The Muehle Hunziken (Hunziken Mill) in Rubigen, Switzerland. a popular live venue originally opened in 1976 that’s hosted more than 4,000 concerts, received an upgraded sound reinforcement system headed by APS components from CODA Audio.
Housed in a converted former windmill’s conversion, Hunziken Mill presents a collection of quirky works of art and regularly attracts internationally renowned artists to play intimate shows in its 500-capacity auditorium. In spite of the prevailing pandemic restrictions, this summer, the management team at the Mill made the decision for the audio update, replacing an existing system that was at the end of its viability.
On the project, Chief Technician and resident front of house engineer Tom Binggeli arranged for several brands to stage demonstrations at the venue, which presents a number of acoustic challenges. Swiss audio specialists Schallwerk demonstrated a CODA Audio system based around its APS technology, with the Mill team opting to go that direction.
“The first time I heard a CODA system was in a small pub with a DJ setup,” Binggeli notes. “The system consisted of two cabinets and a sub, and I was surprised how much power it had — very nice lows and clear highs. The second time was at the Gurten Festival in Bern with a very nice line array setup. At the demo, I was surprised at how clear and present the system was. Previous problems in the venue in terms of the bottom end were no longer there – the very precise bass makes the life of a sound engineer much easier.”
Schallwerk’s Bruno Muff designed the finished system and explains, “The main aim was to achieve even dispersion of sound throughout the whole venue, as far as possible, in what was a very challenging room situation. The system needed to be able to provide state-of-the-art sound, and be able to handle dynamics with a lot of headroom. Also, in order to avoid being at odds with the Swiss dB limit regulations, very accurate HF directivity and coherent energy in general was of the utmost importance.”
The unique shape of the room ruled out the use of a line array, so for Muff it was appropriate to choose a point source system for main hang, out fills and delays. The APS system enables the choice of different dispersion angles (even asymmetrical), which lends it added flexibility in fitting the shape and layout of the room.
The main system at Hunziken Mill comprises four APS modules as well as four SCV-F subwoofers, with an additional APS per side as out fill. In addition, four HOPS5 handle delays, and six CUE4 wedges support stage monitoring. Loudspeakers are driven by LINUS14D and LINUS-10C amplifiers.
“The room has a unique shape,” Muff adds. “On the ground floor, people are basically sitting/standing 270 degrees around the stage, often under (a quite low) balcony. The same goes for the first balcony and then there is a second balcony, quite high up. Interestingly, the vertically arrayed Main APS system covers both ground floor AND first balcony, which really helps to keep the focus on the stage, acoustically speaking.”
“CODA has the perfect components for clean, solid reinforcement,” Binggeli concludes. “With the HOPS as the delay system, and the APS and SCV-F as the main system, we have a transparent, pressure-filled system that is suitable for live music, club sound and comedy.”
Hunziken Mill reopened in September for live events, with strict health protocols observed, including shows that are seated, masks worn in the auditorium, and numbers restricted.
