The headquarters of Hillsong Buenos Aires is the Vorterix Theater, one of the most recognized concert halls in Argentina. Every Sunday the challenge is to maintain a very high level of production by complying with strict schedules
By Shure
33 years ago Hillsong Church was born in Australia, the church that puts a single condition to be part of it: "Come as you are", the rest, the transformation, is made by God. So says Esteban Grillo, production manager for Latin America.
Currently the church has 15 venues around the world: Australia, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, France, Germany, Kiev, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Phoenix, South Africa, Stockholm, Zurich and soon Sao Paulo, are the places where Hillsong summons large crowds to hold their meetings that, at the production level, are closer to a world-class show than to a traditional church. There the audience is immersed in a party of music, dance and lights in the best style of an international concert.
Particularly in Buenos Aires, the church began operating since November 2015 with two meetings in November and two in December. Since January 2016 the meetings have been held on a regular basis every Sunday.
The headquarters of Hillsong Buenos Aires is the Vorterix Theater, one of the most recognized concert halls in Argentina. "This space represented a challenge in relation to audio engineering, because although it offers the conditions of accessibility and capacity that fit the needs of Hillsong Buenos Aires, it was a challenge to maintain the standard we have globally with the means we have locally, although today we can see that we have optimized resources to the maximum and in eight months we have reached the goal we set ourselves. at the beginning of the year," says Grillo.
Every Sunday Esteban Grillo and his production team face the challenge of maintaining a very high level of production by complying with strict schedules so as not to leave a single detail of each presentation to chance. Although the three meetings of the day are held between four in the afternoon and ten in the evening, the production group begins preparations the day before and continues at 8:45 on Sunday morning.
Equipment for musicians and speakers
After evaluating various options in terms of brands and models of backline, transducers and RF, among others, and exchanging ideas with their colleagues in Australia (Steve Le Roux and Reid Wall), they came to assemble equipment that today offers maximum quality and 100% of the performance they need.
In this case it is not only about musical instruments and vocalists, there are also speakers and each of them has particularities, so it was necessary to analyze the style of each one when choosing the best microphone option.
For example, Chris Méndez, hillsong's lead pastor in Latin America, often moves the microphone away from his mouth and moves his hands a lot. "That's why we used a headset with a ULXD1 for the central moment of the message; when the band goes up again, the headset doesn't perform the same way, so Chris takes a handheld microphone. "After analyzing several options, I decided on the Shure KSM9. A condenser microphone has given me a better result than a dynamic one and the KSM9 capsule has incredibly clear and natural audio. I chose this capsule and not the KSM9HS because I use the cardioid polar pattern that has given me better results than the supercardioid," explains engineer Grillo.
Then a BETA87A and a BETA58A are used that alternate according to the characteristics of the speaker who takes the stage.
Regarding the band's vocal microphones, Beta58 microphones are used today. As the engineer describes, "I tried using KSM9 for the lead vocals and even though the noise on stage is extremely low, since we don't have guitar equipment on stage but they are backstage in partially soundproofed cases, and we used a drumshield on the drums, it had equally too much ambient noise in those microphones, so I made a change and put all Beta58A and really the result I'm getting with these microphones is great, like the one I got all my life."
Regarding the RF system, after an extensive analysis of brands and models, they decided on the ULXDQ system, which has some advantages that the engineer considered important:
It allows the use of rechargeable batteries and double charging docks, where each musician can leave charging his microphone and his IEM pack with the advantage that when putting the microphone on in the charging dock it is automatically put into stand by mode, and in the same way it is activated when it is removed. In this way it was possible to reduce to zero the risk of turned off microphones taking the stage.
The quad base allows in just two rack units to control eight different UHF channels.
They are digital, so in a much narrower bandwidth it is possible to allocate several different RF channels.
They have a connection with Dante protocol, which allows to generate a network that not only controls the RF parameters but transmits the digital audio of eight microphones by a single cat6 cable, so that in the same network that is centralized in two CiscoSG200 switches (redundant system) you have control of all the RF and digital audio. This saves eight console converters and preamps.
In the sound design it was decided to use four monitors in a line at the edge of the stage without using side fills or drum fill. Online monitors open only when a speaker takes the stage. The entire band and vocalists use intraural monitoring system.
After analyzing the available options, the engineers determined that the system that best suited their needs was the Shure PSM1000 for all vocals and guitars and Shure P9HW for positions with less movement such as Drums, Bass and Keyboards. The eight Shure PSM1000 systems are connected to the Cisco SG200 switch, thus adding them to the RF network that is controlled through the wireless Workbench 6. "This way we intersperse a Wi-Fi router and control our entire RF system from a MacBook Air or from any iPad or iPhone with the Shure Plus app. This is incredibly comfortable and practical," says Grillo.
Finally, the set of microphones that are used on stage are mostly Shure microphones:
Kick in: Beta91A
SN Top: SM57
SN Bottom: SM81
Hat: SM81
OH: VP88
The microphones of the guitars that the engineer chose for the cases are SM57, "we tried BETA57 and we also tried another brand and there was nothing that gave us the result of the legendary SM57," he says. To complete the audio design, a BETA58 wired vocal microphone was arranged on the stage, used by the music director only for internal communication.
Results
Faced with the question of why does he choose Shure for all his projects? Esteban Grillo recalls his story:
"I have always been a Shure user and most of the time I take on a new project, I can find in one of the brand's products the tool I need to successfully carry out the task I set myself. On the other hand, Shure has a strong presence in the region, it is the brand of microphones that most abounds in professional audio companies in Buenos Aires. The results I have always obtained with the brand have been excellent, I never had problems with any microphone. In fact, I've toured with secular artists (outside the church setting) who had endorsement contracts with other brands, and sometimes regretted not being able to use a Shure microphone."
Every Sunday crowds attend Hillsong Buenos Aires and all of them live a unique experience only comparable with a concert of international stars.
Behind the scenes there is a production team of more than 50 people who do an arduous and excellent job, taking care of even the smallest detail, creating every Sunday an environment where each person who attends can live a unique experience, connect with God and only have to take care of enjoying and allowing their life to be transformed.
