Issue 42 summer 24 web - Flipbook - Page 9
“Numerous performances – including a piece by Andrew
Lloyd Webber – were specifically curated to take place in
different spaces around the Abbey,” said Pymm. Additional seating was introduced in places previously not
used, and for everybody in the Abbey as well as worldwide
television audiences to hear what was going on the
production team needed to engineer the whole thing
differently.
in extra LCD screens and PA speakers to cover the King’s
College Choir in the Triforium level, and for more than
200 people seated in the Henry VII Chapel,” explained
Pymm.
Mark Ballard, operations director for Plus 4 Audio,
described the challenges facing the production team:
“Westminster Abbey is particularly challenging for audio;
it is hugely reverberant. It requires a low level, fully distributed sound system across the entire venue, because if
you excite the room too much sound just reverberates
around in the upper area and becomes very distracting,
not only in the room but especially on broadcast.”
“The brief was quite organic as some details were initially
embargoed by the Palace, but we were able to progressively translate requirements into tangible plans.” he
commented, “Our knowledge of the Abbey and its
existing systems allowed us to roll the project out with
confidence.
Whitwam engineers provided multiple audio feeds to the
Plus 4 Audio team, enabling each area of the Abbey to
be controlled individually. This was crucial to the success
of the event as it increased intelligibility for all the seated
areas by providing them with individually tailored audio
mixes.
“We needed to bring in complementary skills and for that
we collaborated with Plus 4 Audio, accomplished sound
engineers who we knew well and had worked with in the
past. They’re very experienced at delivering live venue
productions, especially those tailored for broadcast which
was going to be a major component.”
This enhanced level of zone control allowed Ballard’s
team to “push up clarity for the whole audience even with
the use of fixed mics as it wasn’t possible to put roaming
radio mics on the key participants such as the King,
Queen and Prince of Wales.
A Digico SD7 console was deployed providing fail-safe
backup with two totally separate engines in one console,
along with two sets of radio mics supplied by Terry Tew.
To support all the performers there was a channel count
of just under 60 radio mics, with additional feeds from orchestra mics, soloists and house pulpit mics. “We brought
“Our collaboration with Whitwam was critical to the
smooth running of the show. I don't believe either of our
Below, Andy Pymm
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