Glad Tidings adds DiGiCo and KLANG
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Much more recently, that same impetus to remain fresh and relevant also prompted the church to modernise its sound system with the addition of a DiGiCo SD12 mixing console and KLANG:fabrik immersive IEM mixing solution, both supplied by the local office of Conference Technologies.
According to Good News band leader Aaron Ott, who has also served as the lead keyboard player there for the past 13 years, the church took on an extensive update of its audio facilities, upgrading everything except the loudspeaker system of its 750-seat auditorium, which was built in 1975 following the destruction of the previous worship space by one of the worst tornadoes in Omaha’s recorded history.
“Our monitor world, in particular, was actually quite behind the times,” he shares. “We’ve used in-ear monitors for a dozen years, but we were using mono mixes directly from our old mixing console. We really needed additional monitor mixes for our team, and we knew we needed stereo, at least, but we had never been sold on other personal monitoring solutions due to their limited channel counts and extra clutter they brought to the stage.”
Having read about KLANG:technologies online, Ott mentioned to Greg Peteler, the church’s sound engineer, that he was interested in learning more, feeling that “it stood out as a truly unique and flexible system.” Upon learning that Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas used a KLANG system, the two reached out to coordinate a visit during a weekend service to experience their system and see how they were using it.
Both Ott and Peteler were duly impressed and quickly contacted Ben Shipman at AVA Reps, who supplied Good News with a DiGiCo SD12 and KLANG:fabrik for a few days of testing, solidifying that this combination was the right solution for moving forward.
“We needed eight to 10 discrete monitor mixes with 48 input channels,” Peteler says. “Considering the DSP-to-channel count balance in the KLANG system, mixing 48 channels with surround processing allowed each fabrik to deliver four fully immersive monitor mixes, requiring three fabriks to meet our minimum with a few extra mixes.”
Good News Church’s new SD12 is paired with MADI and Dante audio networks, three KLANG:fabrik units for 12 immersive monitor mixes, and a Dante-based multitrack recording system. Audio arrives at the SD12 via the MADI SD-Rack or via Dante. The console then pushes out 48 monitor channels via MADI to the daisy-chained KLANG:fabriks.
The church’s own tech team pre-staged most of the new system in a second location to build the network, test the signal chain, and configure all the routings. “Lifting and shifting” into the auditorium was then seamlessly accomplished mid-week between services.
Like many of today’s other churches, the Good News worship team performs a wide variety of musical styles, including modern pop-rock, contemporary Christian, gospel, electronic, acoustic, and jazz, and occasionally brings in additional instrumentalists—violin, cello, saxophone, and more—for special events.
Good News Church doesn’t have a separate monitor console, but, as Peteler points out, “With as easy as the KLANG system is, it’s not a position we would consider necessary at this point. Even if we have new vocalists or entry-level musicians join the worship team that don’t know how to dial in a good monitor mix, we find that recalling presets from the lead instrumentalists provides them with a great place to start. It’s all very intuitive.”
