Description

Faith Center Church is a non-denominational church located in Vancouver, Washington with an ongoing vision to build strong families, equip people for successful living & reach out to the world. It has a vibrant congregation of 500, many of whom are deeply involved in church activities.

Challenge

The 500-member congregation at Faith Center Church in Vancouver, Washington has ambition. Lead by Worship Pastor Adam Washburn they are coming together as a community of faith to record original music for their own members and for the world at large.

Adam is a musician himself and an avid music fan, and feels that there is plenty of room to take spiritual pop to new heights. "The world has done an amazing job creating great music" he says, "and I want to raise our church to that level". The congregation includes almost 40 performing musicians who alternate between being on stage and participating with the other church members, with 7 to 12 musicians on stage for any given performance.

For Faith Center Church, this meant a cost-effective upgrade to their analog audio system that would allow real time recording of services and performances while maintaining use of their existing infrastructure. They needed to capture multitrack audio for recording and to play this back over the house system in order to train volunteers to handle mixing duties.

Solution

Adam purchased a Yamaha LS9-32 digital mixing console outfitted with a Dante MY16-AUD card to handle recording and track playback duties. An Aviom system was deployed for in-ear monitors for musicians using the remaining card slot in the mixer.

While the analog outputs of the Yamaha LS9-32 feed the existing power amplifiers, the Dante MY16-AUD is connected directly to a new computer system installed exclusively for recording. Dante Virtual Soundcard software enables the computer to send and receive up to 64 channels of Dante audio on the network with no additional hardware, and allows Adam to use his choice of recording applications.

Cockos' Reaper software was selected, and 16 channels of live audio from the stage are effortlessly captured at 48khz sample rate and 24 bit depth.

The ability to capture recordings directly at the church has enabled them to do much more. Musician members can now rehearse and record on the very same stage they will be performing, rather than crowding into a home studio. The ability to play back all 16 channels into the LS9-32 has afforded a new opportunity, being used as a "virtual sound check" to tune the room sound and train volunteers who wish to understand how to mix live music.

The Faith Center Church will soon be relocating to a newer and more spacious venue nearby, and Adam is already considering how this new space will accommodate his vision of an expanded audio and video experience for his congregation. With Dante, the possibilities are limitless.

Benefits and Savings

  • Lowest cost solution for high quality, high channel count recording
  • Expandable architecture for system growth
  • Direct integration with house sound system allows congregation members to work on their project seamlessly with worship and rehearsal