A rapid period of growth has seen Southside Church in the city of Chilliwack, British Colombia, outgrow several temporary homes since it first set up in a school gymnasium 28 years ago. Now the church is moving into a new, purpose-built facility with two auditoria and several multipurpose spaces.
With its sound system required to be flexible, scalable and simple to use, Southside Church enlisted system integrators Sapphire Sound to design something to meet the its requirements. Sapphire Sound responded with a package that includes Allen & Heath and Shure.
In the main sanctuary, a dLive DM48 MixRack, fitted with a Dante card, is paired with a dLive C3500 Surface to handle both FOH and monitor mixes from a single location. dLive’s integration with Shure digital wireless systems is used for the monitoring and control of eight ULX-D receivers from the C3500 Surface, via a Dante network. Additionally, an A&H ME Personal Mixing system – comprising an ME-U hub and ME-1 personal mixers – is gives performers the option of controlling their on-stage monitor mixes.
‘At FOH, the mixer has everything we need,’ says Southside Church in-house engineer, Josh Esmeijer. ‘I always find myself reaching for the Deep compressors, and Dyn8’s multi-band compression and dynamic EQ makes controlling dynamics across the frequency spectrum easy. But, most importantly, it just sounds good.’
In the broadcast booth, a computer running dLive Director software is augmented with an IP8 remote controller, providing six layers of eight motorised faders, to deliver hands-on control of the broadcast feed with a minimal footprint. ‘We use the dLive for everything – from live services, to live-streaming, and multitrack recording’ Esmeijer says. ‘The flexibility of Dante, and the use of dLive Director gives us total control throughout the building.’
For the secondary auditorium, designed with youth ministries and conferences in mind, a 48-channel SQ-6 mixer, fitted with a Dante card, is partnered with a portable DT168 Dante remote expander which can be freely moved around the building as required.
‘The SQ is a great fit for our smaller auditorium,’ Esmeijer reports. ‘I like that the workflow and user interface is similar to the dLive, which will be important for training volunteers, and having them comfortable in both rooms.’
As with the main sanctuary, an ME Personal Mixing System andME-U hub feed several ME-500 personal mixers for on-stage mixing when required. ‘Our music team loves using the ME system to control and customise their monitor mixes easily on the fly’ Esmeijer says.
‘dLive is by far one of the easiest and most flexible platforms to train and equip users on,’ adds Steve Klassen of Sapphire Sound. ‘Its powerful routing capabilities and ease of use made it the right choice for this project.’
