Gloucester Cathedral dates to the year 1089, and boasts architectural features that are considered some of the best in Europe along with centuries of history. The Cathedral is also a favourite of Harry Potter fans, as the cloisters served as the location for various Hogwarts scenes in filming.
Maintaining the cathedral’s Grade One listed building status requires that upgrades to on-site technology must be carefully considered and planned to prevent damage, so a recent upgrade of its audio capabilities called the flexibility, scalability and low-impact installation benefits offered byAudinate’s Dante.
Audiovisual system integrator DM Music, one of the UK’s foremost and audiovisual solutions integrator for churches and protected historical buildings, was called in for the project.
When the cathedral began restoration of the magnificent Lady Chapel – the newest section of the church, built during the 15th century – the flooring was removed, presenting an opportunity to install new cabling under the floors.
‘When they were taking the floor up, we had a chance to put in a new PA system, and as is my habit on all large buildings with multiple areas, I put in a Dante-enabled equipment kit, including a Yamaha MTX5D mixer,’ says DM Music Installation Director, Graham Bennewith. ‘Whenever we’re working on a larger or a multi-area building, I use a Dante network because it allows for excellent flexibility. Even with the floor up, we still had very limited options for running cables; so, we got the Dante equipment in place then ran a network cable run through to the main nave.’
While the system can run independently, the network also enables the chapel to connect with other areas of the cathedral, including the main nave. Lady Chapel, which can accommodate 250 people, is often used as an overflow room for large events in the main nave, which holds around 2,500. The main nave was recently upgraded with an Allen & Heath AHM-64 mixer with a Dante card. The system is controlled by a Crestron touchscreen and a custom iPad app using Crestron for mobile/wireless connectivity.
‘Over time, as Gloucester Cathedral continues to upgrade its systems, each area will be Dante enabled,’ Bennewith says. ‘My team at DM Music is adding some microphones now, all fed into a Dante preamp interface. Dante gives us a lot of flexibility so these microphones can move around, and all they need is a network connection. By using PoE, users can take these microphones wherever they’d like. The main thing for my team is that, out of the box, Dante is clean, efficient, and easy to use. Dante just works.’
Bennewith said that while the cathedral itself is historic there are major benefits for all involved by choosing the cutting-edge when it comes to technology. ‘In the old analogue days, we would need multiple patchbays and patch lines all around buildings and have multiple processors and matrix systems, and the systems were complex and not at all user friendly. Because of Dante, the church loves their new systems, and they have had absolutely no issues.’
More: www.dmmusic.com
