NEW BRAUNFELS, TX — Oakwood Baptist Church, based here, has been expanding its AV capabilities to meet its growing needs. Technical director Jeff Owen and Doug Windell of Ace Audio opted for a new Allen & Heath iLive 144 console with an XDR-16 expander pack and iPad app for the main sanctuary and overflow area and an iLive-T80 console with an iLive IDR 48 fixed format mix rack for a new youth facility that opened on the church’s main campus in 2013.
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For Jeff Owen, Technical Director of the Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, Texas, every Sunday is different, really different. “We can have a guitar player leading our services, a piano player or our Pastor,” relates Owen, adding that: “on most Sundays we have a hundred or more choir members.” Consider too that the regular worship band includes a ten-person praise team, drums, keyboard, bass, piano and two guitars…and a seven-piece horn section. This is Texas, and that means big churches, big congregations and some big challenges for an audio engineer.
This past year saw the church invest in new audio equipment to handle the dynamics of the growth of their worship services and other events held there. From traditional services to concerts, to community events this is a multi-purpose worship venue with several spaces needing flexible, reliable and crystal clear audio signals. Charged with delivering a solution for the challenge was Doug Windell, Design Manager of Ace Audio in Hutto, Texas. “It was time for a new mixing console to an replace the old, analog board, I knew the Allen & Heath iLive 144 was the right console for the job” say Windell. To accommodate the scope of the worship service needs Windell added Allen & Heath’s iDR 10 modular mix engine with 64 inputs and 24 outputs, 8 input and 4 output cards plus a Dante card for recording and streaming requirements. As if this were not enough, Windell also had to add an Allen & Heath XDR-16 expander pack onstage to give extra inputs for multiple audio sources.
“The move to a digital console gives the church the ability to set up different types of worship services from traditional to more contemporary experiences” shares Windell. “Plus the iLive dramatically improved the room audio and brought down the noise floor to zero” he relates. For Jeff Owen, the proof of the Allen & Heath audio quality came from an unexpected source: “When we started using the iLive console there was such a clarity of the speaker’s words that congregants began complimenting the sound right from the start. “The individual limiters, compression and gates on each microphone input are a big advantage.” he shares. “We weren’t built to be a concert hall – but the ability to distinguish the different instruments and voicing is wonderful, I can really make the guitar pop, for example. The iLive mixing tools enable us to balance the total sum of the audio to create a beautiful worship experience.” Owen says.
Another challenge for Owen and his team of ‘audio artists’, as he likes to refer to them, is the overflow room adjacent to the main worship sanctuary. “We recently had the opportunity to mix our overflow room using a wireless access point connected to the iLive network. All we had to do was have one person in the room with an I-Pad mixing the audio signal with the Allen & Heath One Mix app.” Owen enthuses, “challenge solved!”
In 2013 the church cut the ribbon on a new children’s space in its own building nearby the main worship center. “The kids space mainly does drama’s and video presentations so there is more of an A/V slant to the technology needs” states Owen. The equipment consists of two, ninety inch LED TV’s along with dual main speakers and a sub woofer-all flying. “The Allen & Heath iLive 144 console is so good in the main sanctuary, that there was never a doubt which mix console to use in the children’s space.” says Windell.
An iLive-T80 console with an iLive IDR 48 fixed format mix rack was installed not only to run the A/V needs of the children’s activities, but as a training console for the all volunteer audio team. “The T80 serves us perfectly for the Children’s space, but also to train the future audio tech’s for their duties in the main sanctuary” says Owen. The versatility, extensive, but straightforward set of tools on both iLive consoles, has opened a new world of audio technology for Owen and his team of ‘audio artists.’ “I’m an IT guy by trade, when I came to the Oakwood Church, my hobby was sound.” He says. “Now I’m able to bridge my love of technology with the creativity of music and spoken word thanks to the Allen & Heath consoles” Owen also spoke passionately about how his volunteers have been given a wealth of new ways to explore audio and to “paint an audio canvas” due in large part to the Allen & Heath iLive’s clean and uncomplicated interface design. “If its good for them, its good for me” he states.
Big congregations with big audio challenges need smart and straightforward solutions that are flexible, reliable and able to grow with them. The Oakwood Baptist Church is in the process of renovating its student center next. Allen & Heath iLive consoles will be taking on yet one more challenge from this vibrant church community. Jeff Owen sums it all up best for his audio mission. “Our priority is the greatest message. Whether that message is spoken or sung, the hope that is found in Jesus should be clearly heard.”
