The Immersive Experience: Recent Episodes
The Immersive Experience
Conversations on engaging audio environments and the latest immersive technology.We empower audio engineers, tech directors, and sound mixers with the knowledge to excel in live performance immersive audio in venues, studios, and beyond. We gather experts in the fields of audio engineering and immersive audio technology to discuss how to create immersive environments that engage audiences in a brand new way.
As audio engineers, it is your job to create an environment that allows the congregation to immersive themselves into the experience.
There is a lot of technology that helps us create that experience, but there is also a team of people who lead that moment. Where do you fit into that team? In our season finale, the guys talk about how they build trust with their teams, their leaders, and the congregation. Hear the extended version of this episode on the podcast, with a shortened version on YouTube.
Episode Highlight:
"You can't have a good PA system without good acoustics. The two are inextricably linked in so many ways." - Alan
Meet the Guys
They each use a different PA, console, and has a different room shape with unique finishes.
Alan Brown
In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Alan works at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene. Alan's venue is the oldest of the four, originally built in 1969.
Mike Ward
Mike serves at Seacoast Church outside of Charleston, SC. Mike's venue is a 2,500 seat room with concrete finishes completed in 2019.
Tyler Stidham
In Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Tyler serves at Crosswater Community Church. His venue was a new build in 2020 and has about 1,200 seats.
Host: Luke Vogel
Before joining the team at Venueflex, Luke served at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, a 2,500 seat venue. He helped commission their new broadcast campus in 2008 and was the Lead Audio Engineer. He was on staff for 17 years, helping the church grow from one campus to 23, and oversaw all audio production. He now serves as the Global House of Worship Director at Venueflex.
A note from our sponsor: Venueflex
To get 15% off merch at venueflex.com/shop, use code "ixpodcast" until December 31, 2022.
Are you looking to provide an immersive experience to every seat in your venue? With the Venueflex Definition Process, you can achieve equal experience, spatial realism, and a balanced reverberant field in every seat of the house.The Definition active acoustics give audio engineers a definable and variable acoustic palette. You can mix “into” the sound of their room, rather than having to compromise your choices based on an inaccurate or inefficient one. To champion your audience's experience with immersion in every seat, #FixTheRoomFirst. Learn more at venueflex.com/definition
Audio in your broadcast mix has never been more considered or important in the history of the church. Presenting an incredible experience online has never been more crucial. How as audio engineers can we lead the Church to forward progress?
In Episode 4, Armando sits down with Luke and Mike. They have a conversation about how each of them approach FOH and Broadcast mixing, how they work with their teams, and some of their strategies for creating an immersive experience in the room while also creating a great experience online.
Episode Highlight:
"The reason we started mixing wasn't because we love mixing consoles. It wasn't because we love turning knobs, it was because we love music. That’s why we got into mixing and that’s what makes mixing fun." - Mike
Meet the Guys:
They each use a different PA, console, and have a different room shape with unique finishes.
Mike Ward
Mike serves at Seacoast Church outside of Charleston, SC. Mike's venue is a 2,500 seat room with concrete finishes completed in 2019.
Luke Vogel
Before joining the team at Venueflex, Luke served at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, a 2,500 seat venue. He was on staff for 17 years, helping the church grow from one campus to 23, and oversaw all audio production.
Host: Armando Fullwood
Over the last three decades, Armando's visionary direction in the marketplace has founded several technical and creative companies.
A note from our sponsor: Venueflex
Are you looking to provide an immersive experience to every seat in your venue? With the Venueflex Definition Process, you can achieve equal experience, spatial realism, and a balanced reverberant field in every seat of the house.The Definition active acoustics give audio engineers a definable and variable acoustic palette. You can mix “into” the sound of their room, rather than having to compromise your choices based on an inaccurate or inefficient one. To champion your audience's experience with immersion in every seat, #FixTheRoomFirst.
Learn more at http://www.venueflex.com/definition
Providing sound reinforcement for a choir can be one of the most difficult tasks in live audio. How do you get more gain without feedback and get your choir on top of the mix?
In our third episode, Armando sits down with Alan Brown and Kevin Wilson. These are two guys who mix very different styles of choirs but have one thing in common in their choir mix: they use Choirflex.
Episode Highlight: "The people are telling me, “Man, I can feel the choir today. I don't know what you're doing, but they sound amazing now.” - Kevin
Meet the Guys: They each use a different PA, console, and have a different room shape with unique finishes.
Alan Brown- In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Alan works at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene. Alan's venue was originally built in 1969 and then massively upgraded in 2019.
Kevin Wilson- He mixes in Charlotte, NC, at The Park Church. His room was built in 2000 with a 2,500 seat capacity.Host:
Armando Fullwood- Over the last three decades, Armando's visionary direction in the marketplace has founded several technical and creative companies.
A note from our sponsor: Venueflex https://www.venueflex.com/
Choirflex is a proprietary, adaptive digital audio processor designed to increase the clarity and stability of choir mixes and greatly reduce feedback while maintaining the natural sonic qualities of the choir. In combination with its use in sound reinforcement, Choirflex is equally effective for sending processed choir sounds to broadcast and recording mixes. Learn more at venueflex.com/choirfllex
In a true immersive environment, the entire audience has matched experience. Every seat should sound the same. What does that allow for your mix?
In our second episode, the guys break down their approach to mixing in an immersive environment. They share about each of their processes, how the audience affects their mix, and what drives their decision making in the moment.
Episode Highlight:
"The piece I was missing when I first started mixing was the intimacy part. I was just coming out hard, running it so loud in a small, tiny room. So I learned to grow with dynamics and take people on a journey." - Tyler
Meet the Guys: They each use a different PA, console, and has a different room shape with unique finishes.
Alan Brown- In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Alan works at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene. Alan's venue is the oldest of the four, originally built in 1969.
Mike Ward- Mike serves at Seacoast Church outside of Charleston, SC. Mike's venue is a 2,500 seat room with concrete finishes completed in 2019.
Tyler Stidham- In Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Tyler serves at Crosswater Community Church. His venue was a new build in 2020 and has about 1,200 seats.
Host: Luke Vogel- Before joining the team at Venueflex, Luke served at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, a 2,500 seat venue. He helped commission their new broadcast campus in 2008 and was the Lead Audio Engineer. He was on staff for 17 years, helping the church grow from one campus to 23, and oversaw all audio production. He now serves as the Global House of Worship Director at Venueflex.
A note from our sponsor: MicRentals.com
One of the things that Alan mentions in this week’s episode is a Venueflex Choirflex: he says that Choirflex is, “A game changer” and everyone who mixes with a choir should be using one. Our sponsor for this week’s episode is MicRentals.com where you can rent a Choirflex to try out yourself. They’ll send it over quickly, help you set it up, and its super easy to use to achieve greater gain before feedback with your choir. If you love the results and want to keep it, then they’re going to apply your rental fee toward your purchase, giving you a huge discount. Head over to MicRentals.com and check out all the gear you can rent - just choose your dates you want to receive and return the gear. Learn more about Choirflex at venueflex.com/choirflex
As an audio engineer, how does your room affect your mix? How should we think about room finishes, seating capacity, and room shape?
In our first episode, we’ll meet our guests for Season 1. They’ll share about their room setups and how they tackle difficult acoustic issues in their venues.
To hear the bonus content in the Director’s Cut version, listen to the audio version on the IX Podcast.
Episode Highlight:
"It really has made this room feel like you're mixing outdoors. It's a tremendous game changer; not just for the band or the mixer, but also for our pastors as they're speaking... they're very comfortable on the platform." - Mike
Meet the Guys
Each of the guys uses a different PA, console, and has a different room shape with unique finishes.
Alan Brown
In Oklahoma CIty, Oklahoma, Alan works at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene. Alan's venue is the oldest of the four, originally built in 1969.
Mike Ward
Mike serves at Seacoast Church outside of Charleston, SC. Mike's venue is a 2,500 seat room with concrete finishes completed in 2019.
Tyler Stidham
In Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Tyler serves at Crosswater Community Church. His venue was a new build in 2020 and has about 1,200 seats.
Host: Luke Vogel
Before joining the team at Venueflex, Luke served at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, a 2,500 seat venue. He helped commission their new broadcast campus in 2008 and was the Lead Audio Engineer. He was on staff for 17 years, helping the church grow from one campus to 23, and oversaw all audio production. He now serves as the Global House of Worship Director at Venueflex.
A note from our sponsor: Venueflex
Are you looking to provide an immersive experience to every seat in your venue? With the Venueflex Definition Process, you can achieve equal experience, spatial realism, and a balanced reverberant field in every seat of the house.The Definition active acoustics give audio engineers a definable and variable acoustic palette. You can mix “into” the sound of their room, rather than having to compromise your choices based on an inaccurate or inefficient one. To champion your audience's experience with immersion in every seat, #FixTheRoomFirst. Learn more at venueflex.com/definition
On Season One of The Immersive Experience, we've brought in four audio engineers from four different churches. Each of them use a different PA, console, and have a different room shape with unique finishes. They discuss how they tackle difficult acoustic issues in their venues, how they approach their mix, and how they earn the trust of their bands and pastors. We'll have two special episodes that focus on mixing choirs as well as mixing FOH vs Broadcast.