Shepherd of the Hills sets up with Mackie
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: Shepherd of the Hills is a modern church providing contemporary worship services from its main campus in Port Ranch and three satellite locations in suburban Los Angeles. With services at its West Valley campus operating out of a multipurpose school auditorium in Woodland Hills, the entire room is transformed in the couple of hours beforehand, with draperies, comfortable seating and a complete sound reinforcement system capable of covering the space.
‘Our desire is that on Sunday morning when someone walks in, there's kind of an “ahh” factor,’ explained Pastor Mike Johnson.
‘Everything that's not a high school gymnasium lives out in a trailer on campus,’ added FOH engineer Joe Fiorello. ‘Every Sunday morning, we set it all up, hold two services, and tear it all down.’
The portable system set up by the team each week comprises a pair of Mackie SRM750 active loudspeakers and two SRM2850 active subwoofers. For mixing, Mr Foirello makes use of a Mackie DL32R 32-channel rackmount mixer, controlling it remotely from an iPad.
‘A big plus for me in using the DL32R is that we don't have to deal with cumbersome snakes, and we don't have to deal with moving and storing a large console. Everything fits on a rack on stage, and everything is wireless at front of house,’ continued Mr Fiorello. ‘I try to get the audience experience by mixing from an audience perspective, and my end mix does change based upon wandering around the room.’
Monitor engineer Christopher Tom-Hoon agrees. ‘You're not tethered down to one spot. You can mix from anywhere in the house. Just to be able to go out into the crowd and make sure everyone is hearing what they should be hearing, that's a tremendous advantage.’