The Northfield Methodist Church in Benoni has been a mainstay in the community for many decades; 86 years in fact, and has affectionately been known for the majority of that time as “the Church on the Hill’.
I myself grew up in the area and despite not being a Methodist my grandparents were members there for the entirety of their lives. My acquaintance with it runs deep. It’s also quite fair to say that its influence has gone beyond merely its congregation. Indeed, its white façade is iconic in Benoni and reminds me of the innumerable journeys to Tom Newby, the school that I attended a little further down the street.
Given the fact that it has enjoyed such longevity, chances are its AV systems have evolved through the ages accordingly to meet the needs and growth of the congregation, and ultimately, their budget. Admittedly, the status quo does not often change quickly in these kinds of ministries because (I assume) their income and budget is highly dependent on the generosity of their membership. So when the budgets have been made, a system that is cost effective, reliable, easy to operate and future-proof is often the focus.
Stepping on board to coordinate their AV systems upgrade was Tom Croswell of Inta-Media, turnkey solution providers based in Edenvale and operating within the Gauteng area. Inta-Media offers services in areas such as sound reinforcement, AV solutions, IMAG, stage lighting, AV capture and production, and broadcast. Their client focus includes houses of worship, corporates, broadcast and recording studios, theatres, sports facilities, stadiums and hospitality, education and government institutions.
As many installations go, the Northfield Methodist church did not immediately set out to upgrade their entire system. The initial brief was simply for a new projector and after Mr Croswell brought a new one in for demonstration, the results were so positive that an opportunity arose to discuss a comprehensive upgrade. One thing led to another and the upgrade evolved from one projector to two projectors, to a full blown audio, lighting and AV system upgrade.
One of the main points of discussion was the transition from an analogue system to a fully digital system due, in large part, to what Croswell calls the “analogue sunset’ and to leave the door open for future upgrades. Of course, once the digital system was outlined, the choice was obvious and the church went ahead with commissioning it.
AV
The AV system is based around a Crestron DM-MD6x4 digital media switcher. An HDCP compliant HDMI backbone was integrated throughout and runs full HD (1080p) for both screens, projected upon by dual NEC PA500Us.
Access to the projectors can be made by connecting a laptop via HDMI, or wirelessly through a WiFi infrastructure. The entire system is networked on CAT5 and the projectors can be controlled and diagnosed from control software running on PC, over the Ethernet backbone as the Crestron system. Presentations projected to the screen are run from Pro Presenter by Renewed Vision. Tom comments: “Pro Presenter is, in my book, the best church presentation software around. It is very stable; crashes are rare. It is very easy to use and one of few that runs video very smoothly. It’s one of my favourite packages.
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Audio
The core mixing and routing hub of the audio system is an Avid Venue, imported and distributed by SEGMA and supplied by Cristo Hattingh from Sound GP. Resident sound engineer Kobus Venter comments on why they chose the venue.
“The Venue has 32 channel recording capabilities by just plugging in Firewire and because of plug-ins, straight off the bat. Those were the two big things for me that I really liked. We were, at the time, one of two venues in Africa with an AV-B setup.’
Looking at the FOH loudspeakers, previously a Bose system (which has been relocated to another venue) was employed but then replaced by a JBL AE (Application Engineered) series. A single flown array was hung above the stage, which includes a single ASB6118 subwoofer along with three 12-inch AM4212/95 enclosures in a mono array. However, kept from the previous installation were the satellite Bose delay enclosures and the existing amplification and Biamp Nexia SP DSP unit to manage and time align the Bose loudspeakers.
Amplification for the main system came courtesy of a Crown 2002XTi and a 1002XTi and an assortment of previously used amplifiers for the delays, monitoring and cry room. One of the main goals for this installation was using as much of the previously installed gear as possible. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?
Lighting
Lighting is straightforward and simple. For FOH, six Robe Par 18s were selected, and hung via flown trusses, which were part of the previous install. There are further lighting points on the trusses in case the church wants to add more lights at a later date.
For back lighting, there are six LEDForce 7s. Two additional LEDForce 7s with 25 degree lenses were used to light the alcoves. All lighting is controlled via an Avolites Titan Mobile controller, integrated with PC-controlled software on the backend for total lighting control.
The wrap
Despite the fact that the Northfield Methodist church is a relatively low key church on the outskirts of Ekurhuleni, the system upgrade it has procured from Inta-Media is thoughtfully designed and masterfully installed. I foresee the congregation being very happy for years to come and rejoicing at the upgrade using minimal investment.
By Greg Bester
