Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 137
best of both worlds: super high-quality audio for special
uses and musical recording, plus the flexibility of a
Dante network for everyday use.”
Some of the project’s most innovative solutions addressed
the Abbey’s unique architectural challenges. Microphones
suspended from the lantern, a central focal point of Abbey
services, required custom Igus cable reelers, capable of
30-metre drops. The microphone reelers provide precise
audio pick-up whilst preserving sightlines and avoiding any
permanent disturbances to the historic architecture. Other
innovations include custom ACS pressure-mounted camera
brackets, used to discreetly install a camera within the
decorative architecture of the choir screen vault.
For system operation, a dual-layer approach was required.
Clergy and vergers interact with a user-friendly 15-inch
Crestron touchscreen, custom-developed by Whitwam to
act like a portable vision mixer. This allows for a simplified
preview of cameras, feed selection and video routing
management for the Abbey’s existing display screens.
Professional engineers operate the full broadcast suite from
the triforium. A dual-layer approach ensures both simplicity
for staff and professional-level control for live productions.
Abbey’s network infrastructure transitioned from Cisco
switches to Netgear AV Line, with fibre-optic links connecting
remote cameras via AJA FIDO transmitters and receivers.
“
“
recalls Pymm.
Overall, there are a total of 34 network switches for
audio, video and control.”
confirms James Doherty,
Streaming Manager at Westminster Abbey.
The new broadcast control room in the Abbey’s triforium
enables professional vision and sound mixing, raising the
overall broadcast quality and unlocking a world of content
opportunities for the Abbey’s online channels.
“
The recording capabilities allow us to capture a wide
range of services and events and maximise this content
for many different purposes,”
explains Harris.
“
On the audio side, the upgrade introduced high-fidelity
capture across the Abbey. Schoeps and DPA microphones
cover the nave and sacrarium, whilst Neumann microphones
focus on the organ. A Pyramix digital audio workstation from
Merging Technologies, paired with a Five HAPI networked
audio interface, allows multitrack recording at 192 kHz over
a RAVENNA/AES67 network. Audio bridging between
RAVENNA and Dante ensures compatibility and flexibility.
I
“
The Royal College of Music (RCM) has partnered with
us to provide support for live streaming and manage
the on-site operations. Much of the broadcast control
room is modelled on the studios at the RCM, so we are
applying the expertise of one of the world’s best music
institutions to our streaming.”
We had to add a lot of fibre for the upgrade from HD
to 4k,”
Mini-converters and AV routing infrastructure, including
Blackmagic Videohub and ATEM video mixers, provide
routing and live production control. Epiphan Pearl 2
encoders handle high-quality 4K video encoding to multiple
destinations, including YouTube for live streaming and the
Abbey’s archival systems.
“
“
“
We needed a system that could be intuitive for our staff,
yet powerful enough for broadcast engineers,”
For example, our operators can capture certain sections
of a service or event, and send them to our content
archive, where our digital team can pick these up and
repurpose them as engaging social media clips, helping
us to reach a much wider audience, especially in this era
of short-form content.”
Whitwam AVI’s experience and expertise in the unique
needs of heritage sites proved critical.
The aim was to capture the choir, the organist and the
Abbey ambience in the highest possible quality,”
“
“
explains Pymm.
The benefit of setting up the network to bridge from
RAVENNA to Dante is that the Abbey can have the
Working in a UNESCO World Heritage site requires an
understanding of what is and isn’t possible,”
emphasises Pymm.
Protecting the fabric of the building is always our top
priority. This project shows how world-class AV and
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