Michigan Catholic church chooses Allen & Heath

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Plymouth, Michigan, has taken on an Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital mixer for FOH and monitors.

The church offers traditional organ, piano and cantor music, as well as a five-to-seven-piece contemporary band. The acoustically lively and spacious sancutary features high ceilings, skylights and resonant walls, but also nook spaces where audio signals can get lost.

“To be honest, I was close to going with another board that was for the band only,” said Michael Ebaugh, audio engineer for the Parish, who initially tried out options from three different manufacturers. “Then I discovered that the Allen & Heath GLD-80 could accommodate all of my worship service needs.

“I research a lot as a critical technician. I spent dozens of hours researching Allen & Heath mixers. What I heard over and over was that the pre-amps are pristine and have a full, rich sound.”

The Parish decided to go for a full audio upgrade based on Ebaugh’s findings and enthusiasm for the GLD-80. Under the control of the mixer are JBL CBT 70J column speakers, QSC K-10 speakers at monitor position and a range of Earthworks mics, all integrated with a Symetrix Solis 8 DSP.

The main priorities were reliability and ease-of-use, as Ebaugh explained: “I have a need for volunteers and a priest to be able to walk up and push a few buttons, step to the alter and begin a Mass with all of the parametrics, EQ, compression and wireless settings ready to go, some of the time without a live FOH person. Standard analog mixing consoles can be boring for new users – the Allen & Heath GLD-80 draws you into how it works without being intimidating to the beginner, or relatively inexperienced audio volunteer.

“The GLD-80 has been a good fit for Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish. It made this retro fit job easy, and we didn’t have to do a lot of re-wiring,” added Nathan Cole of Sound Planning Communications – audio contractor for the project. “We’ve been Allen & Heath dealers for years. What I like about the GLD-80 is that it is very intuitive with a big display. The GLD-80 has found a sweet spot within the worship market. Its digital snake, channel counts, audio dynamics and price point are very impressive. Clients repeatedly enthuse about the channel strip layout on the GLD-80.”

Ebaugh concluded: “The industrial design, the form factor is very hand and finger friendly. It’s hard not to fall in love with the analogue designed but digital features of the GLD-80 – somebody at Allen & Heath did a lot of deep thinking about the end user.”

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