Yamaha Rivage answers the call to prayer
- Details
Audio, lighting, and video for the event was handled by Subfrantic Production Services, whose Yamaha Rivage PM10 and PM7 digital mixing systems managed all live and broadcast audio.
David Hathaway’s ministry approached Subfrantic because of the company’s work at The Experience in Lagos, Nigeria - an event which attracts over 500,000 worshippers - as well as its work on other religious events in the UK.
The event ran for eight hours and featured a mix of Christian worship styles, with a band, choir, and worship leaders including David Hathaway, Betty King, Bishop John Francis, Lou Engle, musical director Phil Woolley and tenor soloist Huw Priday. This provided Subfrantic with a challenge, as the audio production had to accommodate everything from quiet words and contemplation to rousing speeches, high volume preaching, Gospel worship and different styles of music, including opera.
Front of House sound was mixed by Subfrantic managing director Steve Davies on the Rivage PM10, with Adrian Chibulcutean mixing monitors on the PM7. Tom Gardner was the system tech, with Charlie Payne patching.
“This is the third time we’ve used Rivage on a big religious event. As a mixing system it suits them so well, there’s never any concern about capacity or audio quality. It’s all there, obvious and reliable, just as you’d expect,” says Davies.
For the first time, he decided to share the gain of one RPio622 I/O rack on stage with a second RPio622 at FOH for broadcast ins/outs, and to allow for any unexpected situations. Broadcast feeds included live sends to Christian media network God TV, with a stereo feed plus ambient direct to the OB truck for the event’s live webcast.
“My biggest worry was the acoustics. The SSE (Wembley) Arena is a big shed and I’ve yet to go to a gig there where the acoustics haven’t been cruel to the sound engineer,” says Davies. “As always, using the Rivage system’s Rupert Neve Designs (RND) SILK processing on all input channels was a lovely addition to the mix. It really helped me get the vocals across, without putting too much energy into the room.”
(Jim Evans)
