Kevin Crow, vice president of Audio Video Electronics says their firm has added eight Earthworks ChoirMics to the sanctuary of St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Crow says that their Maple Grove, Minnesota-based firm specializes in acoustics, sound, video & stage lighting systems primarily in the house of worship market, but also works in the hospitality, corporate and education markets.
“Earthworks is one of our very top choices for choir microphones in many of our church installations,” states Crow. “Earthworks is one of our strong preferences because they fit a really good niche for us.”
“Along with the customer, Brad Nelson, front of house Engineer for St. Andrews, we chose the Earthworks ChoirMics for the St. Andrews Church installation because they have a massive choir,” explains Crow. “Their sanctuary seats over 1,200 people. Even though their choir may project well into the room, we still like to mic the choir because it really fills the room. We positioned the ChoirMics on the various sections of the choir (soprano, alto, tenor & bass). In this large sanctuary, the ChoirMics are virtually invisible from the congregation,” says Crow. “Even when photographed with a telephoto lens the ChoirMics are hard to see.”
“The main reason we prefer the Earthworks microphones, is because of their sound quality and gain-before-feedback. The sound quality that we obtain from the Earthworks sound element is just unbelievable,” says Crow. “There is also a giant organ very close to the ChoirMics, which is the largest organ in the state of Minnesota. It is a miracle that we can get as much sound from the choir with the organ and mics placed where they are. It is a real testimony to the exceptional quality of the Earthworks microphones.”
“After this installation was completed, church leaders and members comment on the improvement of the choir sound quality on nearly a weekly basis. These comments are typically: ‘The music sounded good before, but sounds so much better now.' The improvement in sound quality is due to the use of quality microphones and a quality sound system working together. There are Earthworks ChoirMics feeding into a Midas Legend mixer through an L-Acoustics Kiva/Kilo loudspeaker system. It's like having all the best ingredients. You only need good music, and this church has that for days,” says Crow.
“We end up recommending Earthworks microphones all the time, because they are the only high-definition microphones in the industry. In addition they also offer more gain-before-feedback than any other microphones that I have ever seen. We use the Earthworks FlexMic podium microphones all the time, which is hand-down the best podium microphone in the world. I would also like to add that St. Andrews church also has an Earthworks PianoMic, and they really love it.”
Crow concludes, “The use of Earthworks High Definition Microphones enables us to design and install very impressive sound installations. Needless to say, we are great fans of Earthworks microphones.”
