Knock Presbyterian Church in Belfast has called in Rea Sound a – specialist company delivering and installing audio, visual and lighting solutions, and distributor for Allen & Heath in Ireland – to upgrade its audio system. Marking what is regarded as ‘a significant improvement in the church’s audio capabilities, bringing exceptional clarity and warmth’ the upgrade has been praised by both congregation and visiting artists.
The journey to the recent installation began in June 2022 when the church’s technical team, led by Brian Ditty, began exploring options to replace a 12-year-old mixer. After considering various options, the team quickly narrowed their focus to Allen & Heath products, with primary considerations being versatility, features and value for money.
The church was using 48 inputs from the stage and 16 at front-of-house for wireless receivers. The sanctuary was divided into seven distinct audio zones, using matrices fed from the main LR mix.
In addition to its needs at the time, Knock Presbyterian Church required a solution that would also future-proof its audio set-up. With this in mind the team determined a minimum of 64 input channels would be required, and hoped to facilitate both multitrack recording and, taking into consideration an upcoming major building project for its halls the following year, sending further audio feeds to the new halls.
Rea Sound’s Roger McMullan provided support throughout the decision-making process, meeting with the church’s technical team to discuss requirements and answer technical questions. The team also attended an Allen & Heath dLive and Avantis tour, where they could asses the consoles firsthand. This experience endorsed their decision to recommend the dLive system to the church committee, who subsequently approved the purchase.
An Allen & Heath dLive CDM48 MixRack capable of 128×64 channels of 96kHz audio, paired with a C3500 control Surface was chosen for the upgrade. 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 outputs required at FOH. The MixRack was also equipped with a Dante 128×128 audio networking card to send audio feeds to the new halls following the completion of the building project and to enable multitrack recording and playback.
Highly experienced Rea Sound engineer Gerard Wilkinson oversaw the installation and provided comprehensive training on the new system. He also fine-tuned the PA to optimise the sound within the church acoustics.
Since the installation, the dLive system has been used every week to deliver high-quality live sound for services, concerts and other events, with feedback being overwhelmingly positive. ‘While 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,’ Ditty says. ‘Many from the congregation and visiting artists noticed the increase in clarity, warmth and overall better sound.’
