ALLEN & HEATH ML SERIES EASE BROADCAST MIX AT BAPTIST CHURCH
With the recent installation of an Allen & Heath ML4000 large format VCA console, twin ML Series mixing desks now handle both front of house and broadcast sound at the First Baptist Concord Church in Knoxville, TN, USA. The 3,000-seat church additionally utilizes an Allen & Heath MixWizard to create choir submixes.
 Mike DeFreece, from Allen & Heath representative firm Millar Electronics, Inc., also mixes sound at the church. “The ML5000 is there for the front of house application. We bought the ML4000 to be used for live-to-2-track recording and broadcast,” he says. “We’re essentially mimicking, for the most part, the exact same 48 inputs as the front of house console with the new console.”
Two ML Series consoles of an identical input configuration were ordered to simplify the broadcast/recording mix, DeFreece explains. All ML Series console models feature 8 mute groups and 8 VCA groups, the assignments for which may be saved as snapshot scenes and then downloaded via the RS232 port to a PC using the supplied ML Archiver software. It is then a simple matter to save those settings to disc and upload them into the second console.
“They’re able to write all of the mute scene presets on the ML5000 during rehearsals,” he elaborates. “Then, they transfer all those mute scenes to the ML4000, so that somebody who perhaps hasn’t even been there for the rehearsals can step through the mute scenes and open up all the right channels at the right times during the broadcast recording.” First Baptist Concord only recently began the local cable channel broadcasts, which are delayed one week after the event, says DeFreece.
The contemporary services feature a full orchestra using 28 inputs, he reports, including electronic drums, a percussion section, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, and then some electronic keyboards. There are also a large number of vocal inputs, including a praise team and a worship leader. Additionally, he reports, “We’ve got 11 choir mics going into an Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2, summing them into one channel of the ML5000.”
DeFreece recalls that at the first major event involving the two ML Series consoles, the input channels of both desks were used to capacity. “The front of house engineer had written over 70 mute scene presets for the program but the engineer who mixed the live recording for the DVD came in on the day of the first dress rehearsal, which was the first day of taping - he had never seen the program before. He had a helper running the software with the cue changes and letting him know what wireless mics were coming up. They were completely reliant on the presets.”
For further information on the entire range of Allen & Heath mixing products please visit the company's web site at www.allen-heath.com.
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Notes for the editor
The attached image shows Tyler Edwards, Director of Media Ministries at First Baptist Concord (left), and Howard Everhart, Minister of Instrumental Worship (right) as they program the front of house Allen & Heath ML5000 console snapshots for a Sunday morning service.
Established for 35 years, Allen & Heath designs and manufactures professional audio mixing consoles for an international clientele in the live sound, installed systems and nightclub markets.
U.S. media contact: Steve Harvey, Media Medium, Tel: (323) 665-2455, mediamed@pacbell.net
International media contact: Vicky Wills, Allen & Heath Ltd., Tel: +44 (0)1326 370192, vicky.wills@allen-heath.com |
