, so drums take up three channels instead of eight.”
Outputs to the Dante stream typically also include four vocal channels, two mono electric guitar channels, two stereo pairs for keyboard and grand piano, a bass channel, ambiance mics and speaking group. “So I’m pulling from groups, from auxiliary channels and from Copy Audio direct outs on the SD12,” he says.
The musicians can each control the input levels and immersive spatial positioning of their individual IEM mixes using one of the church’s ten Android tablets or, more usually, his or her own smartphone loaded with the KLANG:app. “They’re basically using the KLANG:app to create space in their mixes. Things that are stereo sound really big.” If anyone needs assistance, Lee can access any mix on his computer and help position the sound sources for maximum effect, he says.
CLA also rents the auditorium, which can be combined with an adjacent overspill space, for outside events and makes the in-house technology, including the KLANG system, available to visitors.
(Jim Evans)
