In Time for Holiday Services, Church Gives Congregation the Gift of Enhanced Sound with Yamaha CL5

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BUENA PARK, Calif.—This year’s holiday services at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Stafford, Virginia will be enhanced significantly with the addition of a new Yamaha CL5 digital console. The 500-seat traditional and contemporary style-worship sanctuary purchased the new console along with two Yamaha RIO input/output racks from Sound Productions in Irving, Texas.

“Our decision to replace our existing analog console, was based on three major factors,” states James Mills, Director of Technology. “It had to be a digital console since we have a tight turn-around of 15 minutes between services, and attempting to use an analog board to get accurate sound levels at each service would be very difficult. The console had to physically fit in a tight space. And, as a church, we wanted to spend our money as wisely as possible, so looking at the long-term picture, it made sense to go with the CL5 knowing there would be plenty of room for growth.”

Mills said church staff and volunteers actually had to completely remove their old sound/video booth and rebuild it to fit the new console. Then he and Dave Bryant, the Director of Contemporary Music re-installed the booth’s contents including the new CL5. “I love the ease of setup and punch and clarity the CL5 brings to our sanctuary,” notes Bryant. "Since the band changes almost every week, it’s nice having such a fast, easy way to make changes to the setup, EQ and DCAs. This certainly has set us up for the future, and I’m really excited about that.”

“The console has a lot of nice features that make it friendlier to our volunteer-operator environment, including channel labeling and plenty of room for custom banks,” adds Mills. While he never had direct experience with Dante before the CL5, Mills was familiar with what it could provide in terms of audio networking and features like being able to tap into the network for multi-track recording. “Dante gave us the assurance that this was the console that would take us well into the future.”

Ebenezer UMC’s sanctuary has an average attendance on a weekend of about 1,200 across five services. There are two traditional services, one with a four to six person vocal group and the other with a 30-voice choir. The other three services are contemporary in style with multiple musicians and vocalists.

“The Yamaha CL5 sounds great!” Mills said. “With no other audio changes to our system, the difference in sound from our old analog console to the CL5 is huge. From the pastors to the choir and band, the new console has brought to us a new standard of clarity and natural sound we had not heard in our sanctuary before. The choice of the CL5 has given us the confidence that no matter what happens next, we have a console that will be able to handle it.”

For more information on Ebenezer United Methodist Church, visit www.ebenezerumc.org.

For more information on Sound Productions, Inc. visit www.soundpro.com.

For more information in the new Yamaha CL5 Digital Audio Console, visit www.yamahaca.com.

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About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:

Celebrating 125 years of Passion and Performance, and 25 years in the manufacturer of high quality digital audio consoles, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. With the addition of NEXO to the product line, the company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker models. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.