Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, Texas, has
invested in new audio equipment to manage a growing worship programme, based
around an Allen & Heath’s iLive digital mixing system.
The Church’s regular worship band includes a ten-person
praise team, drums, keyboard, bass, piano and two guitars and a seven-piece
horn section.
“Sundays are different every week, we can have a guitar
player leading our services, a piano player, or our Pastor. On most Sundays we
have a hundred or more choir members,” relates Jeff Owen, Technical Director.
From traditional services to concerts and community
events, this is a multi-purpose worship venue with several spaces needing
flexible, reliable and crystal clear audio signals. Charged with delivering a
solution was Doug Windell, Design Manager of Ace Audio in Hutto, Texas.
“It was time for a new mixing console to replace the old
analogue board, and I knew the Allen & Heath iLive-144 digital system was
the right console for the job,” say Windell.
Accompanying an iLive-144 surface, Windell selected an
iDR10 modular mix engine with 64 inputs and 24 outputs, 8 input and 4 output
cards, plus a Dante card for recording and streaming requirements. An xDR-16
expander rack was also installed onstage to give extra inputs for multiple
audio sources.
“The move to a digital system gives the church the
ability to set up different types of worship services from traditional to more
contemporary experiences,” shares Windell. “Plus, iLive dramatically improved
the room audio and brought down the noise floor to zero.”
“When we started using iLive there was such a clarity of
the speaker’s words that congregants began complimenting the sound. The
individual limiters, compression and gates on each microphone input are a big
advantage. We weren’t built to be a concert hall but the ability to distinguish
the different instruments and voicing is wonderful, I can really make the
guitar pop, for example. The iLive mixing tools enable us to balance the total
sum of the audio to create a beautiful worship experience,” adds Owen.
Another challenge for Owen and his team of audio artists
is the overflow room adjacent to the main worship sanctuary.
“We recently had the opportunity to mix our overflow room
using a wireless access point connected to the iLive network. All we had to do
was have one person in the room with an iPad mixing the audio signal with the
Allen & Heath OneMix app,” Owen enthuses. “Challenge solved!”
The church also opened a new children’s space in a
building nearby the main worship centre. An iLive-T80 Surface with iDR-48 fixed
format MixRack was installed not only to run the A/V needs of the children’s
activities but as a training console for the all volunteer audio team.
“The kids space mainly does dramas and video
presentations so there is more of an A/V slant to the technology needs. The T80
serves us perfectly for the Children’s space but also to train the future audio
techs for their duties in the main sanctuary,” states Owen.
“The Allen & Heath iLive-144 system is so good in the
main sanctuary, that there was never a doubt which mix console to use in the
children’s space.” says Windell.
The versatility, extensive but straightforward set of
tools on both iLive systems has opened a new world of audio technology for Owen
and his team.
“I’m an IT guy by trade, when I came to the Oakwood
Church, my hobby was sound. Now I’m able to bridge my love of technology with
the creativity of music and spoken word thanks to Allen & Heath,” says
Owen.
Owen also spoke passionately about how his volunteers
have been given a wealth of new ways to explore audio and to “paint an audio
canvas” due in large part to the Allen & Heath iLive’s clean and
uncomplicated interface design.
“If it’s good for them, it’s good for me,” he states.
Oakwood Baptist Church is now in the process of
renovating its student centre, where more iLive systems will be installed.
