Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), a teaching hospital located in Portland, recently upgraded the audio systems serving its 450-seat auditorium, with Biamp Systems new Audia digital signal processors at the center of this effort.

Perspective of the OHSU auditorium.

The auditorium is one of the most frequently used facilities at OHSU, regularly hosting lectures and other noted local and state events. Working closely with OHSU staff and The Educational Communications Department (OHSU - EdCom), Design Sound NW, a systems integrator based in the Portland area, was tapped to reorganize the auditorium's video and audio systems, which over the years had denigrated to a tangled mess of wires, cables and equipment.

Following a basic electronics upgrade, the university asked Design Sound NW to go further - supply distributed audio to other OHSU buildings, and set up discrete audio and video systems with simplified operation. Space for this effort was limited.

Design Sound NW initially prepared the audio distribution system based on a combination of Biamp VRAM and MSP units when word arrived of the availability of the new Audia. Briefly, Audia is a CobraNet compatible system incorporating mixers (including matrix), EQ, filtering, crossover, dynamics processing, routers, delay, level controls, metering, tone generators - all controllable by a user-friendly software package.

Audia processors join amps, wireless receivers and other gear at the control position.

On this project, OHSU agreed to beta test two Audia units, and working with an existing AMX controller, they distribute and remotely control 24 channels of audio provided to other buildings on campus, in addition to supplying feeds for tape recording and to the university web site. Encouraged by the positive result, Design Sound NW and OHSU have been discussing the possibility of future control through a dedicated site computer, or over the university's LAN lines in conjunction with the AMX.

In addition, Audia supplies the auditorium audio system with complete dual mixing capabilities, allowing any microphone channel to be set independently at any level for video or house audio feeds. Music and speech are routed to different Audia component blocks for specialized processing in the audio system as well.

"The auditorium now has greatly enhanced built-in audio capabilities that were previously not possible due to cost constraints, and these could also have grown down the line," explains Craig Leppert, president of Design Sound NW. "Rather, a facility like this can grow into Audia's capabilities, and do so cost-effectively because all that is required are a few modifications to the DAP file in the software.

"Just last week, we were able to add a four channel automatic mixer to the system on a few of the mic lines for use as a conference-board room," he continues. "We simply did a little software tweaking, that was it. We also have the option to add mic specific EQ and compression to these channels if we choose. All we need to do is think about a solution or enhancement, and it's possible with Audia."

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