First Covenant Church in Salina, Kansas
Tech Director, Roman Burrows of the 600 seat First Covenant Church in Salina, KS, felt that the musical team had hit a ceiling with what they could do with their personal monitor system. Burrows was looking for a larger pool of channels to work with and more flexibility. The musicians were hoping to get a clearer sound with more choice in what they wanted to hear individually. When First Covenant started building a new youth facility, Burrows saw the opportunity to upgrade the system in the main sanctuary as well. “The musician's job is to make music and my job is to support the musicians so they can concentrate on playing. When equipment actually does what it promises—that is an awesome thing because it lets all of us do our jobs. That's what myMix does!”
At the time of installation, they did an analogue connection to their Yamaha DM2000 with 8 myMix units and 2 IEX-LA input expanders and 2 switches. Since then, they have gone digital; feeding 32 audio channels using 2 Yamaha MY-16AT cards with their console. In addition, they purchased myMix Control which is the myMix system management tool that runs on a web-based browser and can be accessed from your choice of device—even remotely. Burrows did a complete self-install and was pleased at the simplicity of installation and operation as well as with the customer support he received.
Including use of 2 of the local myMix inputs, First Covenant now has 34 a la carte channels on the network that they can pick and choose from. Burrows sends out a template (via Control) to all of his musicians to use as a starting point and then the musician can go in and add or take out whatever they want. Because the channels are name based, it is clear and easy to know what is being added or subtracted. The church has multiple Sunday services so changeovers are simple as profiles are automatically saved. If units get switched, Burrows can go in and simply copy and paste settings and profiles. This is a huge time saver for the tech team as it allows them to concentrate on the house sound and other things without compromising the needs of the musicians.
Musicians are especially pleased with the clarity of the myMix system. “Without even really noticing it, it pushes musicians to play better because the sound is so crystal clear,” remarks Burrows. His favorite feature is the ability to send a mix to the network. Burrows was able to free up an aux on the console by dedicating a myMix to the drums and then sending this back mix to the network for the musicians to use as their drum feed. The freed up aux channel allowed Burrows to put the worship leader in stereo on his wireless which has been a tremendous improvement.
Burrows has also been able to better support his musicians. Knowing the importance of 3-D sound, he listens in to see if adjustments would improve the musician's sound. Recently at a rehearsal, he was listening to the drummer who plays in an isolation booth. The drummer had chosen the worship leader, the lead guitar, some of the drum submix and the click track for his mix. The drummer was skeptical about changing anything but was willing to try a new mix. Without changing the volume, Burrows was able to add effects and pan plus feed him the bass, electric guitar, the BGVs and piano. The drummer stopped after the song and said, "WOW! It's like I'm in the room with them… I guess I just didn't realize it was possible for it to sound that good..!" That's all the thanks Burrows needs.
