The second annual International Drummers for Jesus Celebration recently took place at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas. The drumming festival included performances by artists Alex Acuña (Weather Report, U2 and Julio Iglesias), Richie Garcia (Diana Ross, Sting and Patti Labelle), Teddy Campbell (Christina Aguilera, Meredith Brooks), Russ Miller (Ray Charles, Toni Braxton and Nelly Furtado), John Blackwell Jr. (Prince), Sean McCurley (LeAnn Rimes, George Duke and Kurt Whalem) and more.
Two Aviom monitoring systems were used onstage for both the artists and supporting band, with content generated from the church’s 56-input Soundcraft Series 5 monitor console with a Mackie SR-24 monitor sidecar. The system used two Aviom AN-16/i input modules, 16 A-16IIs and one A-16R rackmounted personal mixer, while three A-16D Pro A-Net distributors were used for digital signal routing. Other gear provided for the festival included a Yamaha PM4000 with a Yamaha GA32 sidecar and Shure mics and in-ear monitors.
“The room, which seats over 5,000 when full, has a significant rear-wall slap, delayed approximately 250 ms to 500 ms,” says Bob Singleton, president of Singleton Productions and audio supervisor and location audio recording engineer for the event. “The rear wall forms a parabola focused on the stage area. Because of the volume of this slap, it requires IEMs or loud monitor wedges to overcome the echo. Percussive sounds are particularly problematic. By using the Aviom gear with the IEMs, each performer is able to create and listen to their own personal mix.”
The guest artists played at one of the four different drum kit locations set up across the front of the large stage. The band setup behind the drummers included keyboards, an acoustic and electric bass player, two guitars, a horn section, percussion and an eight-person choir.
“An event like this really requires the use of the Aviom monitor system,” says McCurley. “With multiple drum kits on top of a full rhythm section and choir, the need for a personal mix is vital. I found the Aviom system to be a great comfort in this scenario. We had a fantastic audio team that set up our mixes when we took our place to perform. This scenario is totally remedied with a little education on the product.”
For more information, please go to www.aviom.com.
