St Mary’s is a Grade 1 listed building serving the town of Oxted in East Surrey. The church dates back almost 1,000 years and is mentioned in the Doomsday book. The style of worship is a mixture of traditional and contemporary, with an increasing use of sound and video support.

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The original 80’s sound system designed primarily for speech comprised of an inflexible control system powering a couple of column speakers – a very typical scenario. The brief to Sound Analysts was to install a new system suitable for both speech and music, adequately covering every seat in the Nave. The church is a popular choice for weddings and simple interfacing with portable devices both by direct connection and Bluetooth was essential.

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With the sound control cabinet located in the Chancel within arms length of the organist, mid-service adjustments were impossible. Keeping the control location discreet was an essential requirement. Sound Analysts opted for QSC’s digital TouchMix mixing console. With 16 x analog mono and 3 x stereo inputs, multiple outputs and additional iPad control, it was an ideal choice for St Mary’s.

The speaker system was replaced with a 5-channel configuration using EM Acoustics speakers for the Nave. The system was calibrated using Smart and the settings stored within TouchMix.