Waves’ eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and plug-ins are now being used to mix and stream services from the Bethel World Outreach Church in Brentwood, Tennessee.
‘We didn’t realise how much the Waves LV1 could do until we started throwing requirements at it. It could handle practically anything. We now use two eMotion LV1 mixers, 64 stereo channels each – one at FOH, and one for video postproduction,’ says Bethel FOH engineer Jeff Nolte.
Prior to settling on the LV1, the church was ready to invest in a copper split to accommodate a postproduction feed for TV and online transmissions. ‘After doing a bit of research, however, we realised that with just a slightly higher investment, we could upgrade from our antiquated console to the LV1 with its new technology, and even add a second LV1 for postproduction,’ says Nolte.
‘The first thing I fell for was the modularity of the design, which will enable us to grow on the fly when we need to. But the icing on the cake is the sound – the LV1’s transparency and warmth are especially noticeable. The mic preamps of the accompanying Waves SoundGrid stagebox, the DSPro StageGrid 4000, have a unique warmth to them, which I don’t find in all the other digital consoles.’
As a result of the new set-up, Nolte finds himself more focused on mixing, and less on technical issues. ‘Everything is neatly laid out and always seems to be right in front of you,’ he explains. ‘I enjoy how I can change the layout quickly and on the fly, and the custom pages are simple to build and populate – every time I have a new challenge that requires changing the layout of the faders, it’s painless to change it up. It’s also easy to navigate from page to page, whether it’s accessing mix buses in flip fader mode, or quickly building mixes on the fly.’
Set-up is also really quick, Nolte reports: ‘There are a couple of simple rules to adhere to, which make set-up, networking and connectivity very intuitive and concise. Our FOH position is permanent, but the video post’s LV1 sometimes moves around – it’s mounted in an OCD LV1 Cntrl housing, and when required, it is ridiculously easy to strike and move to another location.’
Using Waves plug-ins inside the LV1 has become essential to Nolte’s workflow: ‘The plug-ins are reliable and a joy to have sonically. They will spoil you before you know it, and you will question how you ever mixed without them. All my go-to plug-ins are zero-latency, which is indispensable since I mix monitors from FOH. My must-have plug-ins are the SSL 4000 Collection, the CLA Compressors, API 2500, the NLS Non-Linear Summer, and the Scheps Omni Channel. I also can’t do without H-Reverb and LoAir.
‘I like the SSL-E Channel on drums,’ he continues. ‘It makes everything pop and punch. And I use the SSL G-Channel on vocals – very smooth, and the vocals jump out in the mix. I like the CLA-2A Compressor/Limiter for vocal bus compression, as it seems to put warmth and character on vocals. I use the NLS on almost every input. It is like glue, making things merge and play well with the other tracks. I always use the API 2500 for my drum squash buss for parallel compression. Be judicious with the attack time and ease into it – that really makes the punch element shine without losing dynamic range.
‘I love the H-Reverb, if for no other reason than the 224 Rich Plate preset. It takes me back to a time when having that sound was a luxury. LoAir is my go-to for kick drum and large toms. Really gives the drum a richer character and finished sound. Finally, the Scheps Omni Channel is a great tool for both vocals and drums.’
eMotion LV1 also helps Nolte mix monitors from FOH: ‘We’ve been doing that with the help of the Waves MyMon Personal Monitor Mixing App and the DiGiGrid Q boxes that are networked via Waves SoundGrid. This was particularly helpful in that our stage was initially wired for Avioms, but not for analogue returns to stage – if we had to bring analogue lines to the stage from the I/O racks, we would have had to pull it. The fact that we were able to do all of the feeds to the DiGiGrid Q’s over a Cat5e was a total bonus. We have two DSPro StageGrid 4000s at stage, one DiGiGrid IOC audio interface at FOH and one DiGiGrid IOX high-count I/O interface at video postproduction. We are doing our Ethernet connection over fibre, since the cable pulls were in excess of 300ft.’
‘My expectations of the LV1 have been surpassed, by far,’ he adds. ‘This mixer hits a budget price point but you can expect it to perform like a very expensive console. The workflow is whatever you need it to be, and it can be completely transformed on the fly, even during a show. Sonically, I couldn’t be happier with the end result. Our change to the LV1 has been a success, and I have gone on to recommend it to a number of clients and friends.’
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