Knock Presbyterian Church Upgrade Audio System

Belfast, Ireland (September 17, 2024)— Knock Presbyterian Church in Belfast has been updating its audio system over the last few years, and turned to Rea Sound in June 2022 to get insight into what might be the House of Worship’s next console. The church’s technical team, led by Brian Ditty, began exploring options to replace the existing 12-year-old mixer, and with that insight ultimately went with an Allen & Heath dLive desk.

Knock Church had to consider not only its current needs but also what some of its audio requirements might be in the future. At the time, the church had 48 inputs on the stage and used 16 at front-of-house for wireless receivers and more. Their sanctuary also featured seven distinct audio zones, using matrixes fed from the main LR mix. With future-proofing in mind, however, they wanted a minimum of 64 input channels and hoped to facilitate both multi-track recording and, taking into consideration an upcoming major building project for their halls the following year, sending further audio feeds to the new halls.

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Roger McMullan from Rea Sound met with the church’s technical team to answer questions, and arranged for the team to attend an Allen & Heath dLive and Avantis tour, where it could interact with the consoles firsthand. This experience solidified the decision to recommend the dLive system to the church committee, which subsequently approved the purchase.

Today, the church has  an Allen & Heath dLive CDM48 MixRack capable of 128×64 channels of 96kHz audio, paired with a C3500 control Surface. 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 8 line outs 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 their building project and to enable multi-track recording and playback.

Gerard Wilkinson from Rea Sound, oversaw the installation and provided training on the new system. He also fine-tuned the PA system, and the desk has been welcomed by the audio team and parishoners alike, said Ditty, noting, “Many from the congregation and visiting artists noticed the increase in clarity, warmth, and overall better sound.”