The hall itself had undergone a major refurbishment taking almost a year to complete and due to its ornate structure, the sound system installation had to be as discrete as possible. The hall is a large building and with the mixing position being virtually the furthest point from the stage, Hingley had to find a way to cover the distance whilst avoiding unsightly cable runs.
The hall is generally used for assemblies where a simple mic and playback is sufficient but can, on occasions, need to cope with big band jazz concerts and multitrack recording - so the mixer had to offer extensive functionality. Because of the distance to be covered, an accessible and straightforward digital system provided the best solution. Instant recall of saved setups was also very important as the system would be used by less experienced users such as students.
The School Hall sound system includes powerful front speakers for music, three pairs of delay-fills and one pair of back-fill speakers along the sides and rear of the hall to ensure a clear and even coverage of voice amplification. The loudspeaker specification meant the mixer had to cater for delay management to the fill outputs whilst still allowing for front of house and stage foldback.
Using the Roland system meant that HHB could run a single Cat 5e cable instead of a traditional bulky 32 channel snake. The built-in delays and eight band parametric EQ on every output also meant that tuning of the system for the hall was a quick and painless process.
(Jim Evans)
