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Sugar Creek Baptist Church Upgrades to DiGiCo CS-D5 AT FOH
Sugar Creek Baptist Church Upgrades to DiGiCo CS-D5 AT FOH Console Allows HOW To Achieve Flexibility Over Time For Multiple Weekly Services, Broadcasts & Special Events Plus Easy Learning Curve For Volunteer Operators
For many houses of worship, having an easy-to-operate audio console, (and one that allows the flexibility to expand input requirements as needed for services and subsequent broadcasts), is one of the biggest challenges—sonic quality notwithstanding. Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land, Texas, was able to achieve all of these goals with the recent addition of a DiGiCo CS-D5 at FOH. Not only was the console able to handle 120 inputs and mixing 65 to 75 channels for its weekly rehearsals, Sunday services (with an attendance of approximately 3500) and occasional special events, but also was easy enough for their volunteer team to operate. And the sound quality was noticeable to everyone, including the audio production team comprised of Rick Russell, Director of Technical Production and Technical Production Assistants, John Austin and Nya Dillard.
“We looked at many digital consoles,” says Russell, “and after discussing which would best fit our needs and what was going to grow as we grew, DiGiCo's network flexibility, which would serve as multiple consoles including that of a broadcast desk, coupled with ease of use, is what sealed the deal. The learning curve for our volunteer audio staff mixing on Sundays has been really quick. In fact, many of them have mixed on it on their first week, so it's been a real blessing to see them grow as we grow. Overall, from a setup and configuration perspective, we can do everything we need, and then some, with the CS-D5.”
The DiGiCo CS-D5 allowed them to condense their channel count overall—for the three services it offers on Sunday morning, in addition to a host of several special events occurring during the course of the week. “This allowed us to save what we did on Sunday, have a totally different set up during the week, and be able to snap right back to what we had Wednesday night when we left rehearsals.”
Currently, Sugar Creek is using the CS-D5’s internal effects exclusively, but are looking to add some external effects mainly for vocals. “We used the IPCs to set the timing of the subs and overall EQ. We're also using the IPCs as an insert on the group that our choir mics are in to help ring out the mics as a group.”
The services are recorded in stereo to CD and DVD and are available for sale in the bookstore directly following the services. In addition, Russell says they send a slightly modified mix from the FOH console directly to the Final Cut and DVD recorders, which are then posted online each week for visitors and members to review. In the future, there are plans to add an RME interface to multitrack 96 channels every week. “This will give us the opportunity to extend rehearsal after the musician’s leave, as well as record special events to mix down in our studio later for future use.”
Not surprisingly, Russell says they experienced a noticeable difference in sonic quality after making the switch. “We heard a big improvement in the sonic quality over our old analog console. The entire low end of the mix has tightened up, really improving our drum and bass clarity. The musicians on stage have commented on the clarity of Avioms and more of them are willing to use in-ear monitoring because of the change. The word a lot of people are using around the church is ‘transparent.’”
For more information on Sugar Creek Baptist Church, please visit: www.sugarcreek.net
About The CS-D5
The CS-D5 Live digital mixing system provides the full, extensive feature set of the D5 Live, with the exception of the optical I/O, creating a D5 Live at a price point that’s competitive with more basic consoles. The CS-D5’s technical advantages include:
• A full 48 busses – ideal for coping with the ever-increasing use of in-ear monitors, 128 input channels, which can be increased with extra DSP to 160.
• 224 inputs and 224 outputs can be connected to enable large routing capabilities for multi-stage events and large orchestral performances, while digital redundancy ensures the show will go on
• 41 touch sensitive faders, four touch screens and multi-operator ability give direct instant access to crucial parameters, despite the compact frame size.
• MADI (standard) and Optocore™ (optional) interfaces improve versatility compared to proprietary systems, and the ability to share stage racks integrates live performance, broadcast, FOH and monitors – and eliminates the need for mic splitters.
• Sound quality remains peerless, with the CS-D5’s 40-bit floating point audio processing maintaining far greater dynamic range in a complex mix than other consoles’ fixed point processing
About the D5
The D5 Live 56 is a 64-channel worksurface and comes with one remote (stage end) DiGiRack, which contains the 56 A/D and 8 D/A converters and is connected to the console via optical fibre. 150m of fibre cable is provided with the system, reducing the length of copper wire between microphone and desk to, at most, a few metres. A second, local DiGiRack (which is common to all models) sits next to the console with a further 56 external I/Os for inserts, effect sends, local monitoring and playback.
www.digico.org
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