Since opening its doors in 1995, the Mbombela branch of South Africa’s Church Unlimited has worked extensively with orphans, vulnerable children and widows, supporting around 1,100 children every month through the Sinani non-profit organisation. Recently, the church expanded its building to a capacity of 1,100 worshippers, installing a new L-Acoustics A15i loudspeaker system, DiGiCo S21 audio console, Klang:kontrollers, Klang:vocal, an Absen DW2 2.9mm LED screen and lighting, all supplied and installed by DWR Distribution.

Appointed consultant for the project, AVS Hire’s Kyle Nel worked with the church’s project manager, Louis Nel. ‘Involved at the church in various ways over the past few years, either behind or in front of the sound desk, I had direct insight into the challenges that had to be eliminated,’ Kyle says. ‘The main focus was getting the venue to sound good from any listening position.’

Their relationship was assured, as his rental company had regularly been supplying a sound technician and gear for church services. ‘A technical upgrade had been top of mind since before lockdown and many quotes had been requested and received with various solutions and proposals,’ he says.

Kyle recalls a meeting when he was asked what he would do if given carte blanche to make life easier behind the console and the service sound better. ‘It’s simple,’ he replied, ‘an L-Acoustics PA, DiGiCo desk, fully kitted stageboxes, Klang for immersive IEM and the right people to do it.’

From here, the meeting tripled in length, ideas were thrown back and forth, and directly afterwards, he made contact with DWR Distribution. ‘Robert Izzett and I went for a site visit at the end of last year after receiving the basic brief,’ explains Richard Smith of DWR, who was Project Manager and Audio System Designer for the installation. ‘We always like to verify rigging, power and so on before doing a final quote. The brief was for basic lighting, audio consisting of a PA, cabling infrastructure, a mixing console and personal monitoring system, and an LED screen. Our main contact was Louis Nel, the project manager for the project and a full-time elder in the church.

‘I think on a personal note, this was probably one of the easiest clients I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, making the job so much easier.’

‘The greatest challenge was planning the different phases of the new building and installation as finances allowed,’ Louis Nel offers. ‘We were grateful that we could complete the new audio system together with the media upgrade. We love the new sound and have only had positive comments. It has been a great improvement to what we had in the past.’

The new audio system comprises an L-Acoustics system of four hangs of two A15i Focus and an A15i Wide each. Six KS21i 21-inch subwoofers are evenly distributed in front of the stage. This is all powered by one LA12X and two LA4X amplified controllers.

The console is a DiGiCo S21 surface with a D2-Rack. ‘We installed a MOD-DMI-Dante2 Dante Card into the console for integration with the Klang Personal Monitoring system, and other possible Dante devices,’ Smith says. ‘The Personal Monitoring System consists of a Klang:vokaal processor, and six Klang:kontrollers for the main band members. The church already owned six wireless in-ear systems, and these were fed by the console, and controlled wirelessly via the Klang App.’

‘The response from our musicians is that Klang is revolutionary,’ Kyle adds. ‘The ambient mics are such a great complement, and with the immersive audio positioning that is possible with the system, the band members are getting more involved in the purpose than the process. They can focus on their art – not on their monitor sound.’

Kyle also wanted a neat and easy way for the church band to plug their instruments into the system. ‘We used a box designed by DWR Distribution’s manufacturing department to create a system of 13 Stage Dip Boxes to plug in instruments or Klang:kontrollers anywhere onstage, without having long cabling running over the stage creating a mess,’ Smith says.

‘This was a team effort and it was a great pleasure working with the church’s Louis Nel and technical support, Zander de Beer. Thank you very much to Kyle Nel and JP Ridgard from AVS Hire for trusting us with the project. I would also like to thank Robert Izzett for his contribution as rigging consultant, for the screen set up and installation work completed, to Jaco Beukes for the audio system tuning and audio install, and then to Keith Pugin, Rob Young and the DWR Manufacturing department. We called on the services of the Install Crew to help with the installation, and were grateful to be so ably assisted by Mpho Sediane and Patrick Buthelezi.’