Countryman graces US cathedral

‘The Chapel resides next to Grace Cathedral’s main Nave on the south side,’ explained Arthur Yeap, co-founder of Novo Group Inc, Grace Cathedral’s audio consultant and integration firm. ‘Seating is configurable and ranges from 70 to 200. The facility boasts lovely acoustics, has its own pipe organ and numerous beautiful stained glass windows. This space is home to memorial services, weddings, poetry readings, contemporary performances and other programmes. In the event that the gathering gets larger than expected, the audience can overflow into the main sanctuary area.

‘We found the sound quality of the Countryman E6 Omni earset mic, and its high gain before feedback characteristics, to be exceptional,’ continued Mr Yeap. ‘The E6 Flex offers very clear sound quality with great speech intelligibility, and this is a paramount consideration for any microphone in this type of environment. Equally important, the E6 Flex mics are very easy to adjust so as not to be distracting, and their size and overall design is very inconspicuous. They are barely noticeable.’

Depending upon the nature of the event taking place in the Chapel of Grace, the Countryman microphones are worn by everyone from the clergy to musicians, poets and others. As such, the microphones are used regularly and are passed from person to person – not all of whom are accustomed to handling products of this nature. ‘I’ve been impressed with the robust design of the Countryman microphones,’ noted Mr Yeap. ‘Not everyone handles the mics as carefully as you would hope for. The E6 mics are typically used with Sennheiser wireless systems and, collectively, they are regularly outfitted in such a way that the microphone’s seemingly delicate cable gets run underneath some very ornate and heavy robes. Nonetheless, we’ve yet to encounter any issues.’

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