Mount Harmony Baptist Church in Matthews, North Carolina, has upgraded its fellowship hall audio system with the installation of an Allen & Heath SQ-6 digital mixer, DX168 expander and AR2412 expander.

Alan Conner of Audio Video Concepts provided Mount the new equipment, replacing an analogue console and deploying the SQ-6 both FOH and in-ear monitor mixes for the church’s modern worship service each Sunday. ‘The SQ-6 gives more channels, a whole bank of effects and we added two expanders for their future growth,’ he says.

Taylor Helms is Pastor of Music & Worship at Mount Harmony, and manages the tech staff. He notes that the church uses another digital mixer in its sanctuary: ‘I have struggled to train people on that board but, with the Allen & Heath, my volunteers just seem to click with it. I had one volunteer who had only used the old analogue board so going digital kind of spooked him. But he has been like a fish in water with the Allen & Heath.’

Helms saves an SQ-6 scene so the services always start from the same mix, EQ and effects, and uses the desk’s hot keys for other functions such as like recording: ‘You just hit a button and there it is,’ he says. ‘Having that flexibility was a huge benefit.’

Mount Harmony’s service features a full band with vocalists and backing tracks, and Helms wants to add vocalists soon. Conner says the two expanders at the stage and the SQ-6’s own inputs for wireless mic receivers allow the church to fully use the SQ-6’s 48 mix channels giving plenty of room for this expansion. He adds that the booth is much cleaner now with Cat6 connections from the stage replacing the analogue snake.

‘Now, we have a full stereo set-up – that is a night and day difference,’ Helms reflects. ‘This has been a huge quality leap for us. People hear more distinctions in the music than they could before, and the clarity is much better.’

More: www.allen-heath.com