DESTIN, FL – Blessed with a 1,400-seat worship center, Village Baptist Church in Destin, Fla., schedules an ambitious calendar of dramatic productions, multi-media activities and services that span traditional to contemporary. Unfortunately, their wireless microphone collection, which didn't work well even when it was new, reached the end of its useful life and began distracting the focus of their services. Instead of praise for God and lessons from the Bible, annoying crosstalk between microphone channels and, worse, periodic interference from nearby Eglin Air Force Base captured the attention of church members despite their best attempts to ignore it.
Against this backdrop of wireless frustration, the church used six wired Neumann KMS 105 live vocal condensers and a handful of Neumann TLM 103 large diaphragm studio condensers. "We were very excited about the sonic qualities of those microphones," recalled Robert Curtis, media director for Village Baptist. “And when it became clear that we would be upgrading our wireless system, we knew we wanted to move in that direction."
With an upcoming production on the horizon, Curtis contacted Bill Manning at All Pro Sound in Pensacola to get a new system in place. "Of course, Sennheiser is well known for their RF stability," said Manning, "but when you add to that the excellent sound quality of their handheld and headset microphones, along with their ability to incorporate Neumann capsules, Robert was convinced."
Village Baptist received a host of new microphones to fit the various needs of their services and productions. Eleven Sennheiser HSP 2 ultra-lightweight head-worn microphones combined with eight SK 500 G2, three SK 5212 belt-worn transmitters serve for inconspicuous reinforcement of vocalists and seven handheld SKM 5200 transmitters with Neumann KK 105 capsules. An impressive rack of Sennheiser EM 3532 and EM 550 G2 dual-channel, true diversity receivers tie all 18 of the Sennheiser wireless channels down to the rest of Village Baptist's existing sound system.
In addition to microphones, the church upgraded to 12 Sennheiser ew 300 IEM G2 wireless personal monitors capable of supplying four separate stereo mixes via a pair of SR 3256 transmitters. Aviom A-16 series rack-mounted monitor mixers and remote control units feed the systems and ensure that everyone has a perfect monitor mix.
To coordinate all of these wireless channels, along with 10 hangers on from the old system, Sennheiser sent engineers to analyze Village Baptist's local frequencies to minimize crosstalk and interference. Taking Sennheiser's advice, the church purchased a Sennheiser NET 1 system to integrate and organize all of their frequencies with a computer interface.
"This is seriously great gear," enthused Curtis, "and it works beautifully. We've run 27 channels simultaneously without flinching. We'll replace our old wireless microphones with Sennheisers as the old mics die. It's frustrating, but we've learned the hard way. We bought less than the best in the first place and so ended up buying again. That's more expensive in the long run and we were forced to struggle with inadequate gear for so many years. From now on we do everything with excellence. Go with the top tier from the start and we save money in the long run."
For information, please visit www.sennheiserusa.com.
