With its domed ceiling and marble walls, St Mary’s Cathedral was struggling to deliver clear services to congregations in the Portland area. Recognising that it was in need of an A/V upgrade, it called on leading A/V installer Alpha Sound to tackle the acoustical issues with a system that would not compromise its elegant décor. To accomplish this, the installer used more than 20 mics from DPA Microphones – the largest DPA install in the area.
‘Everything about this space is elegant and high-end,’ says Alpha Sound lead engineer, Devin Sheets. ‘They have gone to great lengths to beautify the space, and we wanted microphones that would complement the aesthetics of the church. The placement was also crucial, as they did not want any microphone stands regularly in the way.’
Built in 1925, St Mary’s Cathedral has experienced concerns with its assembly unable to understand spoken word and the music portions of services due to its highly reverberant acoustic. This also affected livestreams of services since the start of the pandemic.
Included among the mics are 4097 and 4098 goosenecks, 4099 Core instrument mics and 4080 cardioid lavaliers, along with 4006C and 4011F pencil mics. ‘In addition to eliminating the need for stands, there was a requirement to solve the intelligibility issues both in the room and for the livestream,’ Sheets explains.
‘The space is very reverberant, so we needed microphones that would sound as natural and clean as possible. This way, we could ensure that we were not compounding the inherent difficulties of the acoustics. There are also several fill speakers nearby, which frustrates the ability to achieve gain from the presenter microphones as they move about the venue.
‘The DPA 4098 Gooseneck Podium Microphone and the DPA 4080 Miniature Cardioid Lavaliers are absolutely astonishing in terms of inherent gain before feedback. For the livestream, having dedicated pairs of microphones for the piano, organs and choir really help to clear up the sound when combined with the 4006C ambient mics in the centre of the room to pick up audience responses.’
Alpha Sound also hung eight DPA 4097 Core Micro Gooseneck Microphones from the ceiling above the choir and above the front and rear organs, supported by a pair of DPA 4006C Omnidirectional mics for ambience. This set-up gave the church the audio solutions it needed without sacrificing the visual appeal.
The team also installed four DPA 4011F Cardioid Capsules on MMP-F Modular Active Booms and two 4011C mics on short stands for various special events where the choir changes and instruments were added. Two DPA 4099P Piano Microphones were also selected. The 4099P mics can be left inside the piano when the lid is closed for storage, eliminating the need to set the mics back up before each use.
DPA was initially chosen because of its impressive performance in past Alpha Sound installations. ‘Going this heavy with DPA was a really big step for our company; it means the brand really impressed us,’ Sheets says. ‘We previously used DPA microphones with incredible results. The sonic quality really stuck in our minds. That, combined with the industry name recognition, made it obvious that we should be moving in the direction of DPA for our high-end clientele. The DPA 4098 Gooseneck Microphone was so impressive in a prior install that we amended the St Mary’s quote to include this mic.’
The DPA microphones also work seamlessly with the rest of the equipment Alpha Sound selected – a Dante network with a Yamaha MRX7-D processor. A custom-finished Nexo line array system was additionally installed to enable sound quality in what the team dubbed, ‘a difficult acoustic space for amplification’.
‘In our opinion, you can’t buy better than DPA,’ says Sheets. ‘People all around the world respect the brand and we know that it’s good. We’ve experienced the mics and we love them.’
More: www.dpamicrophones.com
