HARMAN’s Soundcraft® Si Compact 32 Provides Northside Christian Church With Ease Of Use For Volunteer Staff


WADSWORTH, Ohio — When looking to upgrade its front-of-house console at Northside Christian Church in Wadsworth, Ohio, Matt Howard, Music Pastor at the Church, opted for the most appealing and intuitive desk for the job: HARMAN’s Soundcraft Si Compact 32.

Northside Christian Church holds Sunday morning and afternoon services and utilizes the console for all FOH and some wireless in-ear monitor use. The morning service is mostly traditional, which differs from the afternoon program, which Howard referred to as “worship on steroids,” meaning they incorporate lighting and music for a whole show experience.

Howard wanted a console that wasn’t too daunting for his volunteers to operate, but still had the sound quality and durability of the Vi series Soundcraft boards that Howard has used before with great success.

“One of the biggest challenges was finding a console that allowed us to save our settings so volunteers could easily operate the console week after week,” Howard said. “We have a pool of about 20 musicians and 40 vocalists who constantly rotate each weekend. Since we don’t have professional sound engineers, we wanted the easiest board to manage their settings. With Soundcraft’s ability to snapshot settings, it has made the whole process very easy.”

With the additional MADI card that Northside Christian Church uses, the Si Compact 32 allows them to record rehearsals and provide a learning tool for the volunteers. “We turn the rehearsals into a virtual sound check where the person operating the console can play the service back and find the optimal settings for high-quality sound,” Howard added.

With an acoustically challenging building, having the ability to find the perfect settings has proven to be beneficial. “We have a huge wooden wall behind the stage which dulls all the sound and there are also sound absorbing panels in the back row of the audience,” explained Howard. “With the matrix on the Si Compact, we can offset that with some delays, and it has become really easy to manage.”

Along with the Si Compact 32, the Northside Christian Church deploys Crowns CTs 1200 and CTs 4200 amplifiers. “We never have to touch them, it’s great having the confidence that they are always up and running and providing the power we need,” Howard added.

“I’ve always loved the sound quality of Soundcraft but am greatly surprised by the power of the Si Compact. Soundcraft has always given me great support and everyone at the Church is extremely pleased with the results of the upgrade,” Howards summed up.

For more information on the Northside Christian Church, please visit: www.northsideweb.com

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012
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