Allen & Heath AHM-64 Audio Matrix Processors have been key elements in three recent house of worship projects for church sound and A/V specialist, DM Music.
Based in Hertfordshire, in the UK, and with nearly 30 years’ experience of sensitive historic locations, the company were engaged by Gloucester Cathedral, Holy Trinity Guildford and Christchurch Priory in Dorset to deliver solutions that prioritised versatility and operational simplicity.
‘Audio performance in churches is always important, of course – particularly with regard to speech intelligibility,’ explains Graham Bennewith of DM Music. ‘But alongside that, usability by non-professional users is always a paramount consideration for us. There’s no point specifying hugely powerful systems that are impossible to use by the volunteers who tend to make up church sound teams.’
At the core of the AHM-64 is a versatile 64x64 audio matrix processor that allows integrators to quickly create scalable systems, supported by a comprehensive ecosystem of I/O, control and Dante solutions. The flexibility of the Allen & Heath ecosystem, in conjunction with the ability to seamlessly integrate with third-party control protocols, was a key factor in DM Music’s choice for its customers.
‘One of the great things with the AHM-64 is that it allows huge options in terms of connectivity and control,’ Bennewith says. ‘We installed a Crestron touchscreen solution at Gloucester Cathedral for example, and an Allen & Heath IP8 remote controller at Christchurch Priory – it allows us to specify a wide variety of control options depending on customer needs.’
For the Guildford install, DM Music took further advantage of the AHM-64’s connectivity options to integrate additional Allen & Heath products, delivering a holistic solution for the church’s diverse audio requirements.
‘While the three systems are regularly used for fairly straightforward speech reinforcement, at Holy Trinity in Guildford the AHM-64 is used in conjunction with an Allen & Heath SQ-5 digital mixer and DT168 AudioRack,’ Bennewith says. ‘Here, the system can handle everything from simple multiple microphone set-ups to fairly complex musical line-ups, but it’s still possible for a volunteer to operate with minimal training – it’s a wonderful solution for situations like this.’
