Alfred Street
Baptist Church.
Easter 2026.

01 / The musical approach

Build around the choir.

Alfred Street’s choir-centered musical identity shaped the approach from the outset. Personally mixing the arena sound, MRD owner Marlon G. Daniel established the choir’s presence, tonal balance, and level before building the other musical elements around it.

The central relationship was between the choir and the congregation, guided by the worship leader.

“I think it’s always good to determine your focal relationships before you start touching the console.”

Marlon G. Daniel, Owner, Front of House Engineer

The praise team added fullness and articulation. The band provided the musical foundation. The orchestra moved between supporting and featured roles as the arrangement required. Soloists sat within the musical picture, with room to step forward when appropriate—not permanently above it.

Microphone selection followed the same priorities. Marlon selected DPA 4011s for the choir for the natural presentation and off-axis character he wanted, and DPA 4099s for the individual orchestral instruments. Across the stage, microphones were selected source by source rather than around a single-brand package.

02 / The online audience

A dedicated mix.
A separate finishing stage.

Four consoles shared an Optocore loop, with the broadcast console in a separate room. One engineer concentrated on the broadcast mix. A second handled downstream mastering and finishing, attending to final tonal balance and level consistency across the program.

That division allowed the broadcast mixer to focus on the musical relationships while another engineer considered the finished presentation reaching the listener.

MRD also provided multitrack recording alongside the arena and broadcast mixes.

03 / The musicians

Give the orchestra its own engineer.

For 2026, MRD added a monitor engineer specifically responsible for the orchestral ensemble. Previous experience had shown that the orchestra needed more focused attention than one engineer covering the entire stage could provide.

A separate monitor engineer handled the praise team, choir fills, and stage wedges. The orchestra had someone dedicated to helping its players establish comfortable, natural-sounding in-ear mixes. Marlon reports that the musicians responded positively to that specialized attention.

The band used Allen & Heath ME-1 personal mixers, giving its members control over their own listening balance.

04 / Wireless & communications

Dedicated RF coordination.

MRD assigned a dedicated RF technician to coordinate the production's wireless microphones, wireless in-ear monitors, and Clear-Com FreeSpeak communications.

Wireless microphone channels

26

Wireless IEM channels

16

Clear-Com FreeSpeak drops

15

05 / The preparation

Each Easter informed the next.

Before the full ensemble rehearsed, MRD had already line-checked the instruments and roughed in baseline mixes on the band’s ME-1 units. Musicians could start with an established mix and refine it, rather than build from zero.

Across the recurring Easter productions, Marlon reviewed console preparation, show-file programming, routing, staffing levels, and specialist assignments. Established production concepts carried forward, but the process was refined rather than simply repeated.

The additional orchestra monitor engineer was one concrete result: a staffing decision informed by the demands of the production and the attention the musicians needed.

06 / The audience response

Positive feedback from both audiences.

Following the service, MRD received positive feedback about both the arena sound and the online presentation. Marlon also reported appreciative comments from participants watching the livestream.

That reported response addressed the production’s central objective: support the musical experience in the room while giving the online audience its own carefully considered presentation.