MISHAWAKA, IN – Lighting strikes can raise havoc with sophisticated electronic equipment, but in the case of the Albright United Methodist Church, a direct hit did more than that – it brought the original building for the church to the ground.
Three years after the fire, however, a new 450-seat sanctuary was built, and today it's used for a range of ministries, activities, and classes nearly every day and night of the week, including both traditional and contemporary services on the weekend.
To minimize the logistically complicated need for technical staff at all of the various functions, Last Pew Sound Engineering chose a Symetrix Automix Matrix 780 signal processor with Symetrix ARC wall panel controllers for the new multi-purpose space.
The church's new sound system includes ElectroVoice Xi-1152As biamped, Xi-1082 as fill loudspeakers and ElectroVoice Xi-1191A subwoofers powered by Crown CDi amplifiers. The main array is supplemented by delay boxes to cover peripheral areas, a second story balcony, and the choir. Shure wired and wireless microphones form the front end for an Allen & Heath ZED 436 analog/digital hybrid mixer, which provides output for both the FOH system and a Pro Co Sound Momentum monitoring system. Together with Audio-Technica wireless personal monitors, the Pro Co system controls individual monitor mixes using smartphones running Pro Co apps.
The Symetrix Automix Matrix 780 ties the system together, providing input conditioning, loudspeaker conditioning, and routing logic that tailors the system to the myriad needs of the church. The Automix Matrix 780 is part of Symetrix' Integrator Series of fixed-architecture DSPs and features 12 inputs and eight outputs with up to eight zones. Last Pew configured the unit at Albright for user control from three ARC-2i wall panel interfaces, which use eight-character backlit displays together with menu, up, and down buttons to flexibly perform installer-specified functions.
"Each of the Symetrix ARC-2i wall panels is located in a different section of the church to perform different functions," said John Lindstedt, sound designer at Last Pew. "For example, we have one in the choir practice loft by a 52-inch flat panel display with video access to previous services. Using a single selection on the nearby ARC, the choir leader can shut off all of the speakers except those that cover the choir. They can watch, for instance, last week's service and then practice to delivery a performance with more impact.
"Between the comprehensive control afforded by the ARC interfaces and the video technology that we were able to employ, the church has easy command of a system that would otherwise be quite complicated," Lindstedt added. "They can walk into the control booth and with a few button pushes, the video system is up and the audio system is configured to meet multiple applications. They don't even need to touch the soundboard except for the contemporary service or special productions. The traditional service and other basic application presentations require no one at the mixing board, which puts a lot less strain on the church's technical staff. Despite that incredible level of sophisticated control, the system ended up being quite affordable."
The church has gotten positive responses from the congregation since the new sanctuary was built – no matter where they sit, the parishioners consistently praise the system for its intelligibility and, during contemporary service, at least, its punch.
For more information, please visit www.symetrixaudio.com.
