Devised to coincide with the installation of several new architectural features, including a gold retablo altar, the new sound system was designed by Grand Rapids-based acoustics consulting firm MuSonics and installed by San Diego’s Audio Associates.
“The church was in dire need of a new automated mixing system,” commented Peter Borchard, MuSonics’ AV systems designer. “It was too easy for well-meaning but unitiated people to change the old automixer’s settings and inadvertently make matters worse. Church officials were eager to find a solution that would enable them to circumvent this problem and obtain good, repeatable audio performance.”
To overcome this problem, Borchard specified a Lectrosonics DM1612 Digital Automatic Matrix Mixer, enabling the creation of optimum sound system parameters and for them to be locked into the mixer’s memory. Facilitating freedom of movement for church leaders, meanwhile, are wireless microphone systems consisting of four Lectrosonics LM Digital Hybrid UHF belt-pack transmitters and a single Lectronics UT Digital Hybrid Wireless handheld transmitter, all of which feed into a Lectrosonics VR Venue modular receiver system stocked with five VRS receiver modules.
“The four belt-pack transmitters are used with Countryman E6 over the ear microphones, while the fifth wireless microphone is a handheld model that can easily be passed from one person to another during services,” noted Borchard. “By using the Lectrosonics Venue receiver system, which is modular and hence expandable, the church still has the capacity to add another channel should it be necessary at a later time.”
