Allen & Heath’s new Qu-24 compact digital mixer has been installed in the prestigious Cambridge Union Society.

Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union is the oldest continually operating debating society in the world, with participants including heads of state, business leaders, actors, academics and politicians.

Having extensive experience in the university, cathedral and heritage sectors, installer About Sound was appointed to specify and install a new audio system as part of an AV refurbishment. The brief was to provide a digital console that inexperienced users would be able to walk up to and operate.

“Qu-24 fitted the brief perfectly, and has lots of fantastic additional features. The mixer is housed on a balcony over the chamber, so the Qu-Pad app is a great benefit, allowing the engineer to judge levels and mute and unmute channels from within the debate from the audience point of view. The mixer’s GEQ is also useful for ringing out the room with no external DSP in the chain,” comments About Sound’s Matthew Dilley.

The Qu-24 typically manages 13 radio mics for regular debates. The mics are made up of bodypacks for the main contributors and handheld mics for questions from the floor. There is also often a requirement for Skype contributions to debates as well as filming and webcasting of events.