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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Classic Sanctuary Gets A Modern Sound With Iconyx

Renkus-Heinz provided speakers that met the needs of both traditional and contemporary services.

St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church recently updated their 1960s-vintage sanctuary with a new Iconyx system, meeting the needs of both traditional and contemporary worship.

As Dr. Bob Griffin of Baltimore-based Design and Integration observes, it was also an important consideration in designing the church’s new sound system.

“Speech intelligibility and focused coverage are always high priorities, particularly in a very reverberant space such as this one,” he says.

“But it was also important to create a system with a high degree of musicality, to support the church’s growing demand for a contemporary, praise band-based sound.”

To provide uniform coverage throughout the 800-seat sanctuary, Griffin opted for a system centered on a pair of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC24-R columns, a high-performance, self-powered system capable of up to twelve individually steered beams via its RHAON DSP control.

“The Iconyx low-profile design was another important factor in maintaining the building’s classic architectural aesthetics, says Griffin. “Some of the earlier proposals they had received involved systems that would have had a significant visual impact.

While that’s fine for a modern church, it would have been out of place in their sanctuary. With the Iconyx, though it’s a very tall box, we were able to mount it on the front wall in a way that blended very nicely with the space. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the congregants hadn’t even noticed there were new speakers, at least until they heard them.”

The new system’s performance was immediately noted by staff and congregation alike, with Parish Manager Barbara Hasson referring to the new installation as “our Christmas miracle.”

Said Griffin, “by being able to use two speakers instead of six or eight, and eliminating the need for external amplification and all the associated connectivity, we were able to realize a better result with minimal impact on their budget. It’s always a real pleasure to complete a project that looks great, sounds great and makes the client happy.”

Renkus-Heinz Website

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Meyer Sound Launches MINA, The Smallest Loudspeaker In The MILO Family

MINA enables smaller venues to provide their audiences with quality sound in a compact package.

Meyer Sound has announced MINA, the newest and smallest member of the family of self-powered line array loudspeakers that include MILO, MICA, and M’elodie.

Designed for live sound and installation applications facing size and weight limitations, MINA carries the same remarkable musicality and intelligibility that define other members of the MILO family loudspeakers of which many thousands are in use around the world today.

With MINA, smaller venues such as theatres, ballrooms, and houses of worship can provide their audiences with superb sound transparency and impact, while benefiting from the directional vertical coverage of a Meyer Sound line array.

MINA is less than 18.5 inches wide, yet capable of producing up to 128 dB SPL at one meter.

Its operating frequency ranges from 75 Hz to 18 kHz over a wide 100-degree horizontal coverage area.

In addition to sightline advantages, each MINA loudspeaker weighs only 47 pounds, making it an excellent component for integrators working with historic theatres and other venues with strict rigging requirements.

Like all Meyer Sound loudspeakers, the low-distortion MINA exhibits the cabinet-to-cabinet consistency essential for a line array to accurately project energy where it is needed.

MINA can be installed as main arrays, and can integrate seamlessly with M’elodie and MICA line arrays as fill subsystems.

Meyer Sound Website

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Community Loudspeakers Help St. Joe’s University Hawks Come Through Loud And Clear

The Solutions Series was used in the renovation of the Michael J. Hagan Arena.

The Hawks basketball team of Saint Joseph’s University have a long, proud history dating back several generations.

Calling Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse home since 1949, they have won more than 80% of the games played there.

After a multi-million dollar expansion and renovation, the Fieldhouse has been reborn as the Michael J. Hagan Arena, with seating for 4200 fans and a powerful new sound system designed by Maryland-based RJC Designs.

The new system features 52 of Community Professional Loudspeakers’ Solutions Series SLS920 horn-loaded systems, arrayed in a distributed cluster configuration, with that all-important low-frequency punch provided by 28 VLF212 dual 12-inch subwoofers.

Near-field coverage was augmented with six Community iBOX i2W8 systems. The system is powered by QSC amplification, with a pair of Rane RPM88 processors providing system DSP.

 
“The distributed audio clusters were all engineered within a zoned approach,” explains RJC Designs’ Rich Coluzzi. “Utilizing digital signal processing allowed for complete control of all aspects of the system - the upper and lower portions of the clusters, the subs for each cluster, over-the-court loudspeakers, and the loudspeakers covering the upper end-zone bleacher seating.”

“This flexibility in equalization, delay and output levels enabled us to configure the system to provide even coverage to every seat, while presenting a central audio focus toward the court.” Feedback from fans and faculty alike has been overwhelmingly positive. Interviewed after the Hawks’ first game in the new Arena, coach Phil Martelli stated, “Whoever did the sound system should be applauded. That sound system is extraordinary.”

Community Professional Loudspeakers Website

 

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Aviom’s Pro16 Simplifies Setup At WellSprings Congregation

Pro16 chosen for ease of use and portability.

WellSprings Congregation recently installed an Aviom Pro16 digital snake to simplify setup and enhance the overall sonic quality of its services.

A portable church, WellSprings hosts its weekly Sunday services at Bell Hall at the Montgomery School, a private local elementary and middle school in Exton PA, which requires the church to set up and break down all equipment before and after each service. 

Since its creation three years ago, WellSprings has seen its weekly attendance grow from approximately 20 participants to over 200.

WellSprings’ services have always incorporated a worship band and video elements, originally mixing from the side of the stage and running video on a makeshift screen that was hung from a beam.

However, due to the ever-growing size of its congregation, the church decided it was time to upgrade its audio and video equipment to ensure that every member was getting the most out of each service.

The portable nature of the church, combined with the challenges of budgetary constraints and working with a volunteer staff, required the church to look for solutions that would be easy to use, minimize setup time while also maximizing audio quality.

One of the congregation members helping to design the new AV setup was Carl Bader, president and founder of Aviom, who suggested the company’s Pro16 digital snake was the right fit for the application.

Aviom’s digital snake runs via Cat-5 cable, so with permission from the school, WellSprings was able to permanently install cabling inconspicuously on Bell Hall’s beautiful open-beam structure. WellSprings has implemented a 16x16 channel Pro16 digital snake, which consists of an AN-16i-M Mic Input Module, an AN-16i Input Module and two AN-16o v.4 Output Modules.  The gear is mounted in two rolling racks (stage and FOH) that are stowed away after Sunday services.

A major benefit of the new setup is that the whole system can be set up in half the time it would take to just get an analog snake out of storage and deployed in the hall where services are held.  This is a huge benefit as all of the AV staff for the church are volunteers. The incorporation of the Aviom digital snake has allowed WellSprings to reduce its AV setup time to around 15 minutes from start to finish.

“Basically the nature of the layout in the hall, the fact that it’s a volunteer tech team and is a portable- style setup made it impossible for us to use an analog snake,” explains Bader. “For this particular space, we needed to run the snake on the Hall’s trademark structural wooden beams.

However, that would have required two people on two ladders to run a traditional analog snake for every service, and, all of that would have to be taken down after service because the school asks that we keep the hall virtually equipment free. Going to a Cat-5 cable system allowed us to keep the cable permanently and inconspicuously on the beam structure, saving a lot of set-up and tear-down time.”

“The hardest part, and usually the most expensive part of a console are the mic-pres, but that is being taken care of by the Aviom gear,” Bader continues. “With the addition of the Aviom preamps we are able to turn our relatively inexpensive mixer into a line-level only mixer and have the Aviom’s preamps actually provide the resulting sound.”

“Having a great relationship with our landlord has allowed us to create win-win situations for both the school and our Sunday service tech team, as well as our congregation, and preserving that relationship is a high priority for our portable church.”

Aviom Website

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Atlas IP Speakers To Support SA-Announce Software

Atlas Sound Announces New Compatibility with Syn-Apps.

Atlas Sound, manufacturer of AV electronics and communication devices and Syn-Apps, developer of IP communication applications, have partnered to offer a full interoperability of Atlas IP based loudspeakers and zone controller end points with Syn-Apps SA Announce software.

SA-Announce Software provides text and audio notifications- including real time, ad-hoc, emergency alerts, and scheduled announcements- to networked end points. Atlas Sound’s full line of IP-based speaker systems will now support these SA-Announce deployments for paging, intercom, and announcements in a number of applications.

SA-Announce also can connect to weather and amber alert systems as well as supports messaging through new technologies like Facebook and iPhone applications.   

“SA-Announce is a proven IP-based notification solution and we are excited to offer the versatility, reliability and intelligibility of Atlas speakers as an option for Syn-Apps deployments,” said Steve Young, VP of Sales and Marketing for Atlas Sound.

“With over 25,000 Atlas IP speaker endpoints currently in operation world wide, Syn-Apps software resellers will now be able to specify the industry’s most accepted IP speaker product.”

“We are very pleased to offer SA-Announce integration with the Atlas product line.  Atlas is a long-time leader in IP-based speaker technology and this partnership furthers our commitment to providing the highest quality notification solutions in the marketplace.” says Steve Horton, CEO of Syn-Apps, LLC.

“Our sales channel is now able to offer a complete notification platform that includes the most widely deployed IP speakers and clocks in the industry.”

Atlas Sound Website
Syn-Apps Website

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Digital Domain Mastering Upgrades Monitoring Chain With Revel Ultima Gem2 Loudspeakers

The Revel Ultima Gem2's were chosen because they help mixes translate other systems.

With over one thousand records mastered and three GRAMMY-award winning albums credited to its studio in Orlando, Florida, Digital Domain Mastering is known for quality.

When they recently upgraded their monitoring chain, they chose Revel Ultima Gem2 loudspeakers which matched Digital Domain’s goal of sonic quality and high performance.

The speakers, which are optimally placed in an equilateral triangle nine feet from the listener in an acoustically treated mastering room, add a depth of versatility and precision to the mastering process that was absent before their arrival, according to Bob Katz, president and mastering engineer, Digital Domain Mastering.

“Every day I use the Ultima Gem2’s to make critical judgments on the tonality and impact of music including rock, folk, hip hop, jazz, and classical,” Katz said.

“They work well with all styles of music and they streamline my workflow because they are accurate and I can make instant judgments as to the quality of the sound.”

Katz selected the Revel loudspeakers because he knew they would provide the most ideal compliment to the subwoofer approach that he and his team take to mastering. They placed the Ultima Gem2s at an ear level height, which gives him and his team the ability to make less than 0.5 dB changes in equalization in any range and hear the effect and allows them to reveal any problems with the source material while mastering.

“Toe-in position is critical as with any high-end monitor,” Katz said while explaining the positioning of the speakers. “But when you set them just right, you are rewarded with an extended, spacious and even soundstage.”

Revel Website

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