OXFORD, GA — When the old analog mixing console in The Church At Covington went out last January, pastor David Payne and head sound engineer Glen Clark knew it was time for a change. “We knew it was time to go digital,” says Clark, “so we looked at everything that was out there. After consulting with Armando Fullwood and Ron Cochran from the worship integration specialists at Wave Group in nearby Atlanta, the church selected the Allen & Heath iLive T-112 mixing console with iDR-48 MixRack.
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It was not a decision made lightly.
“We got a list of recommendations from Wave Group, and I started playing with the online software from the various brands,” recalls Clark. “Playing with the iLive Editor software, I was like a kid in a candy store, using the Help function to explain things and learning how to configure the system. The other brands just weren’t as user-friendly. The iLive was the obvious choice.”
Once the decision was made, the installation was performed by Wave Group, with help from Glen Clark and two sound assistants from the church, Allen Braddy and Elijah Clark. “We got quotes on some others, but when you add in the training and service that Allen & Heath and the Wave Group include, we knew we were making the right decision.”
Located in Oxford, Georgia, about 30 miles east of Atlanta, The Church At Covington is a contemporary Christian congregation of about 1200 members. The praise team, with up to ten vocalists, is led by Jeff Hay on acoustic guitar and vocals. Once each month, gospel-style praise leader Andretta Guthrie substitutes. Instrumentation includes a baby grand piano, Hammond B3 organ, and electronic keyboards, plus a rock-style band with drums, two electric guitars, electric bass and saxophone.
Sound engineer Glen Clark runs both the house mix and stage monitors from the iLive T-112. His monitor duties include four primary wedge mixes: praise leader, guitar players, piano, and praise team. A fifth mix goes to a wired in-ear system used by the drummer, and another mixed output is send to a computer in the AV room for recording.
With the move to digital mixing, Clark finds his monitor duties much more manageable. “During practice on Wednesday night, I sit onstage with my Toshiba laptop and dial in the monitor mix,” Clark relates. “I run a Cat5 cable from the MixRack to my computer, and use the iLive Editor software. It’s just so much easier to be on stage with the musicians, hearing what they hear. Then I just save all the settings as a scene so we’re ready to go on Sunday morning. It’s a huge help.”
As for the transition to digital, Glen Clark is actually a bit perplexed as to what all the fuss is about. “I’ve been mixing analog since about ’92, and I was up and running on the iLive the day it was installed,” he notes. “It’s very intuitive and self-explanatory. Playing with the Editor software, the only thing I had to wrap my head around was the effects modules, remembering that it’s all on board, right there in the MixRack with the input/output. I used to have a rack full of compressors, reverbs and EQs. Now I have nothing but an iLive.”
Clark is also a big fan of the iLive’s self-contained Help system. “I love that thing,” he says. “Anything you need to learn how to do, the answer is right on board. No matter where you’re at, you can call up the Help menu and it’ll tell you what you need to know. It makes it easy to teach yourself, and a lot of more expensive consoles don’t have anything like it.”
In fact, the only issue Clark has experienced with the iLive was so minor as to be almost laughable. “I came in one Sunday and the clock was wrong,” he recalls. “It took me a minute to realize that the system went to Daylight Savings a week early, so I had to reset the time on the system. That’s literally the only issue we’ve had. Everything else has been smooth sailing, or as we say down here, it’s like a bonus taco. I can’t say enough good things about the Allen & Heath iLive.”
