Connecting to the future

Transforming from the Church of the True Light in 1977, St James’ is one of 27 churches under the Anglican Diocese of Singapore. Following demolition and rebuilding works, the new-look St James’ opened its doors in 2009 to facilitate the evolving services and functions of an expanding church membership. Slowly finding itself at home in its new space, the worship technology team would start to slowly amass a wish list of AV and lighting solutions that would better suit their bespoke requirements. Enlightened by Illumination Productions, St James’ is set to reap the benefits of its expertise well into the future.

“We began looking at the possibility of upgrading some of our AVL equipment in September 2023,” explains Calvin Gan, head of production at St James’ Church. “We were experiencing some major system faults that were affecting our services – some of the speakers were emitting high-pitch sounds and the mixers were starting to freeze. But because of the pandemic, we also wanted to start planning for the future. A member of the congregation recommended Illuminate Productions, so we got in touch with them and asked for their help. As we are part of the Diocese of Singapore, we were able to talk to other parishes where Illuminate had upgraded their systems and gain the confidence we needed to put our trust in them.”

The church is made up of a main sanctuary which seats around 550 worshippers and holds English-speaking services, with Chinese-speaking services taking place in a separate 300-seat space. Each weekend, the HOW conducts two Chinese and three English services which both feature a five-piece band with vocalists and blend liturgy and contemporary songs. The building also features the Auditorium, which is used for youth services, and a smaller, more traditional chapel. A plaza space, childcare, a small café area and some office space are located on the first floor.

“During our initial site visits, we discussed St James’ expectations and plans for the future,” describes Timothy Huang, operations director at Illuminate Productions. “There were multiple aims to the project. First, the audio system was in need of an upgrade. The positioning of the spotlights in front of the speakers meant that both sound and lighting were being blocked. We were also asked to design a more permanent livestreaming setup as the church had previously been setting up its cameras every weekend. Finally, St James’ wanted to investigate using an AVoIP solution to connect all the different rooms in the building.”

The church wished to have a smaller footprint for the equipment in the ceiling so tasked Illuminate with designing a system that would not only take up less space but would resolve the problem of obstructions between the spotlights and speakers. The integrator specified an L-R system of two d&b audiotechnik Vi10P 3-way point source speakers and two 10S 2-way cabinets for out fill, with two Vi subwoofers located in the centre. To compensate for the curved ceiling, Illuminate has installed a line of six 44S 2-way speakers for delays, with a further six 44S for front fill onstage. The speakers are powered by one 40D 4-channel and two 5D 4-channel amplifiers.

“The sound from the V-Series cabinets covers the entire audience – they’re very directional and they have a minimal visual impact,” states Huang. “They might look small but they produce a more powerful sound compared to the church’s previous system, plus the ceiling space is less cluttered than before.”

Two Shure UA874 active directional antennas and distributor were deployed to resolve RF dropout and intermodulation distortion. Previously, Shure QLX-D microphones were using their local antennas, so the integrator has deployed two Shure UA874 active directional antennas and power distribution system to resolve RF dropout and intermodulation distortion. Illuminate has also provided two Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3 shotgun microphones. Three Furman CN3600 have been deployed to power on the entire system, covering FOH control and the sound and video systems. “There were antenna fins everywhere,” adds Huang. “Now, the Furman turns everything on and off sequentially and we’ve fitted RF fins to help pick up all the RF and distribute to the mics.”

To provide a permanent livestreaming setup, Illuminate has installed two white Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS and two white CR-N300 4K UHD PTZ cameras, along with an RC-IP100 remote camera controller. “We’re still using the ATEM switcher that we had before, but the difficulty was that we had to set up mirrorless cameras every weekend and train the volunteers on how to set up things like manual exposure,” explains Gan. “Now, when you turn on the Furman, all the cameras come on and everything is set on an auto level, and we can have one volunteer operating four cameras rather than having to roster several cameramen every weekend. Each room is now connected to its own YouTube channel so all the services can be streamed at the same time. The Canon equipment has really helped us improve the quality of the livestream and streamline our volunteer operations.”

For lighting, St James’ requested a simple setup with set on/off levels so Illuminate selected 16 Aputure Storm LS 60x 60W LEDs that are operated on an iPad rather than through a lighting console.

In the second sanctuary which holds the Chinese-speaking services, the focus was again on providing a permanent camera setup and dealing with RF issues. Illuminate specified three black Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS PTZ cameras, along with a Shure UA874 active directional antenna and UA844+SWB wideband UHF antenna splitter and power distribution system. “In the past we would hear the Chinese congregation and the youth ministry all running at the same time,” adds Gan. “We were also having issues with the preacher’s mic dropping out so it was crucial that we sorted out the RF problems we were experiencing.”

The Auditorium is the third space to receive a Canon upgrade. Illuminate specified two black Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS and two CR-N300 4K UHD PTZ cameras, an RC-IP100 remote camera controller and two Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3 shotgun microphones, while 10 Aputure Light Storm LS 60x fixtures have been added to the lighting bar. All three spaces have also been supplied with a GoPro HERO12 Black camera that’s been fitted to the drums. “We have the same Canon system now in all three halls, so in the future it will be easy for us to network everything together and control all the cameras,” explains Gan.

As part of the installation, Illuminate was able to relocate parts of the PA system from the main sanctuary into the Auditorium and the chapel, where the speakers have replaced even older and ageing sound systems. “The boxes were still working so we were able to redeploy them to another location,” explains Huang. “The church is still using its Allen & Heath console, plus some ME-1 personal monitor mixers and stageboxes have all been retained.” Projection, screens and digital signage have also been updated across the site.

The worship team wanted to introduce click queues and tracks, so St James’ asked Illuminate to investigate the possibility of introducing AVoIP solutions such as Dante to provide greater connectivity across the building. “When we have our bigger services during Holy Week or when both the English and Chinese congregations come together, the main hall doesn’t have the capacity to hold everyone, so we use the other halls for overflow and we need to send the audio and video feeds from the main hall into the other rooms,” adds Gan. “Before we had different mixers in each hall, so this was another element that we wanted to standardise across the building.”

Illuminate has installed Netgear AV switches into all the rooms, so the church is ready to be fully connected. When budget allows, Huang and his team will return to St James’ to run the fibres and get everything networked. “There are some spaces that still require a manual solution if you want to send a feed to a different location, but everything is in place for us to be able to eventually send signals to and from all the rooms,” says Gan. “Having the same line switchers in each room has primed us for the future. Then we will be able to house more people for our larger services and events.”

As is so often the case with church installations, time is the integrator’s largest problem. The church was scheduled to close for an upgrade to the air-conditioning, so the decision was made to carry out the AVL installation during this time. “Because of the tight timeframe, we had to fly the speakers in,” adds Huang. “As each hall closed for the air-conditioning work, we had to liaise with the contractors and ensure the AVL equipment was installed before each room was scheduled to reopen. This was particularly tough in the main auditorium as the contractors had put in a protection screen all the way across the front of the stage on a huge scaffolding so they could access the air-conditioning panels, so we were totally reliant on our measurements to ensure we were fitting the speakers in the right position. We were also able to install the cameras in the second sanctuary so when the main sanctuary closed and English-speaking services moved to the smaller hall, some worshippers were able to watch the livestream from home.”

The installation has been a resounding success, and one that Illuminate is hoping is the start of a great relationship with the church. “It’s been so rewarding to see them be able to elevate the quality of their productions,” concludes Huang. “Conversations are also ongoing with regards to fitting additional equipment in the large plaza area on level one so the church can utilise the space for more fundraising events, Christmas markets and baptisms.”

“Illuminate Productions went the extra mile for us,” adds Gan. “They stayed with us for sound checks and carried out training to make sure we were confident with the new system. There were specific nuances when we were setting up the drums which they spent extra time helping us with. It’s also brought the two English and Chinese congregations together, with discussions on how they can collaborate more in the future. The volunteers are pleased that operations are simpler and smoother now and we’re all really excited about the future and what we can achieve with the new setup.”