Meridian, MS (December 3, 2013)—The Highland Baptist Church in Meridian, MS, is known for its annual Singing Christmas Tree performance, where between 65 and 100 singers stand on a 35-foot-high tree with nine rows designed to hold the singers during the performance. To help capture the vocals of these singers, Franklin Denham, minster of music for the Highland Baptist Church, installed Earthworks SR30 microphones on the tree.
“Over the years, we had used conventional condenser microphones for sound reinforcement on the tree,” explained Denham. “About four years ago, we converted to Earthworks and placed 16 SR30 High Definition Microphones on the tree. The Earthworks microphones make 60 singers sound more like a hundred, and we are able to get more gain before feedback. This allows us to bring the choir sound up to a level that will balance well with our 21-piece orchestra and organ.”
The choir begins each program singing on risers directly behind the orchestra. For these selections, Denham utilizes four Earthworks FW730 Flexwands. “The Flexwands provide us excellent coverage of the choir,” said Denham. “The rear rejection of the Flexwands keeps the leakage of the orchestra into the choir microphones at a bare minimum. The Flexwands are almost invisible from the congregation when the house lights are up. When house lights are dimmed, the Flexwands become completely unnoticeable.”
“I would also like to mention that we have an Earthworks PM40 PianoMic, which is just stellar. We use a few extra SR30s for solo instruments. The recent addition of an Earthworks podium microphone allows us to hear the spoken word with incredible detail and clarity either on, or off-axis,” added Denham.
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