Prominentin the contemporary worship movement in the US, Bethel Music recently set up in South Africa for a two nights of live praise music. Alongside a much-anticipated appearance in Pretoria, Bethel Music led an evening of song and praise with the Henry Pike Worship Band at Meerendal Wine Estate, Cape Town in March. This event – which was organised by Tygerberg Radio – required a sound system capable of addressing a crowd of up to 17,000 in an open-air setting.
A d&b audiotechnik system provided by Cape Town-based technical production company Golden Circle Events was chosen to meet the crowds’ expectations and technical requirements of the bands.
‘A great deal of kit is required for a production of this size, including audio, backline, lighting, video and power supply,’ explains Golden Circle General Manager, Lindsay Barton. ‘We worked closely with several other technical companies to organise the event, with loudspeakers sourced by us, C&S Audio and Ultra Events. d&b’s compact V-Series line array system was chosen for its versatility and transparency of sound.’
On the day of the Cape Town event, heavy rain presented a challenging to setting up. But despite the adverse conditions, an enormous system was deployed, including 48 flown V-Series line array elements, 16 flown V-Series V-Sub subwoofers,12 B22 subs in a cardioid sub array, four V7Ps as front fill and 12 Q1s, all of which were driven by d&b D80 and D12 amplifiers.
‘Getting the subs to spread wide enough and to project all the way to the back at the same time was initially challenging, but with a few adjustments, we were able to achieve the desired coverage, reaching a distance of 170m and covering a width of 100m,’ Barton says. ‘Although the weather was against us on show day, the performance of the V-Series was exceptional, even with the minimal time we had to spend on adjustments whilst we worked to protect the stage and gear from the rain.’
Despite the downpours, an estimated 17,000 people attended the evening of worship, song and celebration with Bethel Music. Crowd favourites included ‘Goodness of God’ and ‘Raise A Hallelujah’.
‘I love the system,’ Barton says. ‘It’s one of the most transparent and most natural sounding systems I have ever worked with, and it doesn’t require loads of DSP. The cardioid sub-arrays are another highlight; a hassle-free solution that is ideal for bands and touring environments.’
Not only did the d&b system resist the elements, the V-Series proved that it can handle big events with ease. ‘This PA did exceptionally well,’ Barton confirms. ‘I have long been of the opinion that the physical design of d&b loudspeakers is the reason they sound so good, and this event reinforced my beliefs.’
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