CHRIST’S CHURCH OF THE VALLEY TURNS TO SHURE WIRELESS

In Install News, Web Articlesby tfwm

unnamedMegachurch with Weekly Attendance of 23,000 Adopts Shure UHF-R® and QLX-D™

Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) started in 1982 in the founding pastor’s living room. Now, more than 30 years later, the church has grown into one of the country’s largest houses of worship, welcoming more than 23,000 people at services each week across six CCV campuses in Arizona’s Phoenix valley. To ensure audio is delivered flawlessly at each CCV location, Brad McCraw, Director of Live Production, turned to Shure wireless systems.

CCV’s main campus is supported with 12 channels of UHF-R® Wireless to mic the minister, lead vocalists, and band members. McCraw designed the audio system to include a mix of UR1 bodypack transmitters and UR2 handhelds with Beta58A® and KSM9 capsules. Aside from amplifying music and readings at the main campus, McCraw relies on UHF-R to live stream the minister’s sermon to all other CCV locations—a big undertaking that requires networked control and crystal clear audio.

“Every campus has a live band and pastor to oversee the regional service, but the sermon is streamed from CCV’s main site in Peoria, Ariz. It’s imperative the sermon’s audio feed is seamless with no dropouts, which is why we’ve got UHF-R,” said McCraw. “Our FOH engineer monitors channels using Wireless Workbench® software to allocate spectrum and assign compatible frequencies to each of our bodypacks and handhelds. This not only saves us time—which would otherwise be spent tinkering around to find available spectrum—it gives our CCV A/V team confidence that audio won’t be an issue during services, even when it’s live streamed.”

McCraw, alongside his colleague Blair Drake, CCV’s Director of Live Sound, is also starting to roll out Shure QLX-D™ Digital Wireless Systems at CCV campuses. For the House Of Worship market, QLX-D is a cost-effective solution that delivers exceptional wireless performance with transparent 24-bit digital audio. QLX-D’s automatic channel scan and IR sync make finding and assigning an open frequency quick and easy.

“A typical campus features eight channels of QLX-D—three are the bodypack and the other five are handheld transmitters,” said Drake. “It’s got solid RF performance and is used during services by campus pastors and the band, many of which are professional, contracted singers, guitarists, and drummers who tell us how pleased they are with the QLX-D gear.”

The price point of QLX-D was also a big selling point for CCV.

“When we searched for new wireless systems for the smaller church campuses, one of the reasons we went with QLX-D is because it gets us into a product line with incredible features at a price that makes sense for a church that requires us to really manage money well,” Drake continued.

In 2014, CCV’s congregation grew by 11 percent and in 2015, the church remains committed to making an impact in its local community and around the world.

“As CCV continues to grow, we’ll continue to trust Shure for our wireless needs,” added McCraw.