Design2020 designed an “existing system upgrade” for our facility. We needed a way to enhance our existing system while still utilizing our existing equipment. This was not an easy undertaking because we were all passionate about what we felt needed to be accomplished with the new upgrade, which was to create intimacy, better coverage, and more horsepower. We also wanted the room professionally measured to ensure that that the upgrade would work on paper before the investment was made.
I met Armando Fullwood at a national audio convention (he was one of the keynotes) and was very impressed with his approach to sound which was pleasantly out of the box. I felt that I finally found a top notch professional that has the technical/science aptitude along with the artistic expertise. What brought Design2020 to the forefront with us was their willingness to take on the challenge to upgrade our system and not just replace it. Other consultants wanted to provide us with gear that was the flavor of the month but not necessarily what we needed. Thank God for Armando and his team at Design2020. They were able to hear out hearts and our frustrations and customize a solution that exceeded our expectations. I especially appreciate their ability to incorporate the art of sound along with the science of sound. It was a pleasure doing business with them.
I highly recommend Design2020 for all of your audio, visual, and acoustic designs.
Jeffrey McDuffie
Audio/Tech Director
Celebration Church
To Whom It May Concern,
In today’s church construction environment, we are faced with several options and avenues available to churches tied to Audio, Video, & Lighting (AVL). The plethora of equipment, size of budgets, staffing requirements, and intense design requirements mandated we look to a solid, voice of experience in our market. That company is Design 2020.
Design 2020’s deployment of a methodology called Life Cycle Process is a wholistic approach to AVL integration and an essential component of our team in due diligence, design, and church construction/renovation. Design 2020’s process creates a road map for our churches for their AVL needs, requirements, staffing, and budgets. This process is where stewardship w/ AVL intersects with execution.
Much like Cogun, in our process, Design 2020 demands fiscal accountability coupled with responsible design. The marriage of the two (fiscal accountability and responsible design) creates a model/roadmap for churches that demand a solid business plan for in-depth AVL requirements in ever-increasing complexity.
Design 2020’s Life Cycle Process raises the bar very high in the AVL industry for churches. As the church matures in its AVL requirements, Design 2020 works alongside of them to execute. It’s not just about the equipment, it’s about execution based on wherewithal, and how to mature your AVL needs as your church evolves.
Sincerely,
Bryan Miles
Senior Project Consultant
www.cogun.com
Myers Park United Methodist Church found itself in need of competent, experienced and professional audio/visual expertise. Design 2020 provided the exact match between our complex needs and the expertise of the company.
Specifically, with the creation of our new 700-person Jubilee Hall multi-purpose room, Myers Park was in need of precision sound design and implementation. Armando and his team were able to guide our church from the early conceptual stage to the implementation and satisfaction stage of the process and all steps in between. Our membership has been well rewarded for its decision to utilize the services of Design 2020.
Wayne Harrison
Church Administrator
Myers Park UMC
Charlotte, NC
Neal Prince Architects have been designing church buildings for close to forty years and pride ourselves on providing the highest level of design and service to our clients. Part of that level of excellence is directly attributable to the consultants that we rely upon to complete our team. We believe in a collaborative approach that utilizes the strengths of our clients and all of our team members.
A large consideration to our projects’ successes is our work with Design 2020 in Harrisburg, North Carolina. Design 2020 provides acoustic and audio-video engineering on all of our projects. In them, we have found a partner who understands our clients and their needs, but most important, the reason why great design is critical to worship spaces. Their work is innovative and efficient, giving the client the best system design for the moneys that are budgeted. Perhaps as important, is the way they “master plan” the audio-visual systems to allow clients to expand their systems when new ministries are incorporated and when additional funds become available. In summary, the sound in the worship centers that they help produce is second to none. We consistently get raving reviews from our clients and the users of the buildings they design.
Blessings,
Dave Benham, AIA
Principal
Director of Religious Architecture
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Paxton Whatley and I am the Pastor of Worship at Trinity Fellowship Church in Pampa, TX. We just currently finished our building project in which Design 2020 did all of the Audio, Video, and Lighting design and consultation for. On our 600 seat auditorium, we spent right under $1,000 dollars a chair. At first, this seemed like an astronomical amount being that this was our first building project. However, after our first service there, I’m betting we will never hear a word about the cost ever again.
We have always struggled with our sound in some way. Some people want it to really rock, and others cannot believe that we have it so loud! As worship leaders, we all know the constant struggle. Well, for the first time in my life as a Worship Pastor, I think we hit the mark with our sound. I had the younger and louder generation telling me it was awesome! Then, much to my surprise, I had the older and quieter generation telling me that it was awesome! I could not believe it. We ran between 95 and 98 db and everyone absolutely loved it. The reason is because it was quality, not loud. All of this put together was a tool that helped us accomplish the MAIN thing. People had a worship encounter with the Most High God! That is what is all for anyway right!
I would not take back for one second the money we spent and the expertise that Armando Fullwood and Design 2020 gave to us. The reason is because people worshiped in our house! People met with God because our audio, video, and lighting was a tool that helped them ‘connect’ and not a distraction. We may not be the biggest church, or have spent the most money, or have the fanciest gear... but one thing we do have is quality and excellence that allows people to meet with God through worship. What more could a worship leader ask for?
Praise God for Design 2020! They helped us bring forth the Kingdom.
Paxton Whatley
Pastor of Worship
Trinity Fellowship Church
Pampa, TX
As an experienced professional sound engineer, audio and clarity, or lack thereof, is something that my attention is always analyzing. We recently moved into a new worship facility (fall 2004) that seats 1650. Our sound needs are big, but not as big as I once thought. We went through all the regular steps of finding an audio company to design and install our system, and with my lack of knowledge of live systems…I’m a studio engineer…I chose the company that seemed to know the most about live sound installations. The one thing that I failed to look for, however, was a company that knew BOTH live sound AND our environment, which happens to be a church environment.
Once our system was installed, we had LOTS of speakers and they were putting out A LOT of sound. We bought the top digital mixing console and used only the best in amplification. We carefully picked the best gear and plenty of it. So what’s wrong? Why can we not get a good sound with all of this great stuff?
Enter Design 2020…
The team at Design 2020 entered our building and got right to work. Their underlying motto was, “let’s try to use the gear you have and see how much better we can make it”. I was all for that. After all, we spent a lot of money and I really didn’t want to spend more. So away they went. Design 2020 begin looking at our system and right off the bat found some major problems with the dynamic processors and equalization. Once those problems were resolved they began looking at all those speakers. As they began to analyze what the speakers were actually doing, they realized that the speakers were competing with each other. They were canceling each other out in some areas and just creating too many reflections off the walls in other areas. So what did they do? They removed eight of our speakers and with a slight re-design, gave us a fully functional surround system. Amazing…less is actually more! Now we enjoy a clarity that we have previously never heard in our room.
Thanks Design 2020 for making our great system even better. Thanks for using our current gear and being conscience of our budget constraints. Thanks for being easy to work with, and for being VERY knowledgeable in your field. The next time we have a project on our campus, we will be flipping to you first in the rolodex.
With high praise,
David Cox
Production Director
First Baptist Church of Smyrna, TN
To Whom It May Concern
As a rapidly growing church, Christ’s Church of the Valley found itself needing to expand its audio-visual and lighting capabilities. We sought out Design 2020 to help us take our facilities to the next level. They took us to the next five levels! They had a vision for our Fireside Room and Worship Center that was amazing. The atmosphere in both venues has changed dramatically for the better. Our members cannot stop raving about the wonderful changes. We could not be happier with the results of Design 2020’s hard work. Praise the Lord for them!
Greg Linzay
Technical Director
Christ’s Church of the Valley
San Dimas, CA
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Steven D. Brannon and I am the technical director for the Guiding Light Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Our church recently completed construction of a new facility that included a 1,500 seat sanctuary.
If God had not arranged for us to meet Design 2020 Church Media Consultants, the sound system would have been a disaster. We had already contracted another well-known A/V design company for the job; however, when their design was presented it was not a well thought-out design tailor made for our ministry needs. The AV system and room design for the sanctuary was not a good fit with our needs. Design 2020 came in and listened to our desires and needs, then made changes to both the A/V system design, as well as the actual room design for the sanctuary.
Perfection is all I can say! Design 2020 also helped us with project management for the installation of the system. They worked with the contractors to ensure the job was done properly.
You can not go wrong with this company. They are professionals who care about their work and care about their clients’ worship experience. We recommend them to anyone in need of audio and video for their church to experience the worship that God desires us to have.
Sincerely,
Steven D. Brannon
Technical Director
The Guiding Light Church
My relationship with Armando Fullwood and Design 2020 goes back over four years ago when we were looking at audio installation contractors for our new facility. We actually had chosen a different firm from the beginning of the building project to design our system layout and acoustics. While visiting some large churches in the Charlotte area, we were shown an audio installation in a church unlike anything that I had seen or heard before.
I was so impressed with the design and moreover the sound that I being the technical representative of our building committee suggested that we actually change consultants in mid-stream. I took our Architect on the project to see and hear this installation and also meet with Armando. The Architect was also impressed so much that he agreed that a change in consultants be made. It was as if Armando and I were sharing the same brainwaves and thought processes in what our new room would ultimately be even before we got started.
Armando brought an “artistic and technical” approach to the acoustic design and audio deployment for a room that would be utilizing audio technology for Westover Church that was the first of its kind in the world. The end result was the opening of our new Worship Center last year with one of the most critically, precise audio systems in the southeast. Installed at Westover Church was the first Midas XL8 system in the world along with the largest DSP system at the time. Armando and his partner Paul Henderson spent long hours and many trips to Westover making sure that the system was critically tuned in conjunction with the acoustic treatments of a room that seats nearly 3000.
The complements keep coming in on how incredible the system sounds from everyone that has visited here. I will tell you that even the board mix sounds like a record mix due to the acoustical design of the room along with the tuning of the system.
Armando, Paul and Design 2020 have my utmost respect and confidence. They are “true” professionals and I can’t recommend them highly enough for any project consideration.
Danny Slaughter
Technical Director
Westover Church
Greensboro, NC 27410
Dear Design2020,
I would like to take this time to thank you, and tell you and the staff of Design 2020 how much we appreciate your contributions to our new 2000 seat sanctuary.
As you recall you entered the project in mid-stream, and was able to navigate thru the choppy waters of redirecting our entire project in a direction that I’ve come to realize was one of the best decisions of the project. The contributions to the shape of the room, the redesign of the technology, and the design of the look and feel of the stage, has brought the media ministry of Mt. Gilead to a level we may have not realized without your firms efforts.
We thank God for sharing your gifts, as it has enhanced our worship experience, and provided the tools necessary to fully impact the Kingdom of God.
Please consider this a full endorsement to anyone looking for a true church media design partner that brings to the table more than the technical insight, but an absolute passion for bringing excellence to all areas of the media worship experience.
May God Richly Bless You All,
Daniel Robertson
Senior Pastor
Mt. Gilead Church