Central Baptist Church (CBC), located in St. Louis, Missouri, has installed two Allen & Heath iLive-80 digital console systems to handle FOH/Monitors and Broadcast needs. The 750-capacity facility is a dynamic musical church, which, in addition to various weekly services, hosts a number of events including theatrical, musical, and dance performances, community events, guest speakers, workshops and educational sessions. The installation was managed by Drainer Albright & Associates with system integration by Modern Communications and Output Unlimited.

“The church is undergoing a transformation to meet the needs of a media savvy generation,� explains Michael Drainer of Drainer Albright & Associates. “The iLive system has exceeded CBC’s expectations and has been the perfect solution because of its superior user friendliness, flexibility, and functionality.�

CBC’s Pastor, Dr. Robert C. Scott, was impressed by the quality of the new system:
“I have never heard my voice with such clarity in more than 20 years of giving sermons! The congregation has been so pleased with the new system, and it adds a new dimension to our services and events. We couldn’t be more excited!�

“The iDR10 stage rack is located on the stage and CAT5 connection to the console keeps the audio cable lengths short and direct. This greatly improves the quality of the audio and keeps the noise floor very low,“ explains Drainer.
“The all-volunteer staff have adapted quickly to the iLive with nothing more than a basic run through. None of the volunteers have ever mixed on a digital console before and watching them pick it up so quickly was very encouraging,“ he continues. “We configured DCA’s to run just about everything, making it easy for first timers. Permissions are locked down on the iLive so that volunteers and non-audio folks can run events without worrying about messing with any settings. Scenes are also configured for various types of events, including multiple services, weddings, guest speakers and funerals. All of these live on the Church administrator’s USB key, which allows her to set up events with very little support from other members of staff.�

The main 64 input/16 output iLive system, featuring an iDR10 stage rack and iLive-80 control surface, is configured with the surface installed at FOH position in the church and its iDR10 stage rack installed behind the stage. 48 inputs and 8 outputs are located in the stage rack along with a multi-digital output card for Aviom integration. Inputs are available for choir, lead vocals, backing vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, piano, guitars and spare inputs to cater for various events hosted by the church. Outputs are configured as main speakers, Aviom integrated outs, 3 monitor wedges, and matrix feed for the hallways, bathrooms, nurseries and pastor’s study. The iLive control surface at FOH is configured with 16 inputs for various wireless mics, CD, and video input, and 8 outputs are available for recording of services and patching any other outboard gear brought in by guest engineers.

The second iLive-80 system is installed in the broadcast room in the basement and is configured with Allen & Heath’s new iDR0 rack mountable mix engine. Connected to the main system with a single CAT5 cable (plus one for redundancy), all 64 inputs are available for the broadcast mixing engineer who provides mixes for a CD recorder, DVD recorder, local monitor speakers, and PC for CBC’s ‘Streaming Faith’ Internet programmes. The engineer uses 4 internal stereo effects for different reverbs and delays and provides compression suitable for each medium.