Serving authentic Tex-Mex food and excellent margaritas, the Mi Cocina
restaurant chain is a favorite in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Mi Cocina
makes an extra effort to stay a step ahead of its competition, including food,
service, and décor but also sound systems. “The owners of the company, M Crowd
Restaurant Group, are audiophiles, and they want clear, very high quality sound
and a flexible system that’s easy to use,” reports Danny Salinas of AlleyCat
AV, who has designed and installed networked sound systems in 23 Mi Cocina
restaurants/bars.
Recently Mi Cocina did a massive remodel of its flagship Highland Park
Village location, in a high-end section of the Dallas area. Delighted with
AlleyCat AV’s Dante networked sound systems at two smaller locations, which
were based on Symetrix DSPs, the owners brought in Salinas to design and
install their new system in the much larger and socially visible Highland Park
Village restaurant and bar. “They were blown away by the sound and ease of use
of the systems in the two smaller restaurants, and they wanted something
similar at Highland Park Village,” he relates. “Of course the spaces are
different, so the systems couldn’t be identical, but they told us to just do
what we do, and they’d be happy.”
To meet the client’s goals of high quality sound, flexibility, and ease of
use, Salinas designed a Dante networked audio system managed by a Symetrix
Prism 8×8 DSP. A Symetrix xOut 12 Dante-to-analog output expander brought the
Prism’s total I/O complement to 8 analog inputs and 20 analog outputs.
“The Highland Park location has not been renovated in over 20 years, so they
gutted the whole thing and went with all new construction,” Salinas reports.
“We ripped out loudspeakers that had been there more than 25 years and pulled
new wire, including CAT6 cable for the network. It’s a three-story restaurant,
with a rooftop balcony that’s about 100 square feet and has a glassed-in lounge
and a bar they call the Monkey Bar. The second floor is a mezzanine with 10 or
12 tables, and they can have a DJ up there who projects out over the first
floor below. The first floor is the main dining area and has another bar and a
big entry lobby. It has 20-foot ceilings, so I mounted the speakers up high.
Also on the first floor is an outdoor patio with seating. With all of that and
the bathrooms, we ended up using 10 zones on the network.”
To serve the differing needs of the various spaces in the venue, Salinas
chose an assortment of speakers, ranging from Tannoy ceiling speakers in the
first floor entry to Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeakers with Innovox subwoofers in
the main dining room, Tannoy outdoor speakers on the rooftop balcony, and other
combinations of speakers elsewhere. The variety of speakers and the
multiplicity of zones meant some careful programming in Symetrix’ Composer software
for the Prism DSP.
“The programming wasn’t complicated but there was a lot of it,” Salinas
muses. “With smaller speakers in some places and larger speakers in others,
some 16 ohm and some 70 volt, I had to carefully adjust every level. With a
Symetrix DSP, I have the flexibility to adjust every zone and craft it the way
I want it. I used crossovers, duckers, limiters and compressors, and loudness
management modules, and every zone has its own EQ. I also had to carefully look
at each input and decide where I wanted it to go and how I wanted it to sound.”
Before the renovation, the restaurant had two media players for background
music. In the new system, Salinas provided dedicated inputs for the two media
players and added a DJ input on the mezzanine, along with a line input for a
guitarist, as well as an input for plugging in an iPod or similar device. These
inputs are wired analog, straight to the Prism processor.
Salinas provided easy-to-use system control with five Symetrix ARC-3 wall
panels: one on the third-floor balcony, one in the third floor lounge, one on
the second floor mezzanine, one indoors on the first floor, and one on the outdoor
patio. He also set up a Symetrix ARC-WEB virtual user interface for
browser-based control of the Symetrix system. “The owners want to be able to
walk in with their phones and log into the system, and with ARC-WEB they can do
that,” Salinas explains. “If they want the sound a little louder or something
like that, they can easily adjust it.”
Future expansion was another consideration. “I chose the Prism with the idea
of having room for growth if they want to expand the system via Dante,” Salinas
confirms. “The Prism 8×8 has all of the capabilities we need, including Dante
networking and plenty of analog inputs and outputs; it was a perfect match.”
Reliability is a big factor for Salinas, as well. “I have to service a lot
of locations with a small company, and I don’t want to have to run out to deal
with a service problem,” he relates. “With Symetrix, I haven’t had to do it
yet. I’ve installed a lot of Symetrix DSPs and about 80 ARC-3s, and they always
work. They have been rock solid, and they’re easy for the customer to use
because Symetrix has provided the programming capability to make them that way.
Mi Cocina Highland Park rotates managers because it is a training location, and
all of the managers walk up to the ARC-3 control panels and use them with no
problems. Best of all, the system sounds great. So far, everyone’s happy.”
The Eos
control system has proven itself as a favorite in Broadway theatres for its
consistency and reliability, but what happens to the lighting design when a
Broadway show is based primarily on improvised action?
Billed as
a “freestyle, hip-hop, improvisational, never-before-seen comedy ride,” Freestyle
Love Supreme features a rotating cast of MCs, beatboxers, and special
guests and is unique every night, to every audience. That creates a unique
challenge to the designers behind the scenes. A typical theatrical lighting
performance runs on a cue stack that is carefully curated by a design team, and
run consistently from night to night by the board operator. But the team on Freestyle
Love Supreme wondered if a show so heavily improvised could be programmed
on the Eos platform… or programmed at all. “When we started putting this
together, a lot of people said this couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be done on Eos,”
remembers Lighting Designer Jeff Croiter. “But, based on past experience with
the family of consoles, I knew it was absolutely possible.”
As the
designer, Jeff wanted to have as much control as he could, but wasn’t sure how
much of the show would demand a live lighting component. And he wouldn’t know
until going into the first tech with his programmers, Sean Beach for the
off-Broadway production and Zak Al-Alami for the Broadway show. They were
pleasantly surprised. The cast would choose five or six out of ten
predetermined songs to perform each night. “Each has a unique look; some are
specifically cued and called by a stage manager, a few have busked sections
that exist within parameters, and one is entirely made up and completely
different every night. For the busked parts, once the song’s basic look is cued
up, busking takes over to help with the improvised storyline. And it’s not just
‘set the lights and hack away’ — the storytelling aspect is important. Where
are they, what time of day is it, what’s the mood/vibe of the scene, and how
can the lighting help tell and enhance the story? Like a regular theatre show
except it’s shorter and you don’t know until the words come out of their mouths
(or if things are really clicking, right before),” jokes Jeff. With help and
encouragement from Director Tommy Kail, the design team was then able to set
some blocking. “Even though the words are different every night, at several key
moments, we were able to have them stand in the same spot saying them. More
often than I anticipated prior to tech.”
The
essence of Freestyle Love Supreme is the improvisation, so Jeff knew he
needed someone with the right experience to run the board and busk during the
show. For that expertise, Jeff reached out to Andrew Garvis, who he had worked
with previously on several shows. “I was surprised at how well Eos is organized
for the setup of a show like this, and how well we’ve been able to integrate it
into cueing, because it’s busking on top of a cue stack,” Andrew
explains. Building off the magic sheets built by Sean and Zac, Andrew uses two Ion Xe consoles and three total touchscreens—two
to access the magic sheets and one that holds the cue stack and manual
channels—along with two fader wings in order to run the show quickly and
easily. “It’s fun because the show is still growing and changing,” says Andrew,
“and the cast and I talk about what lighting can do, which is great. I’ll
notice things they repeat or they like to call out for – I made a DeLorean cue,
for example, because they like Doc Brown and jumping back in time to help with
their improv cues.”
Located
in the house left box with the stage manager, as opposed to a booth in the
back, Andrew is visually part of the show, not only to the cast with whom he
interacts during the performance, but for the audience as well—adding even more
of a unique live element for the audience. “The best part is when the audience
member who gets called up on stage says something that I can react to with
lighting—it really makes the show interactive and fun,” says Andrew.
In the
end, the Eos platform proved a reliable and nimble system for the show and its
night-to-night demands. “It was fascinating to work with an Eos in a way that I
was not familiar,” Jeff remarks, “I am fiercely loyal to the brand, to the Eos.
At the end of the day this is a theatre show—and I find that hard to do
on other desks.”
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross has dominated Boston’s South End
neighborhood since its construction just after the Civil War. With a
seating capacity of 1,700 and a ceiling reaching to 80 feet, the
cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church in New England and the
mother church for the Archdiocese of Boston. In the spring of 2017, the
cathedral embarked on its first major renovation, including new LED
lighting and a large and complex sound system with Symetrix signal
processors at its heart. Two years and $26 million later, the cathedral
reopened for Palm Sunday services.
The new sound system offers a substantial number of inputs and
outputs, which are transported over a Dante network to facilitate moving
signals around the sizable building. Two Symetrix Radius NX DSPs handle
all of these signals, with one unit dedicated to input processing and
the other handling delays to the speakers placed throughout the
cathedral.
System designer Evan Landry, president and CTO of Landry Audio, a
division of CommLink Integration Corp, found the versatility of the
Radius NX important in meeting the substantial needs of the cathedral
system. “The Radius NX provides a great deal of flexibility in terms of
processing, especially with the Super Matrix, which is processed on its
own SHARC chip,” Landry asserts. “We also have the ability to do logic
inputs and outputs, which is handy for switching things on and off in
the processing rack and essential for muting the audio system in the
event of a fire alarm closure signal.”
The system currently furnishes 32 channels of input, with the Radius
NX offering British EQ and highpass filter modules on each input
channel. Eight channels of wireless microphones are fielded by two Shure
ULXD4Q quad-channel digital receivers. Another eight channels of wired
microphones for the choir are routed to two PoE-compliant Attero Tech
unDX4I Dante-enabled wall plates, each of which has four mic/line inputs
with preamps and phantom power.
An Attero Tech unD4I-L Dante-networked interface receives the signal
from the gooseneck mic that resides on the ambo (pulpit). The unD4I-L
has four channels of mic/line inputs and four channels of logic I/O. The
logic is put to use to sense a pressure mat at the ambo. The ambo mic
gain is increased by 5 dB in the Radius NX when the mat is stepped on
and is removed when the speaker steps off the mat. This boosts the
signal for speakers with soft voices, while avoiding feedback when no
one is at the ambo.
Provision was made for four inputs from altar microphones but these
have not yet been needed. Similarly, a Symetrix xIO 4×4 Dante-enabled
analog I/O expander is installed in the choir loft but is not yet in use
as of this writing because the organ has yet to be reinstalled.
Anticipating future expansion, Landry had 24-core multimode optical
fiber run to the loft.
On the output side, the system feeds a custom-made Innovox MicroBeam
64 line array, plus 18 more Innovox line arrays along the support
columns through the cathedral: 16 in the main nave area and one in each
of the transepts. PowerSoft amplification drives all of the
loudspeakers. Each of these units requires its own delay time in order
to synchronize the whole system. Accommodating all of these delay times
became the task of the second Radius NX, and the number of discrete
outputs required was dealt with by installing 4-channel analog output
cards in the option slots of both Radius NX processors, as well as
adding a Symetrix xOut 12 analog output expander.
Two controllers are used for mixing and control: a Microsoft Surface
tablet running a user interface screen programmed by Landry in Symetrix
SymView software, and a Symetrix T-5 touch screen controller. “Having a
touch screen is really handy,” Landry relates. “It’s programmable, so
when someone changes their mind, as often happens with new projects, we
can add a volume control, for instance, with just a program change. We
don’t have to put in another piece of hardware.” Landry can even do
changes or troubleshoot system problems remotely by logging in through a
Nook PC in the processing rack.
The PA system is far from the only sophisticated technology at work.
The cathedral’s RF mic system is configured as three separate zones and
employs two RF Venue Diversity Fin antennas and two Shure UA864
antennas, all of which are sent to an RF Venue 4 Zone antenna combiner. A
fully equipped broadcast studio in the basement generates content for
TV and webcasting and feeds the Catholic TV Network, based in Watertown,
10 miles away. One of the Radius NX processors feeds signals through
the Dante network, over a Luminex switch, to the studio’s Yamaha QL1
console. From there, program audio is mixed and transmitted with video
from the cathedral’s broadcast facility, up an optical fiber placed on
the building’s spire, to a microwave transmitter that sends them to the
John Hancock building near the city’s Copley Square, from which the
signals are then rebroadcast to Watertown.
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross project took nearly three years from
the time Landry first asked to bid on the project until the work was
finally finished. Success in such a large project depends on good
relationships, something Landry had built with the archdiocese over
time. “I had worked for the archdiocese a couple of times before we
installed the system for them at Our Lady of Good Voyage in South Boston
in 2017. That system also included a Symetrix Radius DSP and Attero
Tech wall plates. The cathedral project started shortly after the Good
Voyage project completed, so we were in a good working rhythm with them,
and that made all the difference.”
In a move to a more sustainable future, the Teatro Calderón has chosen to upgrade its lighting systems with ETC products, supplied by the company’s exclusive dealer in Spain, Stonex.
Based
in Valladolid, the Teatro Calderón has long been recognised as one of
the best theatres in the country. It was decided that over the next few
years the theatre will renew its lighting equipment in order to allow
both LED and conventional luminaires to work together as effectively as
possible. In order to do this, the Calderón chose ETC’s power control
and entertainment consoles.
ETC’s
Sensor3 power control system and ThruPower modules were installed into
the theatre, replacing a Smartrack model which was in place for the
previous
20 years. The Teatro Calderón now
has five Sensor3 ESR3AFN-48 power control racks, filled with ETR15AFR
and ETR25AFR ThruPower modules, in addition to Net3 Conductor and
Concert
to manage the network, and report any faults.
Gio
and Ion XE console desks were also selected to control the stage
lighting in the theatre. The Eos family consoles offer powerful
programming and
endless options of color control in an intuitive and simple format. In
addition to this, the theatre added an ETCpad which conveniently allows
remote control of the luminaires and acts as an accessory for any ETC
lighting system.
With
the upgrade of ETC lighting equipment, the Teatro Calderón aims to
become a more sustainable venue in favour of green technology, that will
ultimately
reduce its energy costs by up to 80%.
ETC’s
dealer, Stonex worked on the project and supplied ETC’s products to the
venue. Stonex has over 39 years of experience in providing professional
lighting and stage engineering solutions.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre has attracted the attention of some of the greatest musical acts in the world since 1941. Everyone
from The Beatles and the Rolling Stones to U2, James Taylor, and the Eagles has played Red Rocks.
Nestled
just outside of Denver, Colorado in the tiny town of Morrison, where
the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, two giant rocks jut out from
the
earth creating an open-air performance venue that is nearly
acoustically perfect. These monoliths not only create the perfect
natural sound stage, but also provide a mesmerizing background for some
impressive lighting effects.
In
the spring of 2019, Barbizon Light of the Rockies completed the
installation and programming of an upgraded lighting package at Red
Rocks Amphitheater.
Until 2019, large 400 W mercury-vapor lights lit the historic rocks and
eight outdoor PAR 64s lit the audience.
“We
had been working with Venue Director, Tad Bowman, of the city and
county of Denver to look at LED products for the space for about three
years,” says
Pete Maurelli of Barbizon. “While we looked at a variety of fixtures
from small to large, we recommended the ETC Desire D60X fixtures for two
main reasons – the five-year warranty and ETC’s history of customer
service.”
Maurelli
also notes that the smaller size of the ETC fixtures offers better
control and coverage of the rocks without visually interrupting the
view. This
is incredibly important for a venue that has such a monumental focus on
naturally created elements. If one ETC Desire fixture were to fail,
it’s a minor issue because of the impressive wash coverage the D60s
provide.
The
main control of the system at Red Rocks includes a full ETC Mosaic
system with astronomical time clock features and local control. “We
partitioned the
controls so that visiting artists can control the lights on the rocks,
while only Red Rocks staff and stage hands can control the house
lights,” says Maurelli.
A
full back up generator system and life safety system are included in
the upgrades as well. The houselights are now part of the backup
generator system
and the ETC system provides a means for them to switch automatically in
the case of power loss.
The
completed system developed and implemented by Barbizon Light of the
Rockies includes ETC fixtures designed to withstand the weather of an
outdoor concert
facility. The equipment includes 49 Selador Desire D60X Lustr+
luminaires, 24 Selador Desire D60XT tungsten luminaires, one Mosaic Show
Controller 2, various button stations, touchscreens, gateways, and an
emergency bypass system.
When Spectra, the venue management and operator of the Iowa Events
Center (Des Moines, Iowa), decided it was time to update the sound
system in the Wells Fargo Arena, they opted to work with Daktronics on a
design-build basis. The goal was to modernize the sound both within the
arena – which serves as the region’s primary sports and entertainment
venue – and for several ancillary areas outside the main space,
including concourses, restaurant/bars, and interview rooms. The project
was led by David Sturzenbecher, applications engineer in the Audio
Systems division of Daktronics. The physical installation was managed by
Daktronics Field Engineer Thijs Hammink.
Providing the highest
level of sound quality within the arena was the main goal, and
Sturzenbecher elected to fly a series of sub-compact line-array
loudspeakers to achieve it – the XLD291 from Electro-Voice. A key factor
was the physical size of the arrays, which provide full audio coverage
within the bowl area without interfering with sightlines to the main
floor and video scoreboards. A total of 94 XLD291 elements are deployed
in eight separate arrays ranging from nine to 13 boxes each. Coverage
for the main floor itself comes courtesy of four Electro-Voice EVH-1152
horn-loaded loudspeakers hung within the scoreboard structure. Another
EVH-1152 is deployed as a fill speaker for the low seats behind each
basket. As they do for the vast majority of their stadium projects,
Daktronics also provided an Electro-Voice RE20 broadcast microphone for
the announcer.
“The unique thing about Wells Fargo Arena is that
it’s symmetrical across one axis, but varies wildly on the other, so the
south end of the house has only about two-thirds the seating of the
north end. We also needed to account for the Plexiglas dasher boards
used for hockey, which can create shadowing if the arrays aren’t
positioned precisely,” explains Sturzenbecher. “We mapped the venue in
EASE, which allowed us to position everything for full audio coverage
without blocking sightlines to the center video board. Because we are,
after all, also a video board company.”
Amplification throughout
the arena is provided by Dynacord IPX series multi-channel DSP
amplifiers for fixed installation. This enables both sophisticated
signal processing and Dante audio networking of the entire sound system,
while also providing highly efficient power and state-of-the-art system
performance and protection technologies. “Originally, we were
considering another amp for this project,” says Sturzenbecher, “but when
Dynacord came out with the IPX series, we found the processing and
tuning for the entire EV system works natively in them, so we gladly
made that change,”.
For the ancillary areas outside the Wells
Fargo Arena main bowl, Daktronics employed a wide range of Electro-Voice
surface-mount speakers, primarily the EVID-S models with their
innovative quick-mount system. A total of 181 EVID-S5.2XB speakers were
required to expand coverage beyond the concession stands, eliminating
dead spots on the concourses while upgrading the audio in the facility’s
restaurants and bars.
EV’s wide selection of surface-mount models
proved a huge benefit in other applications as well. The dedicated
interview room received nine EVID C8.2 ceiling speakers, while the
service level entrance downstairs is covered by 12 EVID-S8.2TB models.
Various bar areas benefit from the use of ceiling-mounted C10.1 and
EVID-S10.1DB subwoofers, plus 20 C4.2 ceiling speakers.
The new
sound system has received high marks from all involved. Spectra’s A.J.
Johnson, Production Manager for Wells Fargo Arena, commented, “Wells
Fargo Arena needed improved sound quality and clarity to ensure the best
experience for our guests. We also needed a timely installation that
stayed on budget. Daktronics nailed all our needs and stayed patient
when we needed to make adjustments. The new EV sound system checked all
our boxes with a greatly improved listening experience throughout the
arena. We are also very happy to have improved flexibility of use to fit
our varied types and sizes of shows and events.”
