Knock Presbyterian Church goes live with Allen & Heath

Ireland:

Belfast’s Knock Presbyterian Church has upgraded its audio system with Allen & Heath’s dLive, installed by Rea Sound. The aim for the project was to enhance the sanctuary’s audio capabilities by bringing clarity and warmth to the congregation and visiting artists.

Led by Brian Ditty, the church’s technical team replaced the 12-year-old mixer and decided on the Allen & Heath solution for its versatility, advanced features and value for money. The church had 48 inputs on the stage and used 16 at front of house for wireless receivers and more. The sanctuary also featured seven distinct audio zones, using matrixes fed from the main L-R mix.

Knock Presbyterian Church also required a solution that would futureproof its audio setup. Therefore, it was aiming for a minimum of 64 input channels and hoped to facilitate both multitrack recording and, taking into consideration an upcoming major building project for their halls the following year, sending further audio feeds to the new halls.

Working closely with Roger McMullan from Rea Sound, the church selected an Allen & Heath dLive CDM48 MixRack capable of 128x64 channels of 96kHz audio, paired with a C3500 control surface. The CDM48 provides 48 inputs and 24 outputs, for use on the church stage, and a DX168 expander offers the additional 16 mic preamps and eight line outs required at FOH. The MixRack was also equipped with a Dante 128x128 audio networking card to send audio feeds to the new halls following the completion of their building project and to enable multitrack recording and playback.

Rea Sound engineer Gerard Wilkinson oversaw the installation and provided comprehensive training on the new system. He also fine-tuned the PA system to optimise the audio experience within the church’s unique acoustical environment.

Following installation, the dLive system has been used every week for services, concerts and other events at the church. The sanctuary cited that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many noting a marked improvement in audio quality.

“Whilst we had done a lot of background work in choosing the dLive, it wasn’t until it was in our church and working that the audio quality was considerably improved,” said Ditty. “Many from the congregation and visiting artists noticed the increase in clarity, warmth and overall better sound.”