When San Antonio’s Community Bible Church undertook a multi-million dollar technical renovation of its main 3,500-seat auditorium, it called on the integration division of Morris in Nashville to install new audio, video and lighting systems. Morris added Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K10 and Mythos lighting fixtures and an MDG ATMe hazer to take Community Bible to the next level with moving lights and atmospheric effects. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky and MDG products in North America.
Community Bible was the first major project for Morris Integration, a branch of Morris. In specifying the Clay Paky fixtures, Morris had to meet Community Bible’s goals of lighting the Sunday worship services and occasional special musical programs, the live music and DVD recording sessions it hosts for outside artists, and community events that might be scheduled during the year.
“We had to create a reliable, flexible system that could handle any type of event in the auditorium,” said Danny Rosenbalm, COO of Morris Integration. “Several criteria existed for selecting products: reliability; flexibility of looks, colours, patterns and movement; and efficiency – both in power consumption and weight.”
“The need for flexibility in lighting was essential,” agreed Philip Hagood, Director of Business Development at Morris Integration. “Sunday worship services require a more conservative approach to lighting while the music tapings and DVD productions need an impactful concert lighting package.”
Since Community Bible live streams its worship services and other church events on the Internet “special attention was also paid to how the live service translated to TV,” said Danny. “Hanging positions and lighting angles were carefully selected to create interesting looks that translated to both the live audience and the cameras.”
Morris chose 16 B-EYE K10s and 10 Mythos fixtures as the new complement of moving lights. The auditorium has a network of seven catwalks over the stage and house. Hang bars at the bottom of the catwalks provide two hanging positions for the fixtures on each structure.
“The rental inventory of the light and sound division of Morris has K10s, so we’ve seen how powerful they are in a large concert rig,” noted Philip. “The K10 is a premier, concert-quality light with a complete range of capabilities that give Community Bible the best bang for their buck in a professional fixture. It’s a great stage wash, has wonderful prism and beam effects, and is extremely bright for its size.”
The church had previously gelled PARs to get colour stage wash, he explained. “Forty to 50 lights provided all the colour before. Now five or six lights accomplish the same thing, and they deliver prism and beam effects for impact.” The K10s are mounted throughout the house.
Philip had also seen the versatile Mythos fixtures in the Morris Light and Sound inventory and thought they’d work well for Community Bible. “The church was familiar with the power of the popular Sharpy beam light,” he said. “Mythos gives them that beam mode plus all the capabilities of a moving head spot light, so it’s essentially two lights in one small package. We hung them all above the stage where they provide down and back light, motion and break up.”
He noted that the low power consumption of the K10s and Mythos was a chief consideration in the fixtures’ selection. “The large and complex catwalk system had 120v auxiliary power on them. That meant we could install the K10s and Mythos without the need for any extra electrical work.”
Morris also provided an MDG ATMe single high output haze generator, which gets frequent use. “Working at five to 10% it generates a little atmosphere for break up and colour above the stage during Sunday services,” Philip explained. “It adds just enough texture to the environment. Then, cranked up to full intensity, it works great for the music and DVD tapings. ATMe can generate a great deal of haze in a small amount of time – it’s perfect for Community Bible.”
Just a few months after their installation, the new lighting fixtures have already “settled in well,” commented Philip. “Community Bible has had nothing but good things to say about the impact of the lights,” he reports. “They’ve even changed the tenor of the summer Vacation Bible School. The lights gave a fun, upbeat, exciting look to a roomful of kids – adding a lot of motion and colour has revolutionised that program.”
Looking at the entirety of the new lighting installation Philip observed that, “powerful, versatile and small lights have had a huge impact on us as integrators. 10 years ago we would have had to hang 10 times as many lights for the impact we achieved here with the K10s and Mythos. Now, we’re saving time and money and making fewer infrastructure changes.”
