The Finding Church in Bellevue, Washington has deployed the Waves eMotion LV1 Classic console and eMo IEM immersive in-ear mixing software to support weekly services and special events in its leased venue.

Production manager and front-of-house engineer Keefe Bieggar selected the LV1 Classic to provide consistent sound across Sunday services, midweek gatherings and annual conferences, while maintaining flexibility for volunteers and visiting engineers.

“Our ministry conducts weekly Sunday night services, Tuesday Bible studies, Thursday prayer sets and annual conferences,” Bieggar says. “The LV1 Classic is a perfect choice. It’s easy to use my existing Waves plugins and studio workflows in service. I’m not limited to one or two EQ options; I have the whole library of Waves plugins, unlocking limitless creative possibilities.”

The church operates a Dante-based infrastructure, using Hear Technologies Bridge for Dante as a SoundGrid-to-Dante bridge. Wireless microphone feeds, in-ear monitors and backline systems are routed via Dante, with additional integration for video, streaming and multitrack recording.

“The venue is leased, while we bring in and manage all of our own gear,” Bieggar explains. “Our system relies heavily on Dante infrastructure, and we are using Hear Technologies Bridge for Dante, serving as a SoundGrid to Dante bridge. All wireless mic feeds and in-ear feeds are supported via Dante, along with the backline in-ear system. Vocalists using wireless packs control their in-ear mixes via the Waves eMo IEM app. Integrating with other systems such as video, streaming or recording is seamless. The LV1 Classic has 16 I/O slots, each supporting 128×128 channels. Need more Dante? Just add another box. There are also MADI BNC and MADI Optical SoundGrid devices. The free SoundGrid driver lets us send channels to broadcast audio and our multi-track recording computer.”

Bieggar uses custom console layouts and scenes to manage transitions between spoken word, music and video playback, rebuilding EQ and compression settings as needed to maintain consistency across services.

“The LV1 Classic’s small footprint is a major advantage: It can fit in my car! I can’t think of another 80-channel desk I could lift on my own,” he says. “Space is limited, and the Classic fits perfectly in our small venue. Patching is easy and intuitive, and custom layouts are simple to build. Plus, volunteers find it much more intuitive than traditional consoles with outboard plugins.”

To manage clarity in a reverberant worship environment, Bieggar relies on Waves plugins for gating, expansion, feedback suppression and dynamics control. For streaming and broadcast mixes, he incorporates tools such as Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain and L3 Multimaximizer, while using snapshots to automate recurring performer settings.

“Both the FOH team and congregation are impressed,” he adds. “This is the most consistent sound we’ve ever achieved. The same plugins and chains I use in the studio are the ones I use live. I never feel like I’m fighting the console; it simply does what I need. The LV1 Classic has transformed our worship experience.”

Bieggar also highlighted the flexibility of the eMo IEM app, which allows musicians to control their in-ear mixes, including immersive panning options, while enabling engineers to limit visible channels for each user.

The Finding Church continues to scale its system as needed, using the LV1 Classic’s modular I/O architecture to expand channel counts and routing capabilities as its production requirements evolve.