Sennheiser Helps Lake Pointe Church Carry Consistent Message Across Four Campuses

Lake Pointe is a Southern Baptist church located in Rockwall, TX. With an active congregation of approximately 10,000 and four campuses spread across approximately 30 square miles, Lake Pointe ranks as one of the largest churches in the United States. Following the Federal Communication Commision's (FCC) ruling on the 700 MHz bandwidth issue a few years ago, Lake Pointe turned to Sennheiser for advice on how to restructure its wireless systems. Now, the church regularly uses more than 150 channels of Sennheiser wireless among its four campuses.

Every weekend, Lake Pointe Church works hard to ensure its programming and audio quality is consistent across all of its campuses. Working alongside a staff of 14 full time personnel and approximately 350 volunteers, of which 85 serve each weekend, Technical Audio Systems director Jason Cole is responsible for making sure the "Lake Pointe DNA" is present in all of the Church's performances and live presentations. He relies on a ever-growing collection of Sennheiser G3 wireless systems and microphones to make that happen.

"Audio is such a critical part of what we do," Cole observes. "I spend a lot of time with our campus producers so they know exactly how things are supposed to sound, and how things need to be presented from an audio perspective. Again, we are looking for sonic consistency across all our campuses -- and having all Sennheiser everywhere makes that process so much easier because we know what each mic is going to sound like."

Lake Pointe's main auditorium, which seats approximately 4,500 people, is outfitted with ten Sennheiser EM 3732 receivers, coupled with SKM 5200 transmitters and Neumann KK 105 supercardioid capsules. Additionally, it employs ten channels of Sennheiser wireless for its IEMs. "All of our vocalists - particularly our worship leaders -- are blown away by how superior the Sennheiser mics sound, especially in their IEMs," Cole says.

According to Cole, the RF environment in the greater Dallas region can be volatile and difficult to manage. "The RF landscape changes so much in this area that we really have to monitor it on a regular basis," he says. "One of the great things about the Sennheiser wireless is the amount of bandwidth that we get. We have so many options when it comes to channel selections." With his Sennheiser G3 systems, setting up and synching frequencies on the fly is a fast and simple process. "We do the scans right off of the 3732 unit," Cole says. "Having the ability to do the scans, pick the frequencies, and very quickly synch them to the beltpacks or handheld mics is a beautiful thing. This is a big deal because every Sunday morning we have to play this RF game."

At front of house, Lake Pointe routinely relies on Sennheiser's WSM software to monitor changes in wireless system performance. "Even though our wireless receivers are located backstage, we have them networked together so our FOH engineer can monitor all performances from FOH and troubleshoot as required," says Cole. "Every now and then, something will change in the RF that has nothing to do with us, and we have to adapt. With the WSM software, we can see all the RF signals going to all the receivers and transmitters all the time. We can also monitor battery life or see if a performer has the 'mute' switch on. It allows us to react very quickly before issues come up so the quality of our performances won't be affected."

In addition to its vast collection of Sennheiser wireless equipment, Lake Pointe also depends on Sennheiser wired mics on drums, guitars, and other instruments. On drums, Cole uses a combination of e900 series microphones, such as the e905 on snare, the e914 on hi-hat and the e902 on the kick drum. "I am telling you, the e902 is the single best mic solution for kick drums I have ever heard, and I have played with them all." For toms, he routinely uses the tried and true MD 421s, and on electric guitar amplifiers, he will reach for either the e609 or the e906 depending on the tone of the amp.

Since Lake Pointe Church began using Sennheiser approximately four years ago, Cole couldn't be happier about the overall relationship and equipment performance. "We have been so pleased with the product in every respect," he concludes. "Because our church is so big and since we are really well connected with other churches around the country, other technical directors regularly ask us advice on which wireless systems and microphones to buy. We recommend Sennheiser without hesitation."