Yamaha LS9-32 for St Mary Magdalen Church
June 2007
When the time came to retire an increasingly unreliable analog console, the introduction of the Yamaha LS9 was perfectly timed to be a serious alternative even though digital consoles were yet to be embraced by the some of the churchs technical volunteers. St. Mary Magdalen has five diverse choirs with no full time sound engineers.
The different needs of traditional and contemporary choirs and the ever increasing expectation of great audio spurred the decision makers to carefully consider just how much the LS9 is suited to the role of primary mixer in a church. The fully featured channels with the excellent EQ and dynamics were a big factor and extensive use of compressors and gates are used to help the volunteer operators keep things under control. The recently remodeled church has very lively acoustics and also some restrictions on where to place speakers. The all in one control that the LS9 offers with delay and EQ on the outputs is hugely beneficial in this regard. A key feature is that one can recall a scene and get out of any trouble that may arise from service to service and operator to operator.
It is worth noting that the church uses three separate mixing consoles to achieve the flexibility required to deliver daily Mass, weddings and funerals and school services along with all the week-end services, most of which do not have any sound operators. St Mary Magdalen Church has recently formed a Technical Ministry to better manage all these events and a formal training program for all technical services is underway. Having great new gear and willing volunteers is encouraging a move to more services utilizing the LS9. Phil Brogan, senior and long standing chief technical volunteer is very happy with the LS9 and all the progress arising out of its addition to the church sound system.