New Beginnings
Genesis Christian College upgrades to the Midas Heritage D mixing console and immediately reaps the benefits.
11 May 2023
Text: Derek Powell
Situated in the Moreton Bay region to the North of Brisbane, Genesis Christian College is an independent, co-educational school catering for some 1500 students from Prep to Year 12. The College officially opened in 1991 with just 35 Year 1 to 7 students. Over the years, the College has enjoyed consistent growth developing a strong reputation for a holistic approach to education, which includes a strong emphasis on music and the performing arts.
The latest addition to the school’s 550-seat multi-purpose auditorium is a Midas Heritage D HD96-24 live digital console. The new console replaces a Behringer Wing which has been re-deployed to a smaller 220-seat performance space.
The College Audio Visual Coordinator, Dave Oettinger, no stranger to the Midas ecosystem, is delighted with the acquisition, pronouncing it to be: “the perfect future proof solution for our main auditorium.”
PLUG & PLAY
The new console has been put to work straight away with the busy regular event schedule in the space – everything from assemblies to student bands, drama nights, and dance events – but will really show its mettle during multiple performances of the upcoming school musical Annie.
“For Annie, we’ve got 28 channels of radio mics,” Dave explained, “and then 30-ish inputs for the band as well as other ancillary things like playback. All this is on top of another maybe 24 channels patched in for other things that the school uses on a regular basis.”
Providing I/O to the desk is a pair of Midas DL153 16-input, 8-output stage boxes along with a DL251 48-input, 16-output stage box. Simple Cat 5 connections via the auditorium’s data infrastructure made installation of the HD96-24 very straightforward. “Initially, I had some sync connection issues with the stage boxes,” Dave recalled, “but David Sullivan from Australis was able to quickly talk me through solving it on the phone. Apart from that, I’ve haven’t had any major issues.”
David Oettinger has been quick to make the most of the console’s online functionality. “From the get go, we’ve had it connected to the Midas Cloud,” he noted. “As well as acting as a backup for the show files, any updates get downloaded through that interface as well. There’s already been two minor firmware updates since I’ve got it.”
GETTING TO WORK
Between the regular day to day tasks and the production demands of the musical rehearsals, Dave has made full use of the various software features in the Heritage D.
He nominates the new Manchino feature as a great time saver. “It’s been very useful actually. It’s basically a bulk assign for certain parameters. So for instance, if you want to put a high pass filter on your 28 radio mic channels, for instance, you select all the channels and then just roll your high pass filter in; or turn your compressor on; set a threshold; set gains. And then numbering and naming channels as well. Rather than having to name radio mic 1 through 28, you can just bulk assign the name and it’ll number it for you, which is super handy. You can save a substantial amount of work on those repetitive tasks. Rather than having to copy and paste certain things across channels, you can just do a bulk assignment on that Manchino page.”
The Flexi Aux has also proved its worth for monitoring. “We’ve got 17 channels of in-ears for the band. Each one of those would normally need its own individual mix. But by creating a Flexi Aux for the overall band mix I can then send the Flexi Aux to each one of those band members and it saves having to copy and paste that mix across everything. Then if I change anything in that mix, it changes for everyone.”
LEARNING BY DOING
A state of the art console has been of amazing value to the students working with Dave – something that is not lost on the teachers and the leadership team at the college.
“I’m fully supported by the leadership here at the school. They’ve been really great,” says Dave. “They’re fully invested in the arts programs and giving kids the best opportunities they can to experience really good productions. And from my perspective, the opportunity to work on industry standard gear is hugely beneficial and inspiring for students that are interested in production.”
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the opportunity to work on industry standard gear is hugely beneficial for students that are interested in production
Genesis Christian College: www.genesis.qld.edu.au
Midas: www.midasconsoles.com
Australis: www.australismusic.com.au
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