ROCKLIN, CA, NOVEMBER 22, 2010 — Aviom Personal Mixers are helping the audio staff at Sunset Christian Center in Rocklin, CA, win the war against loud stage volume. The Aviom personal mixing system, along with an upgrade to the acoustics of the space, has helped Sunset Christian Center adapt its sanctuary, originally designed for a traditional worship service comprised of a choir and piano, to a more contemporary form of worship.
Stage volume became a challenge for Sunset Christian Center when the loudness of monitor wedges and guitar amps began competing with the PA system. In addition, there was a constant struggle to make each performer comfortable with his monitor mix. What would make one musician happy would be wrong for the next one. The Aviom Personal Mixers, along with in-ear monitoring systems, have solved these challenges, allowing the musicians to customize their monitor mixes while also reducing the extra volume caused by the monitors and amps, creating a better performance experience for the musicians and a better service for the congregation.
“The transition to contemporary worship was spurred by the church’s plan to attract new members. One of the key elements of that plan was the regular use of major recording artists as Sunday morning worship leaders, which required an equipment upgrade to match,” says Kevin Hartman, technical director for Sunset Christian Center. “Our goals then, were to improve sound on stage and in the house, and give each band member individual monitor mix control. The Aviom Personal Mixers allow us to accomplish that very easily.”
At front of house, sixteen line-level signals from the console, a Yamaha PM1D, are fed into an Aviom AN-16/i Input Module. The signal is then sent via Cat-5 to an A-16D Pro A-Net Distributor located on stage, which distributes the signal and DC power to seven A-16II Personal Mixers being used by bass, drums, electric guitars, percussion, keyboard and piano. The musicians use the personal mixers in conjunction with Shure, Westone, or M-Audio in-ear monitors.
As Hartman explains, the addition of the Aviom Personal Mixers to the church’s setup has been an easy one. For example, a few months ago, the church’s drummer started using a click track. Aviom Personal Mixers made it simple to feed that click track to all of the other musicians. Now everyone can control his own in-ear click level, and stay in sync with the drummer.
“The system is really easy to use. Musicians learn to use it quickly, and when rehearsal is over, they can save their mix into memory,” Hartman notes. “It’s great to know their mixes are safe, even if another ministry uses the stage before they come back. Another great feature is the ‘trim’ function. With a simple click you can reduce all the channels a little, and then bring up the one source that you need louder.”
Aviom pioneered personal mixing with its Pro16® Monitor Mixing System and continues to break new ground with the revolutionary Pro64® Series of audio networking products. With tens of thousands of products in the field today, Aviom has set the standard for high performance, scalable digital solutions. All Aviom systems harness the power of A-Net®, Aviom’s innovative digital audio technology that simplifies system design while enhancing flexibility and fidelity. All Aviom products are designed, tested, and manufactured in the USA.
