"The availability of parts and cost of repairs was proving prohibitive, and so we started to look for a new console," he said. A short-term loan agreement funded the new purchase, which was made through distributor Soundcraft Canada and Mississauga-based Audio Operations - a dealer with whom Queensway has enjoyed a relationship over the past seven years.
The Cathedral was already familiar with Soundcraft, having owned a smaller board a number of years earlier in their studio. "It proved to be a competent console and this helped to shape my decision," admitted Bodnar. "I have also rented Series Five consoles on a number of occasions, as well as a K2. I find the Soundcraft consoles to be reliable, rugged, intuitive and straightforward with a good number of features for the investment made."
While Bodnar is the Cathedral's technical director, he still took the precaution of bringing in two consultants "to make some recommendations upon which I ultimately made my final proposal to our board of directors." He explained: "Many factors had to considered including monitoring capability, channel capacity, cost and ease of use for the volunteers using the console. The MH4 easily fit the bill in all categories."
During normal Sunday church set-up, Queensway can expect to utilise just over half of the MH4's 36 channels and approximately 10 aux sends for the instrumentalists and vocal monitors (mostly IEM). However, Queensway Cathedral also stages large-scale Christmas and Easter productions, which utilise nearly every channel on the console. "During our 2004 Easter Passion Play performances we used 55 of the 56 channels available, as we ran 24 wireless lavalier mics, an ensemble singing group of 16 as well as instruments - plus track and FX," says Bodnar. "The flexibility of switching between modes on the MH4 has been a definite asset because of the varied types of events the church is involved in."
(Lee Baldock)
