Press release
05.09.2011 - Sennheiser UK
Sennheiser and K-array provide discrete sound for Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity Church in London’s Chelsea is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment. This has involved a significant upgrade to its audio system, which now features Sennheiser microphones and K-array loudspeakers, installed by Hampshire-based Sound Advice, which specialises in installations for listed buildings.
Holy Trinity was built between 1888 and 1890 and is of a striking Arts & Crafts design by architect John Dando Sedding and was famously one of former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman’s favoured places of worship. It also houses an important collection of stained glass, with its magnificent east window, which has become a reference for many stained glass designers, created by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.
Magnificent as the building’s design is, the church’s main purpose has always been worship and, with that in mind, the design of the audio system had to have the ability to be divided into distinct zones according to the requirements of the services being held.
“We needed something that is discrete, works with the architecture of the church, is easy for us to use and has excellent audio quality,” explains Reverend Graham Rainford. “We put our trust in Jon Hunnisett at Sound Advice and he has provided us with an excellent solution.”
The church is divided into eight zones covering the Lady Chapel, the choir, the area in front of the altar steps, three separate areas of the nave, the school and the new meeting pods next to the church’s entrance.
To achieve this, nine K-array KK50 compact line array loudspeakers are positioned on the church’s columns to provide coverage for the nave, with four KT20 miniature passive loudspeakers for the choir, all powered by KA15 amplifiers. The school is serviced by a separate system.
Sennheiser radio microphones were used throughout, comprising a combination of three ew 512 G3 lapel mic systems and four miniature MZH 3042 flexible gooseneck microphones with ME 34 cardioid capsules, two of which are paired SKP2000 plug on transmitters with an EM 500 G3 rack mount radio receiver for the lectern, choir stalls and pulpit.
The whole system is mixed and EQ’d using an Allen & Heath iDR8 digital processor with additonal inputs and processing.
“We allowed for two remote program selectors, one at the church warden’s position and one at the rack,” explains Hunniset. “This enables simple recall of audio presets, with the panel programmed so that a non-technical operator has local control of volume, mute, source select, and preset changes, which reconfigure the room for different functions.”
For example, Preset 1 is for morning prayers, with only the choir stall microphones and choir loudspeakers live at low level. The rear pair of KK50s can be on at low level for people at the rear of the church to listen to the prayers; Preset 2 is for the Lady Chapel, allowing the loudspeakers and radio microphones to be used for intimate services in the Lady Chapel, which are optimised for that area, but all of the other loudspeakers in the building are be turned off; Preset 3 accounts for the entire church, with the main sound coming from the six nave loudspeakers with the choir and Lady Chapel speakers on at lower levels; finally, Preset 4 is used for Major events, with all loudspeakers optimised to provide full coverage.
The hard of hearing are also catered for, with an audio feed sent to an induction loop system at all times, irrespective of the loudspeaker settings.
An 8 channel remote mix controller is fitted at the current Church Wardens position, along with one of the preset panels. This mixer provides simple operator control over some of the microphones and it can be pre-programmed in conjunction with the preset panel to provide a fine-tuning control over individual microphones according to the day-to-day requirements of the operator.
“The microphones installed all work within the building without dropout, with the ability for all six units to be used simultaneously,” continues Hunnisett. “We used an A2003 UHF passive wideband directional antennae to cover the space, alongside an AB3 antennae head amplifier and ASA1 active splitter to boost any weak radio signals.”
“This is a vast improvement over what we had before,” says Father Graham. “Our previous system had wired microphones and the cables were draped around the angel, which is the lecterns stand.”
A final, and extremely important addition to the installation, is the cabling which is housed in two inch steel trunking fitted in the floor ducts.
Holy Trinity is extremely happy with the result. “The original sounding board above the pulpit works extremely well as voice amplification,” says Father Graham. “However, modern amplification is a great help and the combination of Sennheiser microphones and K-array loudspeakers works extremely well.
“We are delighted with the quality of this discreet installation and highly impressed with the skill of Sound Advice’s engineers.”
Hi res images are available for download here.
For more information about Sound Advice, please visit www.soundadvice.co.uk
For more information about Holy Trinity, please visit http://www.holytrinitysloanesquare.co.uk/
For more information about Sennheiser please visit www.sennheiser.co.uk or call:
Sarah James, Sennheiser Pro PR
T: 01372 471472
E-mail: sarahj@gasolinemedia.com