ARTSDISTRICT BROOKLYN

Americas

NEW YORK CITY / USA

A multifunctional entertainment centre brimming with technology opens on Brooklyn’s waterfront, with immersive capabilities and more.

With its location in the increasingly fashionable Greenpoint neighbourhood in New York City, ArtsDistrict Brooklyn is one of the newest venues in the United States offering immersive capabilities on a large scale, which is made possible by a huge install of 64 Barco projectors, an army of Green Hippo media servers and a 360° Meyer Sound spatial audio system.

Occupying the former House of Vans skatepark, the venue mixes the structure’s hard, industrial aesthetic with a state-of-the-art 360° projector package in its main indoor space, which has a capacity of 740. The main room also features a 19ft circular stage with a lighting rig and motorised projection surface to reveal performers.

When it came to designing the technological layout of the venue, Jacob Feldman, ArtsDistrict’s Chief of Business Development, refused to settle on solutions that were deemed ‘good enough’.

“Initially, we had a piece of incredible content called Limitless AI from Istanbul-based creatives Ouchhh Studio, so we knew we needed high-quality equipment to facilitate that,” said Feldman. “Sourcing the technology was a bit piecemeal, because we wanted the best and most flexible system; we didn’t want products off the shelf.”

ArtsDistrict’s production team worked alongside Solotech’s Montreal team to put the majority of the technology together, with an initial design specifying Christie projectors. However, not enough lenses could be sourced in time for the project, so they pivoted to the new Barco G21-W11 units, of which 64 were installed.

“The Barco projectors were right off the production line, and they are phenomenal,” said Feldman. “We had to do a lot of it on the fly, but Solotech’s team were great and supplied exactly what we needed, and our production team on the ground got the right people in to get the venue up and running.”

The audio system is hosted on Meyer Sound’s Galileo platform, allowing spatial audio and multi-channel sound designs to be mapped to the venue’s loudspeakers.

The PA system is made up of a mix of Meyer Sound and d&b audiotechnik point source loudspeakers, controlled by an Allen & Heath SQ-5 Digital Audio Mixer.

ArtsDistrict’s Head of Audio, Connor Sharpe, explained how the system was designed to be flexible so the building could be used in several different ways. “The initial brief was to design a large-scale flexible immersive audio system – one that could handle long-term installations alongside live events and anything else that the venue would encounter,” said Sharpe, a former freelance sound engineer before taking the role at ArtsDistrict.

“I decided from the beginning to have every speaker on a discrete output, to maximise the flexibility and future-proof the system. David Vincent and Jerry Placken from Meyer Sound were involved very early, and I consulted with them on the design, choice of loudspeakers and the capabilities of Spacemap Go running on Galaxy processors.” With every flat surface in the venue reserved for HD projection, Sharpe decided that rigging in the ceiling was the only option to avoid casting shadows or obstructing the visuals. This allowed for some flexibility, because the speakers only shared the ceiling space with the projectors, and in the end, Sharpe described the system design as being ‘nearly unchanged’ from concept to installation.

Four Meyer Sound ULTRA-X40 loudspeakers make up the main PA, complemented by two 750LFC subwoofers. The perimeter has 18 UPJunior while the mezzanine is covered by five UP-4XP. Four UMS-1XP subs are flown, while the overhead grid features 20 d&b audiotechnik E6 speakers.

“The goal was to have an audience member in the pattern of at least eight speakers, regardless of their position in the venue,” said Sharpe.

“This allows for a minimum spatial awareness anywhere in the main space, and alongside video content, we can direct the audience’s attention to nearly any surface using just audio.”

Sharpe used Meyer Sound Mapp XT to predict and simulate results before the system was rigged in place, and Spacemap Go for spatial sound design.

“Spacemap Go allows for conventional audio sources to dramatically sweep across the whole venue, and with dynamic automation, triggered by Open Sound Control programming, complex moves can happen in real time, and be repeatable on a timeline,” said Sharpe. “Signal flow can quickly become convoluted in these situations. I tried to simplify and reduce conversions wherever possible; a DirectOut Prodigy.MC unit is key in this regard, and is at the centre of the system. From the live inputs at the console, you can address any of the 64 PA outputs using Dante and mix them spatially using Spacemap Go. From playback, you address the same outputs, using MADI > AVB,” he added. “All devices are synced with various signals from a grandmaster clock, and integration between systems is provided by an Alcorn McBride V16X. Various separate networks comprising the projectors, media servers, stage automation, TouchDesigner, Spacemap Go and Q-SYS Core 8 are all speaking with the V16X.”

Pierre Vende, Senior Integration Advisor, Solotech, explained the reasoning behind the mix of loudspeakers at the venue. “We were

Evolve into a new point of view

Made in Italy # dts-lighting.it involved a little late in the process, and due to the problems that the supply chain issues caused, we had to supply a coherent system from our rental department,” said Vende. “This project was taking place during the summer months, and that is a hugely busy period for the rental market, so we had to be very imaginative in delivering a successful system.”

For Feldman, the mix of hardware wasn’t an issue, as long as the setup could facilitate the Galileo software.

“The idea for an immersive sound is that you want the ability to send people to different parts of the room and be able to subdivide their audio feed,” said Feldman.

“When you simply fill a room with sound, what you’re effectively doing is immersion by submersion – it’s not immersive in the sense that someone has been transported to a new place. Placemaking involves having sound that fits the particular location. We wanted the ability to use point source, and stem audio to divide the audio so that different areas of the room offered different experiences – and the Galileo platform allows us to do that.”

The venue’s stage is lit up by a rig containing eight Claypaky Axcor Wash 300, 12 Claypaky Arolla Profile MP, and 40 Elation Professional Seven Batten 14 LED, which are controlled by an MA Lighting

Technical Information

VIDEO PROJECTION

64 x Barco G62-W11, 7 x Green Hippo Boreal+ MK2 with Hippotizer software V4, 21 x Datapath Fx4, 1 x Lightware video matrix 80x80 splitter

AUDIO

20 x d&b audiotechnik E6, 18 x Meyer Sound UPJunior XP, 4 x Meyer Sound Ultra-X40, 5 x Meyer Sound UP4XP 4 x Meyer Sound UMS-1XP, 2 x Meyer Sound 750-LFC, 1 x Allen & Heath SQ-5 Digital Audio Mixer, 1 x Direct Out, Prodigy.MC Modular Audio Converter

LIGHTING

8 x Claypaky Axcor Wash 300, 12 x Claypaky Arolla Profile 600 MP, 40 x Elation Professional Seven Batten 14 Fixed LED, 1 x MA Lighting grandMA3 www.artsdistrict.live grandMA3 console. Solotech supplied the majority of the venue’s AV equipment, with the exception of the seven Green Hippo Boreal+ MK2 media servers.

The Hippotizer media servers, controlled by the grandMA3 console, are at the core of the real-time video data manipulation, which is prevalent during the Limitless AI show. The five-part, 45-minute experience is presented in chapters, with the finale featuring live music and the opportunity to influence the video by interaction.

“We have presets in Hippo for each show chapter and the TD computers are generating live data that is being fed over NDI to the Hippo servers,” explained Sofia Claudino, Video Lead for Limitless AI. “Everything is driven by the Boreal MK2+ servers and they communicate to the grandMA3 via a Multi-Controller and DMX component. Triggering then happens via the console, with the help of a very precise universal clock system that syncs both video and audio systems. It is a very complex system, and we are impressed with the ability to run a timecode-based show that requires out-of-sight calling solutions as a continuous timeline doesn’t fit our needs.”

To help control and adjust the output of the images are 21 Datapath Fx4 units, while a 10Gb ethernet cable is used for the super-fast media transfer from an NDI feed from Touch Designer machines to the Hippotizer servers. “We are still realising the potential of Hippotizer since we are not only able to program a timecode-based main show but are also interested in exploring other Hippotizer abilities, such as scheduling different timelines for other small and large-scale events here at ArtsDistrict,” continued Claudino. “These functionalities, catering for the needs of our diverse events, just aren’t found in other media servers.”

Feldman added: “We chose the Boreal+ MK2 servers because the show was envisioned to be live from the start, changing each night depending on the music and performers. The final chapter feeds live data from EEG monitors on the musicians into TouchDesigner and then through NDI to the Hippos. The music that is performed can, and does, change with every show, which in turn requires extra triggering/calling abilities from a backstage perspective.”

The integration of the projectors and media servers was done by Tyler Roach of Chicago-based Eclipse Creativity, while the Solotech install team consisted of Jonathan Trudeau, Alexandre Ginchereau, Danny Lambert and Phil Hornung.

“None of these technologies matter if you don’t have a great story to tell,” concluded Feldman. “We come from a world where narrative drives experiences, and after the elongated isolation of Covid – when people were stuck at home and on their devices – we want to encourage community, creative collaboration, and inperson experiences that are thoroughly provoking. The tech inside ArtsDistrict has the power to draw the world’s most innovative creators, which in turn gives all of us myriad vivid reasons to gather, see, and hear inspiring things, and then talk about those things.”