Christian evangelist and author Angus Buchan drew large crowds to the recent Speak Jesus prayer day held at FNB Vegkop Stadium in the Namibian capital of Windhoek. Organised by Mighty Men Namibia, the event called for a professional audio system that would deliver intellible audio to the thousands of attendees, all of whom were eager to hear the teachings shared by Buchan.
Local event production company dB Audio Nambia was responsible for designing and delivering the sound system. ‘Our brief was to ensure that the messaging came through loud and clear to an audience of 4,000,’ confirms Project Manager, Char-Ann Husselmann,. ‘Providing a great overall audience experience was the overarching goal.’
As the event was focused on the spoken word with interludes of worship music, speech clarity was a priority. ‘We opted for a full d&b audiotechnik sound system, products that we can recommend due to positive past experiences,’ Husselmann says. ‘Since it was a daytime event, we kept the lighting minimal and used only a few fixtures to provide a bit of eye candy for the worship component. Therefore, the focus was truly on the quality of the audio.’
‘d&b is always the best system to work with,’ agrees event sound engineer, Gerhardus Engelbrecht. ‘It’s easy to design and implement, and best of all, a good-sounding PA system even before you start tuning it.’
The main system comprised LR arrays of 16 d&b V8 loudspeakers in two hangs of eight, complemented by 12 d&b B2 subwoofers, also flown. For even sound distribution, a delay PA system consisting of 12 d&b Q1 loudspeakers was used, along with four d&b Q10 as front fill, placed to enhance speech clarity at the front of the audience. The system was driven by six D80 amplifiers and four D12 amplifiers.
For mixing, the event relied on Yamaha CL5 FOH and Yamaha M7 CL48 consoles, allowing the engineers to make real-time adjustments, both at the event and for those watching remotely through a live stream, which was supplied via a full multi-camera set-up.
The deployment was completed by Stage Audio Works’ own-brand Stage Plus Roof System. ‘The Stage Plus Roof System is a pleasure to work with as it is easy to assemble, and the internal ladder trusses provide useful, safe rigging points,’ Husslemann says. ‘It’s an imposing structure, and since it is fully certified, it makes compliance easy. We never have any issues for a qualified structural engineer to sign off on the system.’
‘Overall, the system produced outstanding results based on the array calculations. Everything ran smooth smoothly with no technical issues,’ Husslemann adds. ‘Speech clarity was most important, and the d&b system succeeded in delivering intelligible audio to a huge audience, despite the challenges of an open space.’
