La Parole Eternelle
Church InstallationThe Start of a Relationship
Our latest church installation in Lubumbashi, the DRC, was as a result of our previous installation in the city. It turned out to be a somewhat different strategy, and hence a different speaker system. But we were delighted to have a happy client at the end of the project.
Initial Contact
Byron was invited to visit La Parole Eternelle in Lubumbashi in January of this year, to assess their existing system and to make recommendations. As a church that has multiple Sunday services in the same facility every Sunday, it was important to be able to create a way that all the services, including the English service in the afternoon, can recall their settings from the previous week without difficulty.
System Design
After assessment of the facility, it was time to design a system, which included audio for the streaming audio control room. We needed to allow a separate audio mix to be done for streaming, as it’s a different mix to the “house mix” in the main church building.
The church had indicated before that they were looking at equipment from China. We made it clear that if any equipment is not of the standard that Techmin is known for, we would unfortunately have to walk away from the project. The church then requested that Byron go to the factory in China to evaluate and ensure that the correct system is installed in the church. It ended up being a very fruitful trip, though unusual from the normal way that we do business. Byron did, however, go with an approach of “no compromise”. After long interactions with the chief engineer at the factory, via a translator, and a system demonstration, a speaker system was put together. The system was shipped to the DRC, and Byron returned to South Africa to put together the other components of the sound system.
We once again went with the Allen & Heath Avantis console. The console is so easy for the teams at churches to get used to, whether professional or inexperienced volunteers. The console is connected to the GX4816 stage rack, with 48 inputs and 16 returns. Besides the stage wedges from China, the band was equipped with the Allen & Heath ME system, which includes an ME-U hub, linked to 8 ME-1 personal monitor mixers. This way the band can set up their own mix from the mixing console. The Allen & Heath SQ5 was chosen as the console for the streaming studio.
System Design
The installation was done, making use of the local team in the church. Scaffolding was sourced locally, as well as the facility to hoist the speaker arrays.
Training
Training was provided for the team, after the installation. The language barrier is always something to contend with, but was manage to navigate around that.
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