One of the biggest challenges in designing an audio system for the space was the need to retain the room’s reverberant character. Acoustical treatment was simply not an option.
“People from all over the world come to play organ recitals in this hall, and they were not willing to compromise the room’s acoustics as an organ recital facility,” says Wright. “But the majority of daily use for the space is really spoken word, and some choral singing with piano and organ.
“So we needed a very controllable, highly intelligible system that would address the room’s reverb issues without altering its character.
“The bottom line was if we were going to achieve any intelligibility in that space at all, we had to control where the sound went.”
Hearing Is Believing
Lifeline’s solution is a simple and elegant one – a pair of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC24-R digitally steerable array loudspeakers. The Iconyx arrays, mounted on either side of the altar, addressed virtually all of the chapel’s long-standing issues.
“We’ve used Iconyx in a number of previous projects, and have always been successful with them,” Wright notes. “They are without a doubt our choice for a steerable array, and we feel they are the best one on the market.”
A demo was arranged via Carl Schwartz of rep firm Frequency Sales. “We arranged a demo for about 70 people,” says Wright. “They were definitely skeptical, since they’ve tried so many systems over the years. But we’ve done a few projects with them in the past, and the results have always been successful, so they trusted us.”
“We just plugged a mic directly into the Iconyx, with flat EQ,” adds Mair. “The results were remarkable. You could see eyes popping open all over the room. They were just astounded.”
“I got up at the lectern and read a few things, and they still couldn’t believe what they were hearing,” Wright says. “At first, several of the sisters were saying, ‘oh, it’s just because he’s got a very booming, male voice.’ So we had Sister Priscilla Wood get up and do a reading, and they all said, ‘yes! That’s what she sounds like.’ After that, the next question was whether we could we get it installed by Thursday.”
A Biamp Nexia presentation mixer provides microphone inputs for wireless, pulpit and choir mics. It’s a simple, slick and easy-to-use package that can be handled by audio novices. The loudspeakers are self-powered, with specific optimized processing settings already set and locked down. “They’re very happy with the simplicity of the system,” says Mair. “It’s very easy for them to run.”
“They had waited many, many years to find the right solution,” Wright concludes. “Essentially, they waited until technology caught up with their needs. Finally we found a solution that really worked for them. They weren’t looking for a minor improvement; they were looking for a night-and-day difference. And that’s exactly what they got.”
Daniel Keller is a musician, engineer and producer. Since 2002 he has been president and CEO of Get It In Writing, a communications firm focused on audio and multimedia professionals and their toys.