MIDAS XL8 USHERS IN A NEW ERA IN SOUND AT WESTOVER CHURCH
With the first Midas XL8 digital live performance system installed in the U.S. at its epicenter, the extensive Midas, Electro-Voice (EV), Klark Teknik and Telex audio system at Westover Church in Greensboro, NC, raises the bar for House of Worship sound—and installed sound in general—to new heights, bringing an unprecedented level of user-friendliness and flawless sound quality (all with almost limitless technological and topological flexibility) to the new 3000-seat worship center.
This groundbreaking installation is the result of a team effort: Westover Technical Director Danny Slaughter worked with Donnie Haulk and Tim Owens of Audio Ethics (Charlotte, NC), Armando Fullwood of Design 2020 Church Media Consultants, Craig Bess of Telex Pro Audio Group reps Vision 2 Marketing and EV & Midas Tech Support on the design, development and installation of the complete, state-of-the-art sound system, which also features North America’s most extensive EV NetMax/IRIS-Net configuration and a total of 204 EV loudspeakers. To complete the total system spec, the facility is protected by Bosch fire and security equipment.
The star of the show is, of course, the new digital Midas XL8. The search for a new mixing platform for the Worship Center began around two years ago, when Danny Slaughter began to define the new facility’s audio technology requirements. “Originally I was looking at a large format analog console such as the XL4,” Slaughter says, “but realizing the variety of programming aspects between Sunday services and other events in the new space, I knew that we needed to go digital.”
Westover already owned Midas Venice and Verona consoles, and, while researching the available digital consoles, Slaughter naturally tuned into the buzz surrounding the Midas Digital Development project, specifically a press release in which world-renowned Midas advocate and XL4 user “Big Mick” Hughes (FOH Engineer, Metallica) mentioned that he’d been very impressed with what he’d heard from the then top-secret project. Having been unsatisfied with the digital consoles he’d demo’d up to that point, Slaughter took his research to the next level and contacted Matt Larson, US Sales Manager, Midas & Klark Teknik, to get more information on this new system. After talking to Larson, Slaughter knew he needed to see and hear the prototype for himself, and, along with Donnie Haulk of Audio Ethics, he nipped across the pond to Kidderminster, England for a closer look and listen. This visit confirmed that the Midas sound and feel was alive and well in the digital realm, and Slaughter signed up for an XL8 a year before the product was even released:
“All it took was to see the channel and master section and to hear the console and I knew this was what I had been looking for,” says Slaughter. “I had seen, operated and heard other digital consoles, but this design and sonic quality was 180 degrees away from anything out there.”
Slaughter added: "With XL8, the ‘Midas Sound’ and familiar feel of an analog console is very much intact, but with all the advantages of MidasNet Ethernet networking (the entire network is phase and sample synchronous, with full clock distribution & management), extremely high bandwidth efficiency (96 kHz sample rate), super-low latency (70µS network link latency / 2mS typical total system latency) and the (Audio Engineering Society-approved) AES50 open architecture protocol. Together with the extensive NetMax-controlled EV loudspeaker distribution, this adds up to a complete system that covers every inch of the building, and that can be remote controlled down to the minutest detail--according to exact location and application—via IRIS-Net software from FOH position on the XL8.”
As well as providing FOH audio to the Worship Center’s main 154 EV speaker configuration, the XL8 also supplies the monitor mix for onstage IEMs and wedges, the recording feed for video production, the 70V distributed audio and the hearing impaired systems. “We were not only looking for a superb live FOH system, but also the provision for distributed audio that could be routed via Ethernet to our production room, as well as throughout our new facility,” says Slaughter. “Another fantastic feature is our Midas road rack, consisting of six I/O boxes in a rolling rack. This allows us to pick up or drop audio anywhere in the facility for any kind of remote production. This I/O rack can also be used for a satellite or mobile recording truck’s tie in. And, of course, we have a 400 and 100-amp three-phase power distro, along with AES50 & Triax video tie lines for outside recording trucks and tour buses. The XL8 is totally inclusive in this regard, as we can push uncompressed audio wherever it is needed over the Midas network.”
Midas service manager Karl Brant traveled to North Carolina from the UK where he joined his US counterpart Mitch Mortenson to oversee the installation and conduct staff training. Once the system was in place, the time came to power it up for the first time. “I was so amazed at the difference it made to the sound of the room that I almost passed out,” reveals Slaughter. “It sounded like a totally different system with XL8 in place. It was as if the PA just jumped right out at you! The XL8 combined with our state of the art video and lighting systems combines for a unique experience for Sunday services as well as for other events held here.”
Though Slaughter is enthusiastic about all XL8’s myriad features, two in particular make life a lot easier: “The POP (Population) groups and VCAs (Variable Control Associations—same initials, different meaning!) are my favorites,” he says. “I basically stand in one place at the console and bring all the channels to me. I also like the detail section of the channel inputs, and the onscreen visual references are incredible.
“The most common comment from the congregation about the XL8 is that it looks like a spaceship,” Slaughter says with a smile, “but any seasoned analog guy would quickly feel at home behind it. I soon found myself so comfortable with the desk that going through the detail section on the channel inputs became second nature. I’m not even thinking of this console as being digital but as just another Midas console. I am very impressed with XL8 and look forward to showing all those that will come here to see and hear it the finest live sound console in the world!”
Westover Church: www.westoverchurch.com
ENDS
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Editors' information:
Midas live performance mixing consoles have been used by the world's most demanding sound engineers, performers and rental companies for three decades. The company strives to raise the standards of sonic quality through its programme of continual research and development, implementing new control functionality and user-friendly desk operation to anticipate and accommodate the ever-evolving needs of audio professionals who specify Midas consoles for their major tours, festivals, international events, broadcast projects and prestigious fixed installations.
