Horizon Christian Fellowship, a Calvary Chapel affiliated church inRancho Santa Fe, Calif., recently finished a complete upgrade of itssanctuary sound system, which included the installation of a newSoundcraft MH4 mixing console.
Michael Mendoza (pictured), Horizon’s head audio engineer said thisabout the redesign: “Bob Botsford, our senior pastor, and I had adiscussion about the major ‘holes’ with our former system: hot spotsand quiet areas. We wanted to install a system that would be ofexceptional quality and value without compromise. This new system isvery balanced throughout the entire room, which is impressive becauseit’s a somewhat acoustically challenging environment. Everyone here ismuch happier with the current setup. It’s truly meeting all of ourneeds.”
Specified and installed by All American Audio Visual (AAAV), the48-mono/4-stereo-channel MH4 is set up in the rear of the sanctuary andutilized to provide both FOH and monitor mixes for the 700-seatfan-shaped room. The console’s matrix sends are also employed toprovide feeds for tape and video recording in addition to deliveringaudio signals to other areas around the facility, such as lobbies andrestrooms.
Mendoza continued, “The MH4 is very intuitive and simple to operate,which is important in an environment like this where volunteers oftenhave to run it. When you mute a channel, everything’s muted; you don’thave to worry about double-checking your auxes and all that kind ofstuff. The VCAs and mute groups are terrific. The board is also niceand quiet, not to mention very forgiving. I love the mic pre’s on thisdesk: They sound wonderful. With our previous console, after about 30minutes of listening to it, I’d be tense and experiencing ear fatigue.I could listen to the MH4 all day and be fine.”
AAAV also installed a pair of BSS FDS-366 Omnidrives at the housemix position to handle EQ, delay and other loudspeaker processingfunctions. “I love the Omnidrives,” said Mendoza. “We went with a ‘lessis more’ approach and replaced a whole rack full of processors withjust these two pieces. They’re great-sounding little units.” Also neware QSC PowerLight amplifiers, which are driving a new loudspeaker rigcustom-built by AAAV.
Horizon Christian Fellowship can be found online at www.horizon.org. VisitAAAV at www.allamericanaudio.com. Find out more about theboard at www.soundcraft.com.
