When De Levende Steen (The Living Stone) Pentecostal ministry outgrew its existing building in the Dutch town of Hoogvliet, the church built a brand new facility in nearby Spijkenisse. Opened in the spring, the €10 million state-of-the-art house of worship features a Yamaha digital audio system.
The new building covers an area of 12,000sqm. Its main space – dubbed The Dome – seats 2,000, with a second room holding 450. Central to the design is a high quality audio network, which provides sound reinforcement for services and other events, as well as to allow De Levende Steen to broadcast its Saturday morning service on Dutch national television channel SBS6 and to record services for future use.
“People come from all over the Netherlands and from Belgium,” commented the church’s technical manager Rens van Reenen. “The old building was too small to accommodate everyone who wants to come, so we had no choice but to move to somewhere bigger. But building a new church meant that it could be designed precisely for our needs, including the AV facilities.”
The old building had relied on a Yamaha O2R96 mixing console. WIth experience and satisfaction in using Yamaha digital mixing and the enhanced flexibility and audio quality of the CL series, the team led specified a Dante network throughout the new building, plus a CL3 console and Rio 3224-D and 1608-D i/o units. All A/V equipment was supplied and installed by Smash Sound, with the Yamaha equipment purchased through dealer Sales All.
The CL3 is installed at a conventional front of house position in the Dome, although it can easily be moved to any point in the building, thanks to the Dante network. The Rio3224-D is installed in the backstage wireless receiver rack and the Rio1608-D on stage. Meanwhile the O2R96 is still in constant use, fitted with MY16-AUD interface cards and used in the church’s mobile video studio.
“We have used Yamaha equipment for a long time, starting on a very small scale many years ago,” commented Rens. “We chose Yamaha again because the equipment is pleasant to work with and it has never let us down. We are very impressed with the CL series – with the audio quality, ease of use and the flexibility that the Dante network and extensive onboard processing provide.“
Nominated for the annual Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (BNA) Building of the Year prize, De Levende Steen’s new building ensures that the church will not have to move again for some time. And with it being simple to expand the Dante network and add new Yamaha equipment, the audio system is thoroughly future-proofed as well.
