Lucid + Brave Church

In 2022, Brave Church moved into a new building for their Main Englewood campus. The building was originally built for a church but the technology needed to be updated and outfitted for Brave’s needs. That is where Lucid came in. Robb MacTavish contacted Joe and team Lucid to help update and create flexible systems. There was a lot that needed to be done and Brave decided to roll out the projects in a sustainable way, identifying the strongest pain points, scheduling projects for the future, and carefully choosing systems that could grow and morph for needs. And, by updating a system at a time, Brave and Robb minimized their risk to over or under spend on systems and maximized their resources to create effective systems that will take on the changing landscape of the church’s needs post-COVID.

2022-ABSEN LED MOVE

One of the first projects that we undertook was setting up the 180° stage for the worship auditorium. Brave wanted to utilize their LED wall from their old space, but, with the unique configuration of the stage and 2800 seat auditorium, they needed help to reconfigure the panels for their needs. Lucid helped by setting up the main teaching backdrop with their wall panels and also added tiles in vertical strips to cover the stage. The configuration, along with lyric panel strips on top, worked well for Brave. It provided them a signature look that easily dialed in for Sunday services and beyond. In fact, the new configuration proved itself when Brave found that they could easily utilize and customize the look for a woman’s convention later that month.

2022-Lighting Overhaul

Robb and Brave also knew that they desperately needed to overhaul the lighting system in the space. Lucid came in and immediately took down the inefficient, incandescent lights. We found unsafe power cabling that we promptly replaced with new and it made everyone feel great to know that we found and fixed a very clear hazard, avoiding potential injury and building damage.

At the time, Brave was renting the building to see if it would fit the needs of the congregation. And, for that reason, Brave needed a flexible touring lighting system that they could potentially take with them if they moved. Lucid added trusses to the ceiling with chain motors to set the lights. And we deployed MA3 onPC controllers into all of the Brave campuses.

Some of the key equipment that Lucid used for Brave’s lighting included ProLights Eclipse CT+ Ellipsoidals for their accuracy in color rendering for teaching. And a mixture of Chauvet On Air Panels and Maverick Force S Spots for backlight, texture, and scenic lighting. All power distribution and motor control were from one of our favorite vendors, Motion Laboratories.

Brave is still growing into the capabilities of this system to this day. They recently moved to a pixel mapped workflow for their scenic lighting, driving it with video content and reducing programming time. Also, they are experimenting with shooting in HDR with excellent results.

2023-CueServer and QSys Video Control

Another big problem that Brave needed to fix in the old building is the house light system. Brave performed an LED bulb retrofit that utilized their existing dimming infrastructure. This greatly improved the look and feel of the room, but folks still had to walk all the way to the tech booth in the middle of the room to turn on the lights When Lucid came in to fix this problem in 2023, we deployed a CueServer system. We like it because its button system is both reliable and convenient, allowing for users to turn on the lights from the main entrances.. Brave’s purchase of the building went through around this time, so they were now ready to put systems into place that would not need to be moved. CueServer served a very practical choice for Brave and could expand for future needs.

The QSys system in the video control room served another practical purpose for Brave. We set up the system to handle all the audio for video, allowing a ProPresenter operator to mix in click tracks and cues into their local audio monitoring. We also added an automated switchover from all record decks of broadcast to a backup mix in two seconds. That ease of mind is huge, allowing Brave to recover from ProTools crashes during weekend services and even use the system for smaller events that do not need live mixes.

2023-Network Upgrade

By 2023 and after Brave made a final decision to purchase the building, it became clear that the piecemeal network that they were using just wasn’t cutting it anymore. They had an older Dante network that would cause problems on the weekends and several old WiFi access points ripe for failures–both becoming a huge headache for staff and volunteers. Brave knew for certain that they would need to start fresh and Lucid came in to help Brave with a dedicated Production Network built on the Netgear M4250 AV Line of Network Switches.

We worked 2 weeks to get it done. Lucid pulled all the old network connections and wires and installed 10 gigabit fiber optic links to every switch. This allowed Brave to avoid data bottlenecks and provided ample headroom for future growth. Single Mode fiber optic cabling was installed to ensure no future bandwidth limitations and flexibility to use for SDI over fiber and other applications.

Once we were done with the network, Brave found that they had both a reliable and flexible system. Every device was able to have a solid connection and they still had headroom to add equipment. When most devices are network based, this is a huge win for the production team and enables them to work and create productions without worry about failures.

2023-Kara Audio System

Another project that Brave planned in 2023 is the audio system overhaul. The building came with a center cluster of unused speakers and line arrays of an unknown brand that together only covered half the seats in the auditorium. Brave had a great experience renting an L-Acoustic’s K2system for an outside event, it was the best their band had ever sounded. They knew they needed something that would provide that level of performance. And, even though both Lucid and Brave looked into solutions from Nexo and Meyer, the Kara system hit the sweet spot for the price point, performance, and clarity.

With 180 degrees of seating, four hangs of 10 boxes each provided stereo audio to every seat. The Main KaraIIi cabinets, with their 8” LF drivers, provide incredible smoothness front to back. KS21 Low Frequency extensions, behind each Kara array, reinforce the critical 80-120Hz range that the 8” drivers have a hard time with. An infinite line of KS28 subwoofers on the ground provide enough energy in the lowest octave that we thought the roof was coming down. Tony dove under the seats during testing!

The balcony proved another challenge, as it wrapped all the way around and was rather deep. The A-Series from L-Acoustics came in clutch here. With the A10 Wide cabinets providing matched levels and smooth coverage of each section, all the way around.

To round things out, X8 front fills provide excellent imaging to the front rows - the sound is in front of you and not flying over your head. Lastly, Five small 5XT foldback monitors provide the pastor with a near time reference of his voice across the whole stage.

Brave’s auditorium now has a great system that they can utilize to its full potential.