P.A. Equipment suggestions??

[jmv]

For the past 2 months or so, i've been working the soundboard every week for my church (because my mom directs the choir). They're building a new church, and getting a whole new sound system, so i was wondering if you guys could recomend some quality equipment to fit our basic needs...

Just for reference, our choir has voices, guitars, and instruments.

We need at least a 24 channel mixer, more would be better though. It doesn't need much in the way of special features, but it ought to be a quality part.

As far as speakers, they're probably going to be mounted behind some sort of screens in the walls in the front of the church. So, i don't think the regular speaker enclousures from companies like Makie, etc., would be nessesary, but some quality standalone speakers (subs, midrange, tweeters, etc.) would be nessesary.

The church is going to be quite big, but i don't think the power level really needs to be all that great, because it won't ever get too loud, because the old people would get mad.

Budget isn't set, but suffice to say, the cheaper, the better.

And lastly, the soundroom will be located at the back of the curch, in it own little room, whereas the choir will be at the front of the curch, but there will be some way to communicate between the two... are there any special needs that would arise from that??

Thanks for all your help!!

Oh, and whats a good set of studio headphones to monitor things with??

[Ken]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

Make sure you aren't in a separate room from the rest of the church. Nothing worse than mixing a room you can't even hear.

JBL stuff is always great, I'd look at them for speakers.
DBX Rackdriver (I think?) is a great piece that can be used to more or less regulate an entire system (room EQ, crossovers, etc.). If you get the EQ set well, you can make better adjustments as needed, for bass, guitars, etc.

I would track down a professional in the field, especially a mixer instead of Joe-Blow at your local audio shop. A pro live-mix engineer will be able to tell you more about what is needed/not needed.

What I would reccommend:
Quality mixer (Allan and Heath, Crest, etc. Alright, I'm spoiled)

Power amps with enough juice (think of it as "headroom" and not "power"). You don't want to be overpowered, as that's just a waste and will generate extra heat. Crown is good but I'm more experienced with QSC. Based on what you said, I would expect at least 3 amps (one for woofers, one for "normal" speakers and another for the tweeters)

For church, I prefer wireless mics. More expensive, but they look better. Just be sure there's a place you can lock them up and there are a limited amount of keys floating about.

I also prefer having wall-mounted jacks in a church instead of a big snake running about (less chance of tripping over, looks cleaner). Just be sure you CAN get to the wires without too much hassle.

These things can be done well on a budget, if you really think things through. I would seriously reccommend consulting several professionals who do this instead of the church member that has a big home stereo that is a mess of cables and liable to cause a city block to go down in flames. Get several options, and talk to the guys and keep a good communication going. These sort of systems are of the sort that you don't want to be changing out equipment every few years because something went down. You may need an expanded budget but you'll come out ahead. And when you finally decide what to install, have a clear plan of how it will be done.

[Biu]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

I hear Carvin stuff is pretty good.

[jmv]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

OK, cool, any other suggestions??

[dontjokewitme]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

why do you need so many channels on your mixer?

[Hellion]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

Depending on the size of the church (and unless it's really huge) you can probably get by with just one amp, something like a QSC 2450 or something like it that packs a wallop. Combine that with a Mackie board (like a 1620), a decent EQ for the organ, and use JBL speakers with an internal crossover spaced at even intervals down the sides. Church budgets are sometimes scant at best and that should give you the best bang for the buck.

[Hellion]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

why do you need so many channels on your mixer?

Churches need a lot of channels, because there are a multitude of different inputs at any one time. Minister, Organ, Choir/auxiliary mics, (possibly) Guitar, (possibly) Bass, wireless inputs, FX returns (running them back through the board gives you more control over them), Solo singers, etc....

[kmcguitars]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

You might want to check out some Mackie stuff. I totally agree with KEN
Your going to need to hire a Consultant. Every Church I've ever been in
hade alot of natural echo , So your gonna need someone who understands
this type of acoustic envirorment.

[jmv]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

Ok, great suggestions guys.

As far as the number of channels.... we currently have one for the 'lead' singer (the cantor), 9 for other vocal mics, one for flute, one for clarinet, and 4 for guitars and bass. Even so, many of the singers have to double up on mics, and we also have the minister and the podium on a seperate system.

Can you guys think of any way to make sure i get a reputable consultant?? I love the idea, but unless someone specifically is reccomended to the people who plan all this, they'll just call some music store and talk to some teenager who has no clue about this stuff. It would be best if i could find someone to reccomend, but i don't know how to go about doing that.

[kmcguitars]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

Ok, great suggestions guys

Can you guys think of any way to make sure i get a reputable consultant?? I love the idea, but unless someone specifically is reccomended to the people who plan all this, they'll just call some music store and talk to some teenager who has no clue about this stuff. It would be best if i could find someone to reccomend, but i don't know how to go about doing that.

Maybe you can check the phonebook ? look under Audio or sound ? Then
quiz the guy as to what you want. It's a tough call But think up some
good questions to ask. depending how he answers you should be able to
tell if he knows his stuff, Or if he's a BS artist. good luck

[skyydogg01]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

cut your channels down a bit and not give every choir singer their own mic. put a couple of QUALITY overhead condenser mic's and you should be ok in that department. if your choir sounds good without mic's at all, they WILL sound good with only a couple overheads. just my opinion and i would say to hire a consultant. but as far as brand names ... Mackie mixer, qsc or crown amps, jbl speakers, dbx driverack PA to balance everything out. and don't discount Peavey ... some of their equipment can take a bullet and still work.

hope this helps

[jmv]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

well i guess it doesn't matter anymore, because the minister decided he wants the thing to be as simple as possible, just an on/off switch. Thats crap. No way to balance any of the music or anything. He of all people should understand, he's a musician, and a mighty fine one at that. I don't see how he can just brush this off as if its not important....

[Hellion]

Re: P.A. Equipment suggestions??

Sounds like a budget thing to me. Or perhaps the church board decided that they don't need it.