Midas PRO2 Proves a Perfect Fit for Family Life in New York

	Sound engineers Jamie Heale and Jeremy Hill of Family Life Ministries with their Midas PRO2.

With a wide-ranging media ministry spanning music, theatre, and broadcast, Family Life is a non-denominational Christian organization that uses the creative arts to spread its message across upstate New York and Pennsylvania. To accommodate productions both at its Bath, New York campus and on the road throughout upstate New York and Pennsylvania, Family Life selected the Midas PRO2 digital mixing system.

"We were replacing a 10-year old analog console with 56 inputs," notes Jamie Heale, sound engineer and IT assistant at Family Life. "We knew that a digital workflow would make things a lot easier, and looked at all the options in our price range. Everyone had told me that Midas would be too expensive, so we were thrilled when we found out about the PRO2 coming out."

Family Life's requirements for their new console included 56 or more input channels, ease of operation, fast setup, easy transport, enough outputs to handle both the front-of-house PA and monitor feeds, and of course, great sound. "In doing the research on everything available in our price range, the PRO2 really stood out as having everything I could think to ask for," says Heale. "But it's a big investment, so I wanted to get my hands on it before committing to it. And it was definitely the demo that sold me."

One thing that was instantly clear at the demo was the improvement in sound quality that the PRO2 would provide. "It had a nice, warm, full sound to it," he recalls. "It was everything I had been told about and read about the Midas sound, and then some. But what really impressed me was the workflow. Using POP groups and VCAs to group your channels just felt very natural. Then there were the effects. Having compressors and gates for every channel, plus the EQs, is a real luxury compared to our old rack of outboard gear."

The clincher, however, was the PRO2's easy, intuitive automation system. "We do a lot of concerts, but also a lot of theatre," explains Heale. "Changing setups for different theatre scenes within a production is always a challenge. When we went through the demo on automation, I was very impressed with how powerful it is, and how easy it is to use. I could really see how much time and effort this would save us. So when it came time to pull the trigger, we knew we wanted the Midas."

The transition to digital proved to be easier than Heale had feared. "We knew it would be challenging to switch from analog to digital, no matter what console we chose," he relates. "Obviously, there's a learning curve there but we were up and running fairly quickly. Our other engineer, Jeremy Hill, took it out for a concert event, loved the sound, and said he really enjoyed mixing on it."

Heale's first experience taking the PRO2 on the road was for Family Life's youth theatre workshops. "We got to one venue an hour late, so it was a challenge," he recalls. "But with a digital snake and no outboard gear to worry about, setup went extremely fast. Being able to copy and paste a setting from one channel to another made sound check go very quickly. We were able to get up and running and do a full run-through, and everything was on time. I don't think I could have done that with any analog desk."

The ability to save and organize scenes is another thing that's making life easier for the Family Life audio team. "I like setting up the POP Groups per scene for our theatre stuff, then just hitting one button and bam, here's my scene," he says. "I'm in the process of building a library of scenes and presets, not just for individual talent mics and stage scenes, but also for the venues. Like when we go to Scranton, it's the same venue every year, so I can save my house EQ settings and drop it back in and tweak it a bit when we return. It's going to be amazing."

In fact, the same benefits come into play for events held on the Family Life campus in Bath. "It's a multi-use facility, basically a gymnasium with a stage that's used for our performing arts productions." Heale explains. "Most of the time the console is in storage, so it's really a traveling situation, even for our own events. But now, our setup process is much faster and easier, and the results are incredible. The PRO2 is really everything I'd hoped it would be and more."