De Bijloke in Gent, Belgium, dating back to the 13th century and originally built as a hospital and then transformed into a music venue in the 1980s, has been outfitted with a new sound reinforcement system utilizing d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers and supporting components.
The venue is easily one of the oldest buildings in the world that permanently serves as a concert hall. Unique in its architectural character, De Bijloke hosts programming that includes classical, jazz, and musical theatre. The combination of these complex musical genres and the impressive age of the building called for an expert audio solution to guarantee exceptional listening experiences.
The brief was to turn the venue into a state-of-the-art concert hall with a versatile sound system that would provide even coverage throughout the audience area. The new system was developed and implemented by d&b sales partner and integrator Amptec.
Acoustic treatment was a priority to be considered in the refurbishment plans as the wooden roof structure naturally absorbed a lot of sound and the ancient walls were warped, tending to reflect sound away from the audience. Acoustical engineering company Arup (known for its work at the Sydney Opera House and parts of the set for Björk’s recent tour, among others) addressed this challenge and managed to create a space that is now “tuned” for its use as a concert hall.
Despite the extensive work on the acoustics, the house sound system for this redesigned space came with challenges for Amptec. The hall is very long and, due to the age of the wooden roof structure there were limited rigging options for the delay speakers. As part of a tender process Amptec demonstrated the d&b Y-Series in the the hall, which generated positive feedback from the Bijloke team.
“We asked Amptec to bring the full system for a demo and invited a select group of sound engineers. We were all overwhelmed by the results,” says Natan Rosseel, Technical and Production Coordination at De Bijloke.
The system incorporates two Yi8 line arrays, each with eight modules and flown to the left and right of the stage. “We used the ArrayProcessing function to optimize both frequency and level distribution for the entire audience area, Rosseel adds. “This use of ArrayProcessing meant we did not need delay speakers, which solved the problem of not being able to fix anything to the walls.”
Amptec installed the system in combination with an R90 control panel. “Our goal was to make daily operation as simple as possible. With the R90 all system parameters can be set at the push of a button,” explains Brecht Ieven, Project Manager at Amptec.
“This sound system offers maximum control in a compact and user-friendly format,” he concludes. “With this technical upgrade De Bijloke positions itself at the top of the international concert landscape.”
