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Tag: KLANG:fabrik

  • Casas Church Becomes Home to North America’s First KLANG:konductor

    Casas Church Becomes Home to North America’s First KLANG:konductor

    Casas Church launched in the Tucson area in the early 1960s and has kept moving forward ever since, pacing the vibrant region’s own continuing growth. They’ve done the same with their audio technology, becoming an early adopter of the KLANG:fabrik monitoring solution several years ago. Most recently, however, the church became the very first user in North America to acquire the new KLANG:konductor immersive in-ear monitor mix processor. The system, which was purchased through AVLX in Franklin, Tennessee, is now paired with the church’s existing Yamaha Rivage PM5 front-of-house console and Shure PSM 1000 in-ear monitor system.

    “We upgraded our audio systems in 2020 with the new console, and we integrated three KLANG:fabrik units into our workflow, and they were great,” says Casas Church Production Director Tyler Moss, who weekly mixes the church’s worship music band of six musicians and six vocalists with help from his dedicated group of volunteers. “We set them up in a cascade configuration, and in the engineer mode the FOH mixer could monitor every musician’s mix. They were a great addition to our audio and meant we didn’t need to use a separate monitor console. But the arrival of the KLANG:konductor has taken us to a level even beyond that.”

    The new KLANG:konductor delivers 16 immersive mixes and processes 128 input signals at up to 96kHz at an astonishing internal latency of less than 0.25ms. The 3U device is equipped with three DMI slots, allowing users to route between the immersive mix engine and convert between different DMI formats, e.g. Optocore, Dante or MADI, with each DMI card offering up to 64 input and output channels at both 48kHz and 96kHz. A front-mounted headphone port enables engineers to directly connect their headphones, or even low-impedance in-ears, and route their console’s cue output to it and seamlessly switch to a KLANG cue via the app.

    Moss, who installed the new unit himself, says the single KLANG:konductor has taken the place of all three KLANG:fabrik units. In the process, it has increased the church’s available input count for monitoring while further streamlining its audio workflow and improving the app experience for the musicians and vocalists using the KLANG:app to control their individual mixes—all at 96k and connected via Dante networking.

    “We have a higher channel count and everyone has EQ without it eating into available processing power, plus there’s virtually no latency,” he says. “Our volunteers can access every input on an iPad, and the KLANG:konductor has really improved everyone’s experience—our tech team, the musicians, the singers, and even the pastor, who has his own monitor mix for an IFB.”

    And don’t worry about those three KLANG:fabrik units—Moss says they’ll all find a home within Casas Church’s existing audio infrastructure. In fact, one has already been installed in the youth worship venue for the praise team there. “The whole KLANG concept has been great,” he says. “It’s made our audio workflow more efficient than ever.”

    For more info on Casas Church, visit www.casaschurch.org. AVLX can be found online at www.avlx.com.

  • Lakewood Baptist Church improves audio quality with KLANG:fabrik

    Lakewood Baptist Church improves audio quality with KLANG:fabrik

    GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville, Georgia has purchased two KLANG:fabrik immersive IEM mixing systems for use in its main worship sanctuary. The units were acquired through Production/Co, the Chestnut Mountain, GA-based AV systems integrator, which also installed the system earlier this year, readying it for when the church resumed live capacity-limited and socially distanced services last June. Together, the KLANG:fabrik units provide a total of 32 inputs and 12 individual immersive IEM mixes for the church’s band members, connected through Lakewood’s existing DiGiCo SD9 FOH console.

    “They had taken their existing in-ear monitoring solution as far as it could go—they needed a more flexible and sophisticated IEM solution, and the KLANG:fabrik was it,” says Cason Cleveland, owner of Production/Co. KLANG:fabrik is flexible thanks to its broad compatibility with widely used audio interfaces, including MADI and Dante, and the ability to use the KLANG:app on any device (iOS, Android, Windows or Mac), or control KLANG by using the DiGiCo integration into SD-Range and Quantum consoles. And “sophisticated” because of the immersive environment that up to 16 individual musicians can create for themselves on stage via each KLANG:fabrik’s high-performance processors, all without any noticeable latency.

    “The ability for the musicians on stage to completely control their own mixes was important, because the church often relies on volunteers to mix services,” adds Cleveland. “Each musician having their own app onstage means that monitoring is one less thing the front-of-house mixer has to worry about, allowing them to focus on making the house sound as good as it can be.”

    Cleveland says the SD9’s own intrinsic routing flexibility was of assistance here: he was able to assign a feed from the inputs from the stage to the KLANG units through the console, connected via MADI, giving the stage every input needed to create local mixes. “We just copied the input assignments internally on the SD9 and assigned that to the KLANG:fabrik units—it was that simple,” he explains. “It was also very helpful that we could set the KLANG units up as completely separate systems from the rest of the audio system. As a result, we can apply processing such as EQ individually, as well.”

    “With the KLANG system, we more than doubled our monitoring channel count and as a result we’re able to give everyone on stage the ability to build complete mixes in their ears,” says Coltyn Cooley, Technical Director, Lakewood Baptist Church, referring to the eight to ten musicians who perform for each service. “For instance, the drummer now has individual channels for kick, snare and other instruments, whereas before we could only give him a submix. Now each vocal has its own mix; before, we used to have to gang up the vocals. Then put the immersive technology on top of that and they are having their minds blown on stage! They love it and can hear just how good it sounds onstage.”

    Cleveland says the church’s musicians, worship pastors, and audio team have all been impressed by KLANG:fabrik’s performance. “The ability it gives them to spread out the mix and have better defined and detailed sound on stage means individual instruments don’t have to be as loud, which keeps overall volume better under control, another way KLANG:fabrik makes the front-of-house engineer’s job easier and also preserves the musicians’ hearing.”

    And there’s also a substantial economic case to be made for the KLANG:fabrik, Cleveland adds: “It is a bit more expensive than some other, less-sophisticated systems on the market, but when you factor in that it completely eliminates the need for a second console for monitors and someone to run it, it actually ends up saving money. Those are some pretty compelling arguments.”

    For more information on Lakewood Baptist Church, visit www.lakewoodlife.org. Production/Co can be found online at www.productionco.com.