SSL Live consoles on song at Victory
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Victory Christian Centre was founded in 1981 by pastors Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty and has grown to become a large and multi-faceted hub, incorporating a school, college, plus a wide range of ministries and outreach initiatives. The current lead pastors are Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty's son, Paul Daugherty, and his wife Ashley.
The Tulsa campus sees around 8000 people attend services during one week at Victory, using the 3,800-seat auditorium for four main services on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Chris Trowbridge, technical director and Front of House engineer, comments, "We run a high production value, concert-style service. Comparatively, we do an extended worship time with the band - around 25 minutes in worship and 10-15 in the Altar Ministry. Our pastor is also a musician and he loves worshipping."
Something else that sets Victory apart is its ambitious Easter and Christmas productions. These are well known for being no-holds-barred theatrical spectaculars that require months of preparation. "We normally have around 24 DPA head mics active during one of these productions," says Trowbridge. "We bring in a massive set. We turn the whole room into Jerusalem.
"The layout of the console really helps there. I like having the 36 faders up front as I have a lot of balancing to do and a lot of mics to deal with. I also use the FX Rack Automix tool pretty heavily for our big theatrical productions. Not having to eat up faders to make it work is a big win for us, which enabled us to fit into the L200 rather than going up to an L300 or L500."
On normal services, inputs to the two SSL Live L200 consoles at monitors (with monitor engineer Matt Anderson) and FOH number around 68, which includes all of the live band inputs: drums, two electric guitars, bass, two keyboard positions, an acoustic guitar, five background singers, three main vocals, and regular guest instruments such as violin or cello. The pastor and presentation mics, plus up to 16 stereo stems for music tracks make up the rest.
Duke DeJong, vice-president sales and integration at CCI Solutions, notes that the console is ideally suited to the flexible production environment at Victory: "The larger the venue, the more critical it is to maximize the clarity and fidelity of audio in every step of the system, and no one does that like SSL. Add to that a highly flexible work flow to help you easily mix 96 inputs and 48 outputs, and you get both pristine sound and total control of your mix. The L200 is really ideal for anyone who needs high-end horsepower on a mid-size budget, giving you the best of all worlds."
(Jim Evans)
