WACO, TX — After nearly four decades of holding worship services in their original sanctuary, the staff and congregation of Highland Baptist Church in Waco, Texas have now moved their preaching — as well as their playing — into the church’s new multipurpose Life Center, which is equipped with a full loudspeaker and amplifier package from L-Acoustics.
Aside from regularly hosting two Sunday morning services, the 1,800-capacity Life Center is a versatile environment designed to accommodate events ranging from concerts and theatrical productions to banquets and community events to basketball and volleyball games.
Highland Baptist Church Worship Pastor Gary Rhodes initially generated the specification for an L-Acoustics system. “When we began the process of planning our new multipurpose worship space, the one area I asked our church leadership not to compromise on was in the sound system,” Rhodes said. “My own experience of attending concerts and being in other venues, combined with our research, pointed us toward L-Acoustics as our first choice.”
Southlake, Texas-based Digital Resources, Inc. served as the design-build systems integrator for the project.
“We agreed that L-Acoustics fit the room very well, especially seeing that the church wanted to position itself as a premier venue for high-quality Contemporary Christian performances,” said Rick Robinson, senior systems designer, Digital Resources. Robinson, who has 22 years of experience in designing technology solutions for houses of worship, added that “L-Acoustics’ technical rider compatibility was obviously an important consideration for attracting touring acts, but, in my opinion, the primary benefit of their products is that they can be run at high levels without being offensive. The frequency response and coverage are both extremely smooth.”
After Robinson designed the required acoustic treatments for the room, which is essentially a wide rectangle with 24-foot ceilings, he worked with the L-Acoustics U.S. team to design the optimal loudspeaker configuration for the Life Center using the manufacturer’s Soundvision prediction software.
The resulting setup is comprised of eight dV-DOSC loudspeakers and three
dV-SUB boxes flown per side. Two 8XT coaxial enclosures are deployed as far left and right side fills, while four SB28 double-18-inch subs are positioned under the stage for added low-end punch. All of these systems are powered, processed and controlled by a total of eight LA8 amplified controllers.
One of Highland Baptist Church’s first opportunities to test the new system’s mettle came during an event known as the Waco Community Hymn Sing, which featured vocal performances from Steve Green, Cynthia Clawson, Kurt Kaiser, Rodrigo Rodriquez and Keron Jackson. Under the direction of Nashville-based arranger/producer David Hamilton, the artists were backed by a 55-piece orchestra and 300-member choir made up of singers from more than 20 area church choirs.
Both Pastor Rhodes and Highland Baptist Music Associate/AV Coordinator Tim Cates were pleased with how the system sounded that night. “Many people, both young and old, commented on how wonderful the sound was and that it was the best sounding system in the area,” Rhodes said. “Musicians from other churches as well as production people from Baylor University, which has its own L-Acoustics system, told us ‘you guys did it right!’ Our Christmas Eve service was also one of the best we have ever had and I know that the addition of the dV-DOSC arrays was a big part of what made it special. I am thankful we made the decisions we did, incredibly pleased with the quality of sound we are able to achieve in our times of worship, and excited about the potential for the future.”
Although the Life Center project marked Digital Resources’ first experience installing L-Acoustics, Robinson said it wouldn’t be the last. “Dan Palmer and his team in Oxnard were very helpful and easy to work with and the rig has performed flawlessly since it went in,” he said. “We’ll absolutely be recommending L-Acoustics again for future projects.”
In addition to providing the Life Center’s sound system installation and acoustical treatments, Robinson assisted the church in the design of the video projection and theatrical lighting systems.
For more information, please visit www.highlandbc.org and www.digitalresources.com .
