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LONG-RANGE PLANNING : WHY WE WENT ALLEN & HEATH | Mitch Bohannon
Is your church still using a soundboard that was purchased in 1980 ? I would think not . 1990 ? Probably not . 2000 ? Maybe … What process do you have to go through in replacing a soundboard ? It ’ s a much bigger decision than that of purchasing a new microphone or some new cables .
In most churches there is usually some sort of committee or team that oversees the budget and approves expenses . I ’ ve heard many a complaint about committees , however it ’ s healthy to have checks and balances when it comes to managing people ’ s tithe money . This article is not about the committee process , but I will say , the better your overall upgrade plan when it comes to purchasing a new soundboard or two or eight , the more receptive committees will be .
BACKSTORY : If you ’ ve read my other articles , you ’ ll know that I came to be the Director of Live Productions ( Tech Director ) at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles , Louisiana this past December . The church had experienced the natural disasters of Southwest Louisiana 2020 and 2021 … including two major hurricanes , an ice storm , and a flood . One of the hurricanes really wreaked havoc on the sanctuary and other parts of the church as well .
The day I started to work at Trinity , the sanctuary was in its final stages of preparation for the grand opening . The decision about upgrading every venue to Allen & Heath had been made by a team of folks led by my worship pastor , Randy Monroe . Allen & Heath offers a series of control surfaces and mixers that are part of an ecosystem of products that have the same workflows , the same terminology , the same buttons and they work seamlessly together . That means as I have different technicians at church learning the different consoles , they are actually cross-training for running sound in another venue . Here ’ s the experience of one of our sound technicians , Marcus Michaelis , “ I ’ ve had the opportunity to operate the dLive , Avantis , and SQ6 boards recently installed in my church and in my 15 + years of mixing and the multiple brands I ’ ve worked with in the past , these boards have quickly become my