Nisan Stewart has been preaching all of his life. The son of the founders of the Greater Emmanuel Temple in Lynwood, CA, he is now the church’s senior pastor. And Stewart also has a parallel career as a musician, and specifically for the last six years as the drummer in the band for the prime-time hit TV series Dancing With The Stars.
Pastor Stewart, who is also the founder of the Carl W. Stewart Music & Arts Academy, earlier this year oversaw a renovation of the church sanctuary’s sound system, and at the heart of that was the installation of a new Roland M-5000 OHRCA live mixing console.
The new console is used to handle the front of house mix for the 800-seat sanctuary, as well as the mix of the church band’s in-ear monitors through their Roland M-48 live personal mixing system.
“I’ve been a fan of Roland products for years,” says Stewart, particularly of Roland’s keyboards. So when he asked the audio staff at DWTS for advice on choosing a new front of house and monitor console, their response resonated with him.
“They never hesitated when they said the Roland M-5000,” Stewart recalls. When he looked into the M-5000’s specs, he was impressed. “It could do everything we needed and then some,” he says, such as configurable dynamics and EQ sections, and support for multiple formats from stereo to surround, as well as managing both front of house and monitor mixing. “The ease of use is incredible,” he says. “I’m a musician, producer and bandleader, but the M-5000 is very intuitive and I have absolutely no problem navigating it.”
But the sound is what sealed the deal. “The M-5000 sounds so clean and warm, not what you’d expect from digital console,” he says. Between the sound, the control and service — Roland’s customer service is excellent. — I can’t see us having any other console for our church.”
