Stone Solid Productions installs CODA Audio system at Missouri church …
“The reaction from the Church has been overwhelmingly positive. The staff and leadership team have been thrilled with the result, and it has further reinforced their confidence in CODA as the standard moving forward.”
Now located across three campuses in Springfield, Missouri, The Courageous Church aims to connect people to Christ and community through its core principles of show up, grow up, and step up. Courageous’ strong values and dynamic approach to worship has seen this thriving Church enjoy exponential growth since its official launch in 2012.
As part of its clear vision for expansion, the Church recently made a significant investment to develop its new East Campus, which saw a two-year ground-up building project create a stage-of-the-art facility to serve and support its congregation and community.
Music performance is central to worship at a Church which aims to be ‘bold not boring’, so excellent audio provision was a non-negotiable during the construction of the new build. The project was representative of a larger plan to standardize excellence across all its campuses.
As well as providing clarity for spoken-word presenters, the Church’s sound system required the power and coverage to cope with everything from solo performers to full ensemble band performances. Experienced audio-visual specialist, Stone Solid Productions (SSP) of Branson, Missouri, was engaged to install a next generation CODA Audio APS (arrayable point source) system for its Courageous Main Sanctuary.
Chris and Danny Stone of SSP have spent their professional lives immersed in the world of professional audio, video and lighting, and their extensive USA-wide portfolio includes churches, theatres, performing arts centres, and recording studios. A CODA Audio system was already in place at Courageous Church’s South campus, and it was the success of this project which played a key role in building trust in CODA as the long-term solution for all the Courageous campuses.
The main focal point of the new 28,000 sq ft facility is the Courageous Main Sanctuary, an 800-seat auditorium, which features a wide modern worship layout to support live and broadcast environments. Achieving consistent horizontal coverage across the fan-shaped seating zones, whilst ensuring clarity for every seat, was the principal focus, as Chris Stone explains:
“The project wasn’t without its challenges. Whilst acoustically, the space was fairly controlled for a new build, like many modern church environments it required careful optimisation to ensure even SPL distribution, vocal intelligibility, and musical impact, without overwhelming the room. Our focus was on evaluating, refining, and adjusting the system to optimise performance. We collaborated closely with Luke Jenks and Michael Creason of CODA Audio USA to ensure the best outcome for the Church.”
Powered by 4 x CODA Audio LINUS12C DSP amplifiers, the system in the Church’s Main Sanctuary comprises 9 x CODA Audio APS units arranged in 3 arrays, with a single APS Sub strategically placed above each cluster. The main system is complemented by 6 x HOPS5 as outfills to ensure complete and even coverage across the wide seating area.
Chris continues:
“The performance of the system has been extremely impressive, especially considering the compact form factor of the APS platform. The room translates with clarity, depth, and musicality, and the system delivers a very high-end listening experience across all seating areas. The low-frequency response it tight , controlled, and impactful, providing the kind of energy you ‘feel’ without sacrificing definition.
“A standout moment came before final tuning when the system was first powered on – many in the room had assumed it had already been tuned due to how good it sounded out of the box. Once Michael Creason had completed the final optimization, the system opened up even further, delivering an even more refined and powerful experience.
“The reaction from the Church has been overwhelmingly positive. The staff and leadership team have been thrilled with the result, and it has further reinforced their confidence in CODA as the standard moving forward.”
Stone Solid Productions are currently working with the Church on future upgrades, including the plan to install a high-performance CODA Audio N-RAY system for the Church’s North Campus. Chris concludes:
“From deployment to performance, our experience with CODA has been exceptional. As well as being sonically outstanding, the systems are also very efficient from a rigging and integration point of view. We’re proud to partner with CODA Audio and grateful for the support of their team in helping to deliver delivering systems that elevate our client experience. Every project reinforces the same conclusion – CODA Audio consistently exceeds expectations.”
Ajay Holmes, Technical Director for Courageous Church has the last word:
“I honestly don’t know what we were doing before we found CODA Audio. Their gear is incredible. We’ve been able to achieve everything we could have wanted – and more. From some of the best high-definition clarity I’ve ever heard, to the cleanest low-end that fills our room perfectly, the entire experience has been outstanding. From the initial install and system tuning to every service call since, it’s felt like one big party! I can’t recommend them highly enough, and I’m looking forward to a long relationship with the team at CODA Audio.”
