Manila’s Favor Church has chosen the Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plug-ins for FOH and monitor mixing during services, as well as for livestreaming online.

Senior Pastor James Aiton and FOH/Broadcast Engineer Dan Blaza now find eMotion LV1 invaluable for delivering the Philippines church’s message: ‘We pivoted quite quickly when Covid-19 hit,’ says Senior Pastor Aiton. ‘We had to take our church online, and we are also planning to try and get into a larger venue once the pandemic is over.

‘Choosing the eMotion LV1 was a simple decision. In contrast to other large-brand mixers, the LV1 is fully integrated with Waves plug-ins. We saw that other people were bringing the power of Waves’ plug-ins into their live mixes, but with large and expensive desks as controllers. We thought, why not just go for a sound mixer that is actually built around these plug-ins and is seamlessly integrated with them? LV1’s networking ability and flexible set-up were key factors as well.

‘This mixer gives us pristine, world-class sound, both for our live audience in the room and for our online viewers,’ Blaza reports. ‘The LV1 enables us to create the right sonic pressure and energy in the most crisp way possible, and it produces a clean sound with higher reproduction accuracy. We are able to do multiple splits without using an analogue splitter, with easy networking using common LAN connections.

‘Another key is the LV1’s portability – imagine having a great-sounding 64-channel mixing console that you can bring as a hand-carry when travelling by air to church conferences and events – we may be moving between venues in the near future, so the LV1’s small footprint and portability gives us a future-proof set-up. And our musicians can easily mix their own IEM wirelessly through Waves’ MyMon Personal Mixing App, which gives them independent on-stage direct control of their monitor mix.’

‘We needed a cost-effective system that we could copy and transport to future new campuses, both in the Philippines and other locations around the world,’ he continues Choosing eMotion LV1 has been a great asset in helping our church, both in our physical service and our online service. The price point is exceptional, and the scalability is something we can expand as we grow as a church.’

Since the installation includes three LV1 consoles in a shared network, Waves’ Application Specialists helped the church’s technical staff plan the system’s design, ensuring fully qualified design and operation.

‘We’re using three sets of 64-channel eMotion LV1’s for FOH, broadcast, and monitor mix,’ Blaza says. ‘Two DSPro StageGrid 4000 I/Os situated at the monitor position beside the stage, are shared via IO Sharing on the SoundGrid network connected with Cat6 80m LAN cables to our FOH and broadcast mix LV1 systems, with 40 inputs and 24 outputs. We’re also using a Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server-C for redundancy, with a DSPro StageGrid 1000 for added I/O and headphone monitoring, as well as for our separate broadcast mix. The DSPro StageGrid 1000 is also being used for additional inputs and outputs for nearfield speaker monitoring and final mix output for our broadcast.’

Controlled directly from the LV1, Waves plug-ins play a key part in Blaza’s work: ‘We use the CLA Classic Compressors to add more character and control on all our instruments,’ he explains. ‘These compressor plug-ins also help vocals float on top of the mix. The SSL E-Channel and SSL G-Channel are used on most of our input channels to give an analogue feel to the mix, and the F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ enables more control on the vocal mix bus as well as on the PA output. We use the NS1 Noise Suppressor on our vocal mics in order to minimise or eliminate stage bleed providing additional clarity to the mix, and we place the L2 Ultramaximizer on the final mix for added security for our output levels.’

‘The Renaissance Vox is also on all our vocal mics to ensure that the vocals always sit well on top of the mix,’ he adds. ‘We also use the Greg Wells VoiceCentric to enhance all worship vocal mics and to handle effects for our singers. Last, but not least, we use the WLM Plus Loudness Meter to keep our signal level on track on all our streaming platforms when broadcasting.

Favor Church also livestreams four services eack Sunday. ‘Thanks to eMotion LV1 and the integrated plug-ins, we can achieve live mixes that sound as great as a fully mastered session,’ says Blaza.

More: www.waves.com