The Chapel on McEver

Intimate, reverent space with discreet technology

CLIENT

Free Chapel Church

INDUSTRY

Religious

LOCATION

Gainesville, GA

DATE

November 2017

TECH

Audio · Video · Lighting · Control

Our Solution Story

Free Chapel is a multi-campus megachurch with its primary campus located in Gainesville, Georgia. In 2017 the church added a dedicated wedding chapel to its Gainesville campus and hired dB Integrations to design and install interior and exterior audio and video systems for the entire three-story structure.

The goal was to create a venue that could host a variety of wedding-related activities and other small to medium functions. To accommodate a variety of tastes in wedding styles, the client wanted the spaces to contain modern technology that was visually unobtrusive and could be hidden from view when not needed.

Total System

AUDIO + VIDEO + LIGHTING + CONTROL

dB worked with the fantastic architecture team, Brewster-Crocker and the project management team of 3D Project Management. This collaboration, together with the client Free Chapel, was an inspiring effort to take a beautifully designed and built space and design an efficient, high tech AVLC system that disappears into the building’s features.

INTERIOR

Audio

The main chapel space is filled with hard surfaces–stone, wood, and glass–that produce lots of acoustic reverberations. Covering the beautiful new walls of imported marble tile with acoustical panels was not a desirable option. So dB’s audio solution needed to deliver sound to the audience while minimizing those reverberations. We selected Danley “Skinny Big Horn” speakers, which are known for their point-source fidelity and intelligibility. These speakers fit unobtrusively into the space, and Danley was able to match the cabinet color to the surrounding environment.

Video

The chapel’s video system consists of two 90-inch TV screens that are completely retractable when not in use. Both the audio and video systems are controlled from a small tech booth in the balcony with a Q-Sys touch panel, and they can be accessed via iPad or iPhone via an app. A control room tucked away in the belfry, containing a QSC Q-Sys system, serves the entire interior and exterior of the Chapel on McEver.

BELL TOWER

Audio

A visitor’s first encounter with the Chapel on McEver may well be the digital bells emanating from the bell tower. The digital bell system was a new project for dB Integrations, and we are very pleased with the results. The BRG Carrillon Bell System, located in the Chapel’s bell tower, is designed to be heard across the church’s large campus, and easily programmed and adjusted from the Chapel’s control room. It can even be controlled via a remote.

EXTERIOR

Audio

A courtyard and patio outside the building can be used for ceremonies or receptions in warmer months. Four weatherized Danley loudspeakers, mounted on the exterior buttresses of the Chapel, provide this space with distributed audio.

A stone gazebo next to the courtyard is a scenic location for outdoor wedding vows. The structure is wired for sound, but has no permanent speakers that might be undesirable for those planning a completely acoustic ceremony. A portable sound system, consisting of two Danley loudspeakers, can be set up in this space when needed. The portable system can also be used elsewhere on the church campus, maximizing the system’s flexibility.

LOWER LEVEL

Audio

The Fellowship Hall underneath the chapel can host events as well as wedding preparations. Speakers in the room’s ceiling allow for distributed audio from the main chapel. The space can also receive distributed video.
A covered indoor-outdoor space below the gazebo can function as a catering area or a back-up event location in inclement weather. This area is served by four Danley speakers plus one subwoofer.

Recap

Free Chapel now has a beautiful and versatile venue for hosting a wide variety of nuptial ceremonies and celebrations. Whether indoors or outdoors, low-tech or high-tech, the Chapel on McEver can handle the needs of all brides and grooms in the Free Chapel community.

Ultimately the entire Chapel facility and adjacent amphitheater has a fully integrated and combined audio system. This means that, for example, a performance in the amphitheater can be distributed to the entire facility. Conversely, each area of the chapel, indoor and outdoor, can handle a separate audio event, controlled by QSC touch panels installed in every building.