FEATURES: EDUCATION
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User-friendly upgrade
Richard Lawn reports on an Australian school where two performance venues, key to its daily activities, are benefitting from an AV upgrade LOCATED NORTH OF SYDNEY, NORTHERN BEACHES Christian School (NBCS) is no ordinary educational establishment. Fundamental to its design is a sequence of multilevel pavilions beneath a 3,000m2 intelligent, “living” structure that generates energy through an 80kW solar system, harvesting rainwater and cooling the spaces below. In contrast, the ageing AV systems integrated into the Marina Pryor Centre for the Performing Arts (MPC) and City indoor/outdoor meeting space lagged behind the sophisticated building management system. Hosting an ever-changing programme of student assemblies, worship services, musicals, concerts and celebrations, both 800-capacity venues required extensive AV upgrades. Requested by the music department to mix FOH for some endof-year showcases, Production by Design (PxD) project manager Chad Keating had become familiar with both venues. “The school facilities are amazing, but the AV systems installed into the performance spaces were designed for a more professional end user,” he explains. “As the school had no recognised AV technicians on the staff at the time, it was left to the student team to create the performances. Rather than simply mix, I started working with them, training and identifying the challenges in the system and fixing faults on the fly. By the third event, the students were mixing the events for themselves.” NBCS general manager and audiophile Alan Schultz then entered into discussions with Keating. “The MPC systems were designed in 2009 and the City systems in 2012,” says Schultz. “Technology has forged ahead and some of our needs have changed. The age of some components was apparent in the difficulty of operation. In addition, there were major differences between the MPC and City infrastructure and gear and the complex systems required significant manoeuvring and setup times. For NBCS, the usage for diverse live music, playback and speech remains unchanged. We required a long-term, costeffective solution that continues to be inspiring and ultra-flexible.
Assembly in the MPC
mode, the school demanded a premium audio solution that could not necessarily be met by room automation systems. That basic setup demanded up to four UHF microphones and laptop playback, together with live AV streaming from the other venue. “There are always issues to resolve in upgrades,” adds Keating. “In the case of NBCS, using the existing cable infrastructure and adapting some components of the old system within the new environment proved to be quite challenging.” Keating reveals that the project went smoothly because of open, honest communication with the school and particularly with NBCS AV specialist, Ben Carlisle. Based on the PxD design created by Keating and resident Q-Sys programmer Chris Pierson, a flexible AV solution now meets all of NBCS’ requirements. Supplied by Sydney-based distributor Technical Audio Group (TAG), the Allen & Heath dLive mixing system and Q-Sys AV control platform jointly promote system compatibility and Dante networking. “While it is highly
Given students are users of the systems, all components have to be user-friendly.” A wish list was drawn up, including a new automated mixing interface with a simplified setup for assemblies in the City. More specifically, the proposed new projectors and centre screen for the MPC required conversion from an existing VGA/DVI signal path to a full HD workflow with full automation interface control. By creating standardised systems across both venues, the goal was to design highly intuitive AV user interfaces. “Usability for the untrained end user became the centrepiece of the design,” continues Keating. “The high expectations placed on the performing arts productions were more professional than student in nature. The multifunctional venues needed to cover full-scale concerts and musicals at one end of the spectrum, and lectures using a microphone and screen-sharing wireless devices without technical assistance at the other. In basic
A portable vision control rack can be patched into either venue
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