Audio production was spearheaded by the light and sound division of Morris Light & Sound (Nashville, TN) with the assistance of Reach Communications (Champlin, MN), TC Furlong (Lake Forest, IL), and Yamaha Professional Audio, headquartered in Buena Park, CA.
With all of the requirements for this huge task, company crews were on hand to assist, measure, test, and train staff when necessary. Fusion Productions, Inc. of Algonquin, IL, handled the production under the direction of company owner Todd Elliott, who acted as production manager for the anniversary celebration.
"This was by far the largest event that Willow Creek has ever put together outside of their facility," states Elliott. "As a result, it was really important to work with companies and vendors with experience doing large arena shows. Willow Creek has had some amazing partnerships with both TC Furlong and with Yamaha over the years, and really trusted their expertise and their gear to get us to the finish line."
As part of the church specification, a Nexo STM line array system was spec'd and between the three sound companies involved, 344x STM boxes were deployed, the largest single use of STM in the US to date. Since the church was planning to hold this event in the round, it was quickly realized that STM would be the only obvious choice - high-output, relatively light in weight (compared to self-powered solutions) and phenomenal sound. A total of eight main clusters and four subwoofer clusters were needed to reach an audience of over 20,000 worshippers.
The Nexo system configuration consisted of 120x STM M46 main modules and 120x STM B112 cabinets, 32x STM M28 omnipurpose modules, 72x STM S118 subbass and 12 RS18 Ray Subs. Additionally, 15x M46/B112 sets with 3x M28s were used as down-fills for each of the eight hangs. And 18x S118 subs in cardioid mode were used for each of four hangs, while 8x M28s were used as frontfills at stage level in four groups of two. Also, 12x RS18 Ray Subs were used as under stage extensions in an end fire array in four groups of three.
"TC Furlong handled much of the audio infrastructure, and once we got into the project more, we couldn't have chosen a better partner in Morris and their project manager David Graham," says Elliott. "They bent over backward to give us the best possible event and they delivered. Their Nexo rig sounded amazing and their system techs really knew their stuff."
Willow Creek has been a long-time supporter and user of Yamaha mixers - they had the first dual-PM1D system in the U.S. With the anticipated high-channel counts (both input and output) for this event combined with the very tight timeframe of the event day (load-in at midnight, sound check and rehearsals starting at noon with doors at 3:30pm, and event start at 5:00pm), the church audio engineers were looking for a mixing platform that could accommodate 120+ inputs/30+ monitor outputs/numerous sub mixes for broadcast streaming feed/Dante compatibility, all while feeling familiar to their existing workflows.
Todd Elliott asked Mike Eiseman, Yamaha commercial audio products regional district manager, to explore the possibility of using the new Rivage PM10s for the event. "Willow Creek has traditionally loved innovation," according to Elliott, "and the chance to be the first to use the newest Yamaha console seemed like it could be a great experience for both Yamaha and Willow Creek. And, It was."
A CL5 digital console was also on hand to handle a broadcast mix and an all-Dante network for both the Nexo PA and consoles.
(Jim Evans)
