Central Baptist Church Gets a Makeover with GC Pro

— GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons and GC Pro Affiliate Program Member Commercial Sound And Video take Central Baptist Church into the era of contemporary worship with new sound system including digital audio console, in-ear monitoring and upgraded backline —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 29, 2014 — The last time the Central Baptist Church of Americus, Georgia, got a new sound system, the church’s music was focused around the traditional elements of choir and organ. Times changed, and so did the church’s style of worship, which has expanded to encompass more contemporary forms of praise and worship music, with electric guitars and drums joining the joyful noise. These changes, however, made the inadequacy of the original sound system readily apparent. That led the church to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

Atlanta-based GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons spent time listening to the needs of the church and helped design a completely new sound system, including connecting them with locally based AV systems integrator Commercial Sound And Video, which provided installation services. And it was a big project. Lyons summarized the situation: “Some areas were too loud, others you could barely hear anything at all, and no bass response,” he says of the sanctuary’s sound system. “On-stage monitoring for the band was a hodge-podge at best. We transformed their entire sound system, customizing it to the unique challenges in their large worship space, but we also re-designed the stage layout and provided a state-of-the-art personal monitoring system for the large praise team and orchestra.”

A new system using four Electro-Voice EVF1152D 15-inch cabinets was flown above the main floor in a 90x60 coverage pattern, and each with an Electro-Voice EVU1082 8-inch downfill cabinet mounted. A total of eight Electro-Voice EVU1082 fill cabinets were placed in the balcony, four per side. A pair of Electro-Voice EVF2151D Dual 15inch subwoofers fills the entire sanctuary with powerful bass. The power amps are Electro-Voice CPS-series power amps, with control using an Electro-Voice DC-ONE system processor. The existing 48-channel analog mixer (with 16-channel auxiliary mixer) was replaced with a 64-channel AVID S3L console with four independent stage boxes. Three racks on-stage and one at the FOH booth completely bypass the original analog patching system, providing a superior upgrade in sound and eliminating cable mess on the stage. The AVID S3L also provides 64-tracks recording to Pro Tools connected via CAT5 to the supplied Apple iMac computer and Glyph hard-drive, designed for playback in virtual sound check mode. This allows them to record rehearsals, then play the tracks back to fine-tune the individual channel settings for a better mix.

“With the S3L there is full recall of all settings and scenes,” stated Lyons. “Every Easter they have a big production and this will allow them to have total control of the production.”

Based on Lyons’ design, Commercial Sound And Video installed a PIVITEC 32-input personal monitor system controlled via Apple iPad Minis with a total of nine independent mix stations and the ability to add as many more as they wish. There were many custom touches, with the goal of making the operation as simple as possible. One such feature was a customized patch panel consisting of eight XLR Male and eight SPEAKON connectors that took the guesswork out of connecting a stage monitor into the system.

Lyons adds, “Although the PIVITEC in-ear system was an amazing upgrade for the worship band, we still needed to provide traditional monitors to the choir, instruments, lead vocals and other musicians. Typically I would have to go find a speaker, a power amp and the cables, route a channel out of the console into the amp, connect a speaker cable to the speaker, and so forth. But here I designed the panel to take any confusion or error out of the situation. The process is simple really — I designed eight specific outputs from the VENE S3L console for MONITOR MIX OUTPUTS, labeled MONITOR 1 through MONITOR 8. Patching into any of the XLR Inputs of the panel fed directly to a specific amplifier channel on the Electro-Voice CPS8.5 power amp (eight channels at 500-watts power per channel), and that speaker output then fed back to the SPEAKON out below the XLR connector. You can simply plug in a speaker cable to the desired speaker, and voila!”

The result was a total success and everyone associated with the church is extremely happy with the new system.

For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.

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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Founded in 2001, Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.

Best of AES 2014: Mackie DL32R

GC Pro has returned from a tremendously successful 2014 Audio Engineering Society (AES) show, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center not very far from our headquarters in Westlake Village, CA. We'll be taking a closer look at a number of products that we found especially interesting, useful, or just plain cool. Here's a new product that encompasses all three qualities: the Mackie DL32R 32-channel wireless digital mixer with iPad control.

Everything from Anywhere
We live in amazing times, especially if you work in pro audio and live sound. Take the Mackie DL32R... a 32-channel digital mixer that you control via your iPad. But wait; it's also a direct-to-drive multitrack recorder/playback tool. But wait; it's also jam-packed with digital signal processing. But wait; the whole thing is contained in a 3U rackmount enclosure. So while we were a bit skeptical toward Mackie's "Control everything from anywhere" claim with the DL32R, we have to admit: that's pretty much exactly what it does, and now your live sound venue, house of worship, or studio can do it too.

32-channel wireless digital mixer
The DL32R starts with 32 Onyx+ recallable mic pres with wireless control. It's got the professional interfacing you need, including 14 fully-assignable XLR outputs and a stereo AES digital output. All settings on the DL32R can be recalled for future use. Its 3U rackmount design is perfect for both touring or a permanent installation, and it has an expansion card slot.

Wireless Mixing: the FOH mix position is now wherever you are
You can ditch that cable snake, because you're not going to be tied down to anything with the DL32R. The reason? It operates wirelessly, giving you complete control from your iPad. Need to walk around the room and check null points and dead spots? Carry your iPad and adjust your mix while you move through the room. Need to set up a personal monitor mix? You can use multiple iPads, iPhones, or iPod touches (up to 10 separate iOS devices at once), and let the performers tweak their own IEM or stage wedge mix. Now your only question is where to put that mixer (answer: wherever you want).

Multi-track recording & playback
The DL32R offers 32x32 USB 2.0 audio interfaces for Mac or PC, as well as 24x24 recording/playback direct to USB 2.0 hard drive. Do you get wireless control over all direct-to-disk recording/playback functions via the iPad? Of course you do. And how can you use this capability? How about recording your live shows for later mixdown? Or perhaps playing back intermission music and backing tracks? Or doing virtual sound checks to tune the venue before the band has even arrived? This capability might allow the DL32R to be the centerpiece of your studio. You can even use Mac or PC audio plug-ins in a live environment.

DSP? Yeah baby!
The DL32R is packed with digital signal processing and flexible routing that you'll need for live sound, including 36 input channels with 4-band PEQ + HPF, gate and compression. You also get 32 stereo-linkable input channels, 28 output busses with 4-band PEQ + HPF/LPF, 31-band GEQ, comp/limiter and alignment delay, and much more.

Master Fader control app
Your main way of connecting your ears and your brain to the DL32R is via the Master Fader app, an intuitive and easy-to-master app for your iPad. You get fast navigation with view groups and overview, and a quick setup with tons of factory and user-definable presets. You can limit access as needed to prevent any unwanted adjustments (like, by the guy who wants to use your iPad to update Twitter). And like any app, Mackie can quickly offer updates via the Apple App Store.

About the only thing you need to provide to take advantage of the DL32R is an iPad and a Wi-Fi router. Along with those, you really can control everything from anywhere. Well, reasonably speaking. Don't try and mix a show in Cleveland from Chicago. That's just bad form.

GC Pro Knows Live Sound!
From bars and nightclubs to restaurants and houses of worship, GC Pro's representatives are experts on helping you put together the ultimate live sound system within your budget. The Mackie DL32R seems like an excellent addition to just about any live sound environment, so contact us now and get more information, or pre-order it today!