Glorious resonance
Glorious resonance
A full sound system upgrade has transformed services at the Basílica del Voto Nacional in Ecuador – the largest Neo-Gothic church in Latin America
With its towering steeples and magnificent marble and stonework, the Basilica del Voto Nacional dominates the skyline in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city. Located in the historic centre and one of the city’s main tourist attractions, the basilica was built between 1887 and 1924 to celebrate Ecuador’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, one of the Catholic church’s most practised devotions. With celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the consecration taking place in January, the basilica felt it was time for a full revamp of its audio system.
Professional audio, video and lighting specialist EASA is also based in Quito and was enlisted by the basilica to take charge of the upgrade and ensure all the audio in the church was perfectly installed so that this sacred event could go forward without any issues. Having already completed several smaller projects at the basilica over the previous few years, EASA sales and marketing manager Daniel Cueva first met with the basilica’s principal priest a year-and-ahalf before the 150-year milestone.
“The basilica is the most important church in Ecuador but the sound system was outdated and it made it very difficult for members of the congregation sitting furthest from the pulpit and the front altar to hear anything,” explains Cueva. “For a church of this size, you need good intelligibility so that all members of the congregation can hear the Word of God.”
After taking measurements, Cueva and the EASA team began by creating a 3D model of the interior. As part of the design process, EASA held a demonstration of the proposed HK Audio system at a small church nearby so that the leaders at the Basílica del Voto Nacional could hear how services might sound. “Even though the church where the demonstration took place was a lot smaller, the principle was the same,” adds Cueva. “We wanted them to hear the clarity of the system.”
One of the most challenging aspects of the project was dealing with the reverberations in the church, a result of the extensive stone and marble throughout, as well as a high ceiling reaching up to 115m in places. “With the old system that consisted of a variety of small speakers dotted around the space with no time alignment or EQ, if you clapped your hands, you’d hear the sound at the back of the basilica two days later!” jokes Cueva. “This is the main reason we opted for a column speaker setup because we can control the directivity on the vertical display angle.”
Eventually, the team decided on an HK Audio SI Series setup consisting of 26 P10i TR and four P10j TR speakers. The main PA at the front of the church consists of three speakers – one P10j and two P10i units per side – and measures 2m high. This setup is repeated behind the altar and serves as the main rear PA. Moving down the nave, the PA is supported by six P10i delay speakers fitted on alternate columns. A further four P10i are also fitted on the nave columns and fire outwards to cover the side areas. “We installed delays of two columns per side to cover the central audience area in addition to some single columns to cover the sides and the choir areas,” explains Cueva. “The delay system is aligned with the main PA system at the pulpit, so that clear sound can be heard throughout the church. With a space of this size, the main consideration is that the worshippers can see and hear the priest wherever they sit. And with the height of the building, we had to deal with all the late reflections bouncing off of the ceiling.”
Alongside the speaker system, EASA supplied four Sennheiser EW-D digital microphones, with splitters and external antennas. Additionally, the team also installed a Midas M32C digital rack mixer, with the outputs controlling all the main speakers and delay columns.
One of the main challenges was the basilica’s extensive stonework. “We had to take extra care to make sure the stonework isn’t being damaged,” explains Cueva. Because of the number of loudspeakers being installed and the entire power supply in the basilica needing an upgrade, there was a substantial amount of wiring that needed to be fed through some difficult spaces, including under the floor. “In some places, we needed to take out pieces of marble to pass the wiring through the pipes underneath, and place the marble back perfectly without any damage,” adds Cueva.
On top of considerations for the church’s historic infrastructure, Cueva and his team were faced with the challenge of working around the basilica’s services and opening times for the public and tourists. Working in the evenings and at weekends allowed the team to install the majority of the equipment. “For the final part of the setup process, services were moved to a smaller church nearby for a period of two weeks, so that we could complete the installation before the anniversary deadline,” says Cueva.
One of the main challenges was the basilica’s extensive stonework. “We had to take extra care to make sure the stonework isn’t being damaged,” explains Cueva. Because of the number of loudspeakers being installed and the entire power supply in the basilica needing an upgrade, there was a substantial amount of wiring that needed to be fed through some difficult spaces, including under the floor. “In some places, we needed to take out pieces of marble to pass the wiring through the pipes underneath, and place the marble back perfectly without any damage,” adds Cueva.
On top of considerations for the church’s historic infrastructure, Cueva and his team were faced with the challenge of working around the basilica’s services and opening times for the public and tourists. Working in the evenings and at weekends allowed the team to install the majority of the equipment. “For the final part of the setup process, services were moved to a smaller church nearby for a period of two weeks, so that we could complete the installation before the anniversary deadline,” says Cueva.
The Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus anniversary was also televised live across the country, so everything had to be perfect with the new audio system. Luckily, Cueva knew some of the members of the camera crew filming the event as EASA had previously supplied some of its equipment. “The mobile TV unit brought its own cameras and we installed at Cat6 cable to supply them with all the feeds from the audio system.”