Innova SON Large Scale Digital Console used at
Shadow Mountain Church El Cajon, California. |
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SHADOW MOUNTAIN CHURCH SHINES WITH INNOVA SON LARGE
SCALE CONSOLE
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT:
Shadow Mountain Church in El Cajon, California, just outside of San Diego,
redefined the leading edge in church sound technology with the purchase
of an Innova SON Large Scale Digital Console. Founded back in the 1930s,
Shadow Mountain constructed a new 2,500-seat sanctuary ten years ago and
has recently begun renovation of its video, lighting, and sound system
equipment. Campus sound director Tim Hunten worked with church member
Vance Breshears on the choice and installation of the new console.
Coincidentally, Breshears owns Sound Technology Consultants, one of Southern
California's premier acoustics and sound system design firms. Over seventy
percent of their work comes from large churches.
The physical condition and lack-luster capabilities of Shadow Mountain's
old console prompted the purchase. Electronic problems and debilitated
modules proved increasingly frustrating. Hunten and Breshears had decided
that a major overhaul was out of the question. Even if the board was working
perfectly, it still wouldn't have enough inputs to meet the church's growing
audio needs. In fact, Hunten had resorted to submixing a large portion
of his inputs, compounding the frustration with a disjointed mixing interface.
In contrast, the 120-channel Innova SON Sensory provides ample inputs
for the church's 150-voice choir, 30-piece orchestra, outboard effects
processors, and innumerable on-stage, off-stage, and ceiling-hung microphones.
The Innova SON's digital architecture makes for a considerably smaller
console than would a comparably outfitted analog board, allowing it to
fit comfortably inside the front-of-house mix position.
"While the Large Scale itself is new, Innova SON has been producing
live digital consoles for several years," observed Breshears. "It's
proven, comparably cost-effective, and intuitive. Moreover, the Sensory's
elegant interface simply looks less intimidating than the interface of
a similarly sized analog console does.
In addition to its small size, huge number of inputs, and clean interface,
Hunten cites the Sensory's instant recall of all parameters as reason
enough for the digital switch. Observed the Sound Director, "We have
between eight and ten events during the week and multiple services on
the weekend, all of which require different audio configurations. With
the Innova SON, I can save a 'scene' as, for example, a memorial service.
By punching the memorial service cue the podium microphone comes up, the
piano microphones come up, and the record chain activates. Further, the
Innova SON instantly configures all of the necessary levels, equalization,
and dynamics processing. All I have to do is tweak the roughed-in settings,
such as equalization for an individual speaker's voice, to match the specifics
of a given event. Setting up for Sunday service after a week of disparate
events is simple."
Both Hunten and Breshears agree that the Sensory imparts no "sonic
signature" to the audio it passes and hence leaves their mixes transparent.
The in-line processing on every channel includes gates, compressors, and
five-band parametric equalizers, a vast improvement over their old analog
console. Before the Sensory, the engineer on hand spent most of his or
her time chasing levels because there wasn't any compression! Breshears
noted that now the mixes are smooth and seamless where they used to be
rough and disjointed.
While the two will ultimately overhaul the entire sound system, Hunten
and Breshears are improving things in steps. The purchase of multi-effects
units including an Eventide DSP7000, a TC Electronic 3000, a TC Electronic
D-Two, and a Yamaha SPX1000 predated the Innova SON Sensory. However,
Hunten is now able to use the digital inputs and outputs on these newer
processors with the Sensory's digital sends and returns, keeping everything
in the digital domain. Along with the Sensory, the two purchased a BSS
Soundweb system processor with four analog inputs, four digital inputs,
four analog outputs, and eight digital outputs that will eventually be
expanded to run a Left/Center/Right speaker system out of the Sensory.
Existing amplifiers and speakers await replacement.
With the Innova SON Sensory installed, Shadow Mountain Church is basking
in newfound audio glory, and with ample inputs, comprehensive in-line
processing, and instant recall, its operators are able to concentrate
on delivering the best audio the church has ever heard.
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