Hallelujah Community Church

94 VENUE - APAC

HALLELUJAH COMMUNITY CHURCH

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

APAC

DiGiCo’s Korean distributor, Soundus has helped Sound Engineer, Jae Chon Baik put the church firmly in the 21st Century on a technology front.

The Hallelujah Community Church is located in the Seongnam City area of Seoul in South Korea. Since the late 1990s, the district has accelerated as a suburb, with the Government encouraging large corporations to setup there to attract residents. This was needed to relieve the congestion from Seoul, and, today, the area is home to more than one million people. With a large capacity, what this suburb needs is a sense of community, and this is exactly where Hallelujah Community Church excels, joining together the locals from youngsters to the older generation and everything in between. With the church’s roots dating back into the last century, and the technology installed there being at least 30-years old, the in-house Sound Engineer, Jae Chon Baik decided it was high time for an audio upgrade. He explained further: “The church needed audio settings for more musical activities than before, and it needed a system for broadcast mixing. These days, Korean churches are broadcasting their missions live via websites, or on LED screens located on the external building. So, an

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95 VENUE - APAC

• Opposite The main church hall

• Above left The smaller church hall

• Above right Sound Engineer Jae Chon Baik with the DiGiCo SD7

• Above below The DiGiCo SD-Racks

overhaul was definitely needed.” A number of changes to the system have taken place, but it is being carried out in stages. The first major pieces of equipment to be replaced were the mixing consoles, going from analogue to digital. “Many channels were needed,” continued Jae Chon Baik. “Redundancy was also required and the church wanted to have the options to use plug-ins too. In addition, before it was mostly wired microphones and monitor systems, but now it wireless microphones and in-ear system monitors.” Asked why he selected DiGiCo, Jae Chon Baik revealed that he’d always dreamed of using the world-renown, Britishmanufactured consoles one day, and this was his chance. DiGiCo desks also offered Jae Chon Baik redundancy, which was a high priority in his brief. “I didn’t have much time to adapt to the new console, I simply had to read through the manual and teach myself, but it was very easy because the interface is so userfriendly,”

Jae Chon Baik praised. A DiGiCo SD7 is used as the main console in the church’s primary hall. An SD11 is in place and used for broadcasting, and these sit beside three SD-Racks and one SD Mini-Rack. For the smaller hall Jae Chon Baik selected an SD12. The system is connected via a DiGiCo-Optocore loop, the first setup of its kind in Korea, as it is connected between different venues. The compatibility between Optocore and optically enabled DiGiCo consoles was originally released to the market a few years back. Jae Chon Baik explained how it works at the church: “The DiGiCo- Optocore loop is being used for a diverse range of purposes. If the church has a mission on at the same time in two different places, all signals can be sent to the SD7 and SD12, so that the same sound is in the two spaces. If a band is playing in one place, the signals can still be sent to the other hall. The SD12 can also be used as a broadcast console, if the

smaller hall is in use too. “The output from the main hall is controlled using the SD7 and can be done on the fly, which is really useful. When the church is recording the console can either be used as a recording console or as a mixing console, so it really is very flexible and interchangeable depending on the needs of the venue at any given time.” Jae Chon Baik makes use of a number of WAVES plug-ins for mixing, as well as reverb from Yamaha and Lexicon, favouring different ones for different applications. The installation of the consoles overall went well, with good communication between the sound department at Hallelujah Community Church and DiGiCo’s Korean distributor, Soundus, which provided the kit and excellent support during the project. Of course, this continues with after sales, too, although, to date, there have been no major issues. The biggest hurdle of the project,

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96 VENUE - APAC

however, was to convince the investors. Due to them not being from an audio background, it was difficult to convince them to invest in expensive equipment, but after presenting the documentation and system information, they could see it was the best step for future-proofing the church. Next in line for the upgrade were the microphones and in-ear monitors, which comprises a combination of Sennheiser, Shure and Neumann. Jae Chon Baik wanted to have variety in the inventory to ensure all bases were covered. The church halls can present anything from big bands to orchestras, as well as vocal performances of both singing and praying. “I wanted diversity and flexibility in the system, not only the consoles but with the microphones, too,” he said. The PA system has yet to be updated but it is within the future plans. Currently both halls are equipped with an EAW system. The main hall features 16 EAW KF760’s with EAW KF761’s for downfill

and EAW BH760 subwoofers to extend the low-end. Monitors and processing is also provided by EAW, while power is supplied through QSC’s Powerlight Series amplifiers for the main PA and QSC CX Series amplifiers for the monitors. The set-up is similar in the smaller hall, with EAW KF Series loudspeakers, EAW monitoring and processing, and amplification from QSC. The audio system once again, needs to be replaced to keep up with changing times and demands, with the need for flexibility ever more imperative. The Hallelujah Community Church - which has an exterior appearance liken to Noah’s Ark - is probably more than halfway through its technology upgrade, with DiGiCo and Soundus setting it off in good stead. As the church continues on its journey to a high-technology solution, no doubt it will keep on delivering to its community, no matter what.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

AUDIO MAIN HALL: 1 x DiGiCo SD7 console; 1 x DiGiCo SD11 console; 3 x DiGiCo SD-Rack I/O rack; 1 x DiGiCo SD Mini-Rack stage box; 16 x EAW KF760 loudspeaker; 1 x DiGiCo-Optocore network loop; 6 x EAW KF761 loudspeaker; 2 x EAW BH760 subwoofer; 6 x EAW LA215 monitor; 1 x EAW SM200IH monitor; 2 x EAW MW12 monitor; 2 x EAW MK1594 loudspeaker; 5 x EAW JF290 loudspeaker; 3 x EAW UX8800 processor; 6 x QSC PL6.0II amplifier; 2 x QSC PL6.0PFC amplifier; 16 x QSC PL4.0 amplifier; 4 x QSC CX902 amplifier; 3 x QSC CX702 amplifier; 4 x QSC CX302 amplifier; 28 x QSC CX254 amplifier; 4 x Crown MT900i amplifier; 1 x Sennheiser EM 6000 true diversity receiver; 1 x Sennheiser SKM 6000 handheld transmitter; 1 x Sennheiser SK 6000 bodypack transmitter; 2 x Sennheiser AD 3700 active directional antenna; 2 x Sennheiser EM3032 wireless system receiver; 1 x Sennheiser ASA-1 wireless system distributor; 2 x Sennheiser SKM3072-U wireless system handheld mic; 2 x Sennheiser SK3063-U wireless system lavalier mic; 4 x Sennheiser EW100 wireless system receiver; 1 x Sennheiser ASA-1 wireless system distributor; 2 x Sennheiser SKM100 wireless system handheld mic; 2 x Sennheiser EW100 G2 wireless system lavalier mic; 2 x Shure PSM900 wireless in -ear transmitter; 2 x Shure P9RA wireless in-ear receiver; 5 x Aviom A360 monitor system mixer; 4 x Aviom A-16/II monitor system mixer SMALLER HALL: 1 x DiGiCo SD12 console; 2 x DiGiCo SD-Rack I/O rack; 6 x EAW KF730 loudspeaker; 4 x EAW SB730 subwoofer; 8 x EAW BH760 subwoofer; 4 x EAW SM129Z monitor; 6 x EAW SM159Z monitor; 1 x EAW MX8750 processor; 2 x QSC PL4.0 amplifier; 2 x QSC CX1102 amplifier; 4 x QSC CX902 amplifier; 2 x QSC CX702 amplifier; 4 x Shure ULXP4 wireless system receiver; 1 x Shure UA844 wireless system distributor; 4 x Shure ULX2/BETA87 wireless system handheld mic; 2 x Shure ULX1-X3 wireless system lavalier mic; 1 x Shure PSM900 wireless inear system; 1 x Shure P9RA wireless in-ear system receiver; 1 x Klark-Teknik DN360 graphic equaliser; 2 x Ashly 3102 graphic equaliser; 5 x AVIOM A-16/II monitor system mixer

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