A couple of shots of the building and construction team working on the The Basilica church of Our Lady of Knock, Ireland. The organ console has been literally plonked on the floor roughly in its final place after the cabling has been laid in the floor for it. This installation was especially difficult as I was working with many different tradesmen each wanting to complete their individual projects at the same time. This was part of a nine million Euro contract. Diplomacy and friendship was definitely called for here!! We also had to house two enormous 10 foot high speakers just for the 32' pedal stop! This building which seats over four thousand people is a very real challenge for me as the organ voicer and designer to enable the instrument to be heard adequately throughout the whole building without being too loud or soft in any particular area. Although the organ has a bespoke high-powered loudspeaker and amplifier system (concealed) there are five separate speaker systems for the various chapels around the building and another separate speaker system is used when congregations exceed that number, and are outside the building. All in all, over ten thousand worshippers can be accommodated, all of whom are able to hear the organ.

 

 

 

  

 

 

A completed organ, voiced by me, in Our Lady of Victories, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Built in 1969, this is one of the largest churches in Ireland, seating nearly 2000 people and I was working with my colleagues at Content Orgels in the Netherlands again, having supplied one of their excellent Content 354R organs.  Here I had to integrate the sound of the organ using an elaborate multi-channel high powered speaker system in conjunction with an extensive pipe facade from the old and redundant pipe organ. In addition the organist required a separate inbuilt loudspeaker system to aid tonal balance in the building.This was a complicated project to work with as the installation team had already left by the time I got there! However, at the end of the project I was especially pleased when the music team said that the organ sounded absolutely splendid, and immediately took me out to supper, incorporating more than a few pints of Guinness. I don't remember too much of the following day, travelling back to the UK.....

 

Of course, not all the installations I deal with are in the UK and here I was working with a German loudspeaker designer, a Dutch organ builder and a Chinese organist on the installation and voicing of a new organ for the newly constructed Symphony Hall in Shanghai, China. This was an interesting project as my Chinese is rather limited, and communication was a real difficulty here!! Additionally, the instrument was required to have an adaptable and modular audio system enabling it to perform in the two (very different-sized) concert halls in the same building. The large hall for full symphony orchestra concerts seating 1200 persons and the smaller hall seating 400 persons, designed for more intimate chamber-style concerts. The dual voicing of the instrument has to be that it would perform equally well in both halls, and not just being equipped with a volume control!!