29 April 2009

SAINT PHILIP GOES DIGITAL WITH DUAL ALLEN & HEATH ILIVE SYSTEMS

Saint Philip A.M.E. Church in Atlanta, aided by design/installation firm, Communications & Entertainment Inc., has installed an Allen & Heath iLive-176 system at FOH of the 2,500 seat main Sanctuary, and an iLive-80 system in the Broadcast room.

"When we were commissioned to refurbish the Sanctuary’s sound and video systems, their analogue console was approaching 10 years old," notes systems consultant, Dave Miller, of CEI. "In a digital world, it's my opinion that you have to be very careful when selecting a desk. When you're working with a volunteer church staff, it can make or break the whole project. Fortunately, Saint Philip has a very talented staff, and the perfect console was chosen."

With both live audio and broadcast mixes to be managed, it was essential to find a console that would meet the Church's intensive AV needs while being intuitive enough to ensure a smooth transition to digital.

"Based on their needs and capabilities, we recommended Allen & Heath’s iLive system for both applications," Miller recalls. "Interestingly, they had asked for another console brand initially but we really believe in iLive, so we arranged an on-site demonstration. The hands-on experience impressed chief engineer Kel Wright and his staff, and that was key."

With a membership of over 6,000 worshippers, Saint Philip's multi-purpose Family Life Centre is the world's largest African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church facility, hosting a blend of high energy urban contemporary and traditional gospel music presentations, with multiple keyboards, full drum kit, plus bass and guitars. Vocals are supplied by several praise team soloists, augmented by one of the Church's 10 gospel choir groups of up to 70 voices.

The iLive-176 surface at FOH

An iLive-176 Control Surface is installed FOH in the balcony, connected by Cat5 cable to an iDR10 MixRack located beneath the choir risers and built into a custom drawer that allows easy access. In addition, an iLive-80 surface is installed in the media booth to handle the broadcast mix, which is also recorded together with switched video feeds of the services for use on local cable and as DVDs. The iLive-80 runs off an iDR0, which has a digital split from the iDR10 via Cat5. The two systems are totally independent operationally but share a single set of inputs with the addition of some audience mics for the broadcast mix.

"That's one of the huge advantages of the iLive system," says Miller. "One of the challenges at St. Philip was the lack of conduit running from the stage area to the mix position upstairs. Having all the inputs terminate at the iDR10 rack makes life so much simpler."

The main iLive system handles the entire live presentation, including the monitor mixes. The system currently uses 48 microphone inputs, with the potential to add many more. The iDR10 houses 16 primary outputs, plus an Aviom module for the monitor system. The main outputs go to an audio processing system, with dedicated signals going to the main centre cluster, four subwoofers, and nine delay speakers spread above the balcony. The monitor system at Saint Philip is a hybrid, with traditional floor wedges augmenting Aviom personal monitors. iLive's 1/3 Octave EQs are utilised for the monitor aux sends. Outputs from the iLive-80 are feeding the main broadcast mix, Panasonic DMR-EH50S DVD recorder, a DTT GX6480 Digital Video Recorder, and a cassette tape recorder.

iLive's onboard FX processing provides reverb and tap delay for solo vocalists and on the broadcast mix. Scene recall has also proved to be an important feature for Saint Philip's audio engineers as they back up mixes for every event and load back scenes for each of the services.

Dave Miller of CEI concludes:

"Moving to digital is a radical change, and people tend to overlook the education aspect. Frankly, clients don't want to see training as a line item on a bid, but it's critical to success. With iLive, the learning curve is fast and our callbacks are minimal, which was definitely the case at St. Philip. So basically, Allen & Heath iLive saves us time, and saves our customers money. Everybody wins."

The iLive-80 surface in the Broadcast room