Allen & Heath Brings the Digital World of Sound to Pleasant Garden Baptist Church

	David Marth with Allen & Heath GLD-112

Pleasant Garden Baptist Church of Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, welcomed themselves to the world of digital mixing systems by replacing their analog console, the GL2800, with the Allen & Heath GLD-112 and Qu-32 mixers in their sanctuary and student center.

Having nearly 3,500 members in and out of four different worship services every Sunday, technical director, David Marth, realized it was time for an upgrade. He wanted his team to have the ability to recall and save scenes, which he claims has been a lifesaver. The GLD-112 was installed in the sanctuary and the Qu-32 was installed in the student center.

"We were looking at both projects at the same time and wanted to do consoles that were in the same family, and Allen & Heath provides that. The operators in the church are beyond thrilled to have the GLD-112 at their fingertips. The teenagers mixing in the student center are excited about the Qu-32 because as their technology knowledge grows they will be ready to serve in the sanctuary on the GLD for our main worship services," said Marth.

The installer from Imagine Design, Josh Berneking, said the systems were perfect for their budget. "They came to us wanting an upgrade on the control side. Not only was it cost effective for the church, but it really fit their technical needs as well. The GLD-112 and the Qu-32 were both installed to suit each individual project," he said.

Berneking installed the GLD-112 surface, and maxed it out with stage boxes with an AR2412. He then added AR84s, one to front of house and the other to their video room to take care of the video ins and outs. "The system was also equipped with an ME-U and a bunch of ME-1 mixers as well," he said.

Different types of services require special specifications. The church has a contemporary service and a couple of traditional services. The contemporary service requires a full band that the uses the GLD-112 to run everything. The band also uses ME-1s and has a couple of stage monitors coming from the front of house for their singers. The more traditional services are scaled back a bit, but still have a few instrument inputs and a full choir.

Teenagers in the student center mostly run the Qu-32. Even though training was offered, they were able to pick it up on their own after watching a few YouTube videos. "The system was very intuitive and easy to learn. The kids love it," said Marth.

Marth, who has attended Pleasant Garden Baptist Church since childhood, has been staffed for 13 years now. "It's been neat to watch the technology change. I remember when I first came here, we just had a volume control mixer in the sanctuary and there was basically just a light switch on the stage that turned on the sound system. It's amazing how far we have come, and now we own these incredible, easy to use digital consoles from Allen & Heath," he said.