DUAL ILIVE CONSOLES INSTALLED IN CALIFORNIAN HOUSE OF WORSHIP
Christ’s Church of the Valley in San Dimas, CA, has grown steadily in recent years, making a switch to digital audio mixing a necessity. With multiple locations, six weekend services, and a broadcast function that includes live streaming and broadcast in New Zealand and Australia, requirements had increased beyond the capabilities of conventional analogue.
To meet its needs, the church selected two Allen & Heath iLive systems – an iDR MixRack with iLive-176 Control Surface for the main sanctuary and an iDR10 with iLive-80 for the broadcast centre, located in a separate building.
Patrick Gourley, technical director for the church, worked with Anaheim-based installation firm, Sound Bridge, during the console selection process.
“All our engineers are volunteers,” Gourley said. “In addition to all the technical requirements, we had to find something with a fast learning curve. We field tested eight or nine digital consoles, either at trade shows or going to an existing installation in the area, and kept coming back to iLive. What drew me to iLive was having all the dynamic processing on board, with dedicated knobs for everything on the channel strip. Coming from an analogue background, it made the most sense in terms of layout. For most of our engineers, we could get them up and mixing in under an hour.”
Installation was very simple, consisting of replacing the old analogue console with the control surface and installing the iDR10 mix rack into the existing racks at FOH.
“Our existing snake was already terminated at the console so there was no need to position the mix rack remotely,” Gourley recalls. “With all the FX located onboard iLive, we had plenty of space available in our old FOH rack.”
When the church’s broadcast needs expanded, the church selected a second Allen & Heath system.
“We bought the sanctuary’s system knowing we would be adding a broadcast console; that was one of the big selling points,” says Gourley. “Originally, we were running three different matrices on the iLive-176 system but adding an iLive-80 system with a dedicated engineer for the broadcast mix really gave us the flexibility and quality control we needed.”
Broadcast audio is mixed in a separate nearby building. The two systems are connected by a single CAT5 cable with a Linksys hub to boost signal. The inputs are sent from the stage to the main iLive system and relayed to the broadcast iLive. The stereo mix is then sent back to the video booth in the church for capture along with the switched live video on an Apple G5 computer.
“What’s amazing is even though we’re sending the audio 500 feet there and 500 feet back, we can’t sense any audible delay,” Gourley comments.
After Sunday’s first service, Senior Pastor Jeff Vines’ message and any special elements are burned to DVD and delivered to the church’s auxiliary campus for use in the morning service. The recorded service is also sent to New Zealand and Australia where it goes on network TV after local production elements are added.
In the main sanctuary, the iLive-176 system handles both the FOH and monitor mixes. Typically, there are between 24 and 36 inputs coming from the stage, 10 more from wireless systems located at FOH, plus auxiliary inputs for CD and DVD sources. There are additional inputs available for special events, such as a recent production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, which required 24 channels of wireless.
Most members of the praise team use the Aviom personal monitor system but some still use traditional floor wedges. To simplify monitor mixing, the engineer creates and saves four wedge mixes directly from the stage during rehearsals, using a touchscreen laptop to control iLive wirelessly.
“Different engineers have different styles, and now everyone can have the channel strips laid out exactly how they like. Being able to save and recall scenes during a service adds another dimension to what we can do,” concludes Gourley.
www.ilive-digital.com
www.ccvnow.com
