ADJ Adds Modern Touch to Miami Vineyard Church

Seeking to fill its expansive, high-capacity Main Sanctuary with light, the Miami Vineyard Community Church called on Creative Sound Solutions to install a modern lightshow adaptable to the needs of its contemporary worshippers… And with ADJ having already been used to transform the parts of the venue last year, it just had to be ADJ again!

Last year ADJ products were used to deck out its Youth Room with a high-impact lightshow, so it was great to hear that Miami Vineyard Community Church (Miami, FL) were turning to ADJ once again – this time to update the lighting in its Main Sanctuary with some brand new fixtures! Seeking a modern, atmospheric finish to provide a special environment for worship, they recruited Russell Byas of Creative Sound Solutions to deliver the goods, opting for a range of Elation and ADJ solutions.

Consisting of various rooms and buildings, the Miami Vineyard premises are well-suited to the needs of the people who attend this modern, vibrant and inclusive church, which is home to a large Main Sanctuary and smaller areas designed with younger members in mind. But before he tackled the lighting in the main room, Russell wanted to do something special with the hallway outside of it, utilizing various ADJ and Elation products, including GOBO projectors, moving heads and LED tape. As is the case with many installs, he soon found that the architecture and décor dictated how he used the lighting effects, with chandeliers and old curtains leaving space for clusters of ADJ moving heads and some long lines of Elation RGB LED Tape.

“When we removed the chandeliers we needed to do something with the space left behind,” explained Russell. “I thought, ‘how cool would it be if we could integrate moving head clusters where those chandeliers were?’ Originally we were going to do it in three spaces but we decided not to do that and did it in the hallway instead; each entrance to the Main Sanctuary has a moving head cluster with five fixtures.”

Each of these clusters consists of four ADJ Inno Pocket Spots and one ADJ Inno Spot Pro, with the Pocket Spots projecting bubbles of lighting onto the ceiling in vibrant purples, greens, blues and yellows, while the Inno Spot Pro uses a custom GOBO to cast the Miami Vineyard logo down onto the floor and wall – “it came out really nice,” Russell confirms. A variety of custom GOBOs were also used to point worshippers to the right rooms and signify which were which, whether it be the Main Sanctuary or the two youth rooms, the latter of which are also fitted with atmosphere-enhancing ADJ displays.

The other area of space that Russell wanted to fill was that left by the old-fashioned Spanish curtains which the team had taken down. Dealing with a 225ft corridor, he opted to utilize 450ft-worth of Elation RGB LED Tape, controlling its various separate zones using DMX. This LED Tape added an ambience to the entrance hallway, changing color to create unique uplighting from its position a foot below the ceiling.

Stepping into the Main Sanctuary is where Russell’s ADJ display really comes into its own. The room itself is special; before it became the Miami Vineyard Community Church it was a banquet hall and will therefore easily hold 1500 people. Add to this the separate Youth Room and Children’s Room and it’s clear that the church is of a substantial size. Of course, a place of worship with such an expansive sanctuary requires a lightshow to match! And to make this happen, Russell employed a range of ADJ and Elation fixtures on-stage inside the main room.

Mounted on top of Global Truss totems on either side of the stage, Russell went for two Inno Spot Elites, intelligent moving heads whose powerful 180W white LED source, seven colors plus spot and replaceable GOBOs ensure an audience-facing display of dense beams and rotating GOBO/prism effects in a variety of vibrant colors. Two high-output Inno Color Beam Z7s were also attached to the trussing, for a stunning spectacle of fast-moving quad-color beam effects, with the fixtures’ motorized zoom allowing Russell to create both cutting beams of concise light and wider, more immersive par-style effects. Meanwhile, these truss totems are warmed with Flat Par QA5X units, whose convenient lie-flat design enables Russell to keep them out of sight while he creates a feature of the trussing using an array of smoothly mixed colors, looking awesome in rich blues and purples.

Due to the church’s liking for live musical performances that enhance worship for its members, Russell also wanted to do something more with the risers on which the drum kit was set up. For this, he adopted the linear Ultra Bar 6 and Ultra Bar 12 units, whose compact design and powerful, wide-reaching output made them perfect for the job. Extra Ultra Bar 12 units were also used elsewhere, mounted up high above the stage and shining down onto the speaker panels in the walls for a cool glowing reversed-uplighting effect.

The final touch for this grand Main Sanctuary was the group of eight Flat Par QA5Xs, which Russell mounted in a line above the stage, shining down onto speakers and musicians, washing the whole area in distinctive hues that can be tailored to suit the mood of the ceremony or performance. These far-reaching washes can be easily enhanced further by the Flat Par QA5X’s built-in strobe settings and Color Change programs, which add vigor and excitement when the performances need it.

Meanwhile, controlling the whole of this flexible new display inside the Main Sanctuary is an Elation OPTO Branch DMX-splitter, which allows Russell to program the lighting easily across this vast venue. Letting him go as in-depth as is required and allowing the adaptable ADJ lights to reach their true potential, the OPTO Branch also ensures that Russell can produce something truly distinctive for Miami Vineyard’s staff team and church members.

While all of the ADJ lighting used for this project are ideal for creating pure lighting excitement inside the church, their versatility means that they can also be toned down for creating a more relaxed, ethereal atmosphere for quiet worship and self-reflection. While previous ADJ installs inside the Youth Room and Children’s Room also mean that younger church members have the opportunity to worship in an equally as adaptable environment. It’s this inclusiveness and community spirit that makes Miami Vineyard the popular church that it is – and an integral part of this environment is the ADJ lightshow selected, designed and installed by Russell Byas.

Needless to say, Russell was more than pleased. But it seems members and staff at Miami Vineyard Community Church were also blown away by the difference the colorful new lightshow has made to both the Main Sanctuary and the surrounding hallway. Not only this, but the church management team was also happy to have achieved such an impressive lightshow on a modest budget – thanks to the affordability and versatility of ADJ fixtures, Russell was able to create something special that appealed to the whole congregation, without breaking the bank!

Job done, we say! It was great to see ADJ lighting brought into Miami Vineyard for a second time, showing that once venues and lighting designers experience the power of pure lighting excitement, they keep coming back for more. But most importantly, thanks to the design skills of Russell Byas and the adaptability of ADJ lighting solutions, together we were able to give the people of Miami Vineyard Community Church a truly special new environment in which to listen to speakers, enjoy musical performances and come together for prayer.

Venue:
Miami Vineyard Community Church, Miami, FL
www.miamivineyard.com

Lighting Designer:
Russell Byas (Creative Sound Solutions)

Photos & Video:
Arnoldo Offermann

Gear List:
ADJ Inno Pocket Spot
ADJ Inno Pocket Spot Pro
ADJ Inno Spot Elite
ADJ Inno Color Beam Z7
ADJ Flat Par QA5X
ADJ Ultra Bar 6
ADJ Ultra Bar 12
Elation OPTO Branch
Global Truss

Check out video footage of the lighting install at Miami Vineyard Church:

For additional questions, please e-mail: marketing@americandj.com

For more information Contact ADJ:
U.S. Office - Tel: 800-322-6337/+1-323-582-2650 • Web: www.adj.com