DeltaLive Provides L-Acoustics Audio System For HM The Queen’s State Funeral

The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen took place at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19th September, with the Funeral service paying tribute to The Queen’s long and dignified reign.

It was broadcast live around the world, with crowds of mourners paying their respects along the procession route from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, and then to Wellington Arch via The Mall. The Royal Coffin made the procession on the State Gun Carriage before being placed in the State Hearse for its final journey to Windsor and St George’s Chapel where she was laid to rest in the Royal Vault alongside her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Arcadis LLP was contracted to manage the event and they turned to DeltaLive, a long-time supplier to both Royal events and Electronic Audio Systems Ltd, providers of the audio project management. Together, they had the honour of providing the public audio requirements along the route in both London and Windsor, as well as site-wide comms.

Although familiar with Royal events, this was, says DeltaLive Director Mark Bonner, the company's most important project to date. With complicated logistics to deal with and substantial technical requirements - over 700 loudspeakers, nine kilometres of cable and 60 technicians were deployed along the route - DeltaLive's skill and experience was brought to the fore.

Preparation started overnight on Friday 9th September in The Mall and continued along the route and throughout the weekend. "I had three seasoned project managers brought to the project," said Bonner. "One was in charge of London, one Windsor, and one covered both areas, to ensure we had good, consistent communication between the sites."

For Horse Guards Parade, 18 Kara per side were hung from a crane to provide coverage across the parade ground. A further two hangs of 12 K2, also on cranes to keep them out of view of the television cameras, covered Parliament Square. Ground-stacked Kara provided coverage for the disabled area near the Queen Victoria Monument, with additional stacks at the top of Horse Guards Road. The systems were linked together from a cabin in Canada Gate where an engineer ensured signal ran to all areas. The egress route from Hyde Park to Green Park station was covered with horn speakers and DeltaLive coordinated with the police for any public announcements needed.

In Windsor, the DeltaLive team had the advantage of having worked on the most recent Royal Wedding, where they had placed loudspeakers on the battlements of Windsor Castle for the first time in the castle’s history.

"This time, we placed L-Acoustics 12-inch coaxial enclosures," said Bonner. "In addition, there were nine screens sited on The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, eight on one side, one on the other where we deployed six Kara left and right of each screen, plus a further 100 cabinets along the length of the Long Walk, Sheet Street and the route from Chaos Corner to the Long Walk, in the high street either side of the church, town hall and castle."

Audio was also provided in Home Park, where a screen relayed proceedings for an audience of 50,000 and at Eton and Riverside station with 50 X12 throughout the town. The entire system was powered by a total of 200 LA4X, LA8 and LA12X amplified controllers. Control was provided by DiGiCo SD11s, with an SD5 at Windsor Castle providing routing for police announcements, with high powered links installed to the control room and the police.

"This was a challenging job. We had prepared extensively, but due to the nature of the project, planning continued even as we were loading in," Bonner concluded. "The results speak for themselves. We are extremely proud that DeltaLive was trusted with such an important contract. Our team outdid themselves and for me personally, it is a fitting culmination to a long career in an industry I love."

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