ASW Helps Spelman College Change the World

“A Choice to Change the World” is the motto of Atlanta’s historic Spelman College. It’s a fitting motto for a culturally significant university that pushes to remain on the leading edge of post-secondary education strategies and technologies. For the last six years ASW has been Spelman’s partner in presentation technology design and integration, working closely with Manager of Educational Media, Theo McNair to deliver cutting edge systems that have proven to be both simple and dependable.

An early project was a renovation of Cosby Auditorium, where ASW installed a new mixer, Biamp DSP, and a control system. The control system merged all of the systems to a single point of control, though operators have an option of manual or automated functionality. The mixed manual/automated approach is often found in venues that see a number of different operators with varying degrees of experience behind the boards. In the Cosby Auditorium, ASW programmed the control system so that a theatrical tech wasn’t required for lectures and simple events. Audio, video and even the DMX lighting system were unified onto a single control surface and presented so that significant training isn’t required. In fact, McNair and ASW are working together now to plan the next upgrade of the auditorium, replacing that legacy lighting board and an old video projector. “The auditorium has to be upgraded in phases because it is simply too expensive to do a massive refresh every time,” says McNair. “Smaller, more frequent changes are easier to fund and manage, but it’s important to keep continuity in the technology support team. ASW has built up a lot of institutional knowledge around Spelman College, and that helps us all get more value out of these opportunities.”

One big reason why ASW has gained such an understanding of the college’s capabilities and requirements is because three years ago McNair and ASW developed a standardized classroom technology package that’s now been deployed in nearly 30 rooms. Shane Boyce of ASW says, “We were intent on making future-proof choices. When a lot of people were still throwing up four by three standard definition style screens, we understood that to be a waste of money and chose wider sixteen by nine screens. It seems simple and obvious today, but we knew that the screens needed to outlast the projectors, and the trend was to the HD style aspect ratio.” Another critical choice was to simplify the instructor’s interaction with the system: “The systems we were replacing had touch panels with really confusing button layouts on them. Touch panels are great, but they shouldn’t be an automatic choice. We used Extron MLC systems instead, which reduced cost but also kept operation very simple,” Shane tells us. “Those rooms have several classes a day, all taught by different instructors.”

Though the systems are standardized, they are not designed to be identical. Depending on the room requirements, one of two styles of custom designed lecterns is used to house all of the equipment. Fabricated by Spectrum Furniture, the lecterns feature the Spelman College seal laser etched into the front. The instructor, however, is looking down at an interactive tablet that allows annotation over video and slides without having to constantly face away from the class and look at a projector or write on a whiteboard. That keeps the classes more engaging for the students, and “we’ve seen a big decrease in service requests over the old systems. These are easier to use and a lot more robust,” says McNair.

Better fitting technology that reduces maintenance requirements – that’s the perfect combination that ASW has delivered to Spelman College. If your goal is to change the world, you shouldn’t have to worry about broken and complicated presentation systems getting in your way. For ASW, it’s not about integration, it’s about empowering clients’ missions.

Lots of Flashy Things (And Other Stuff)

Besides a high CBL factor (colored blinking lights – an industry standard measurement) digital mixing consoles offer some very useful benefits:

• Remapping the control surfaces for different events or operators is a breeze. For example, an experienced engineer mixing for a large band with backup singers has a different set of needs from an apprentice operator mixing for a small wedding.
• Multiple control locations allow a front-of-house engineer to mix from a prime listening point, while a recording engineer can mix the same event from an isolated booth. With digital consoles, this becomes far more cost effective and simplifies the design requirements.
• Automation is possible when using control systems. In the analog world this would have likely required split audio paths.
• When integrated into a purely digital cabling infrastructure using digital stage boxes, snakes and I/O panels, cabling requirements are reduced, grounding issues essentially disappear and future scalability dramatically increases.
• While not unique to digital boards, it is worth pointing out: flying faders make you look awesome.

That’s the simple secret in everything visual. Great lighting makes for great video, great photos, great staging, great theaters, great homes, great restaurants, hotels, classrooms, sanctuaries, moods, emotions, significance… you get the point. So get the illumination.

• Specialized video-conference fixtures can bring enough light, at the right angle and with the right color temperature to make participants look alive and engaged, rather than dark and distant. The “video” in video-conference runs a distant third in importance after sound and lighting.
• Use LED fixtures to eliminate heat and lower power requirements. There is an enormous variety of LED fixtures available to fit nearly any requirement.
• Color giveth and color taketh away. Color adds drama and texture to staging, architecture and TV. But when several different versions of “white” light show up on video, you can end up with murky, seasick looking people. Many LED fixtures allow you to dial in particular temperatures of white, so you can keep everything looking right.
• It’s not just about enough light, but the quality of the light. That means the angle, the color, the relationship to shadows and possibly the impact of the lighting instrument in the space beyond the subject it is illuminating.

An Enterprise AV Roll-Out in Greenwood, SC

Classroom technologies race forward at an astounding rate, connecting educators to media savvy students. While projectors, interactive white boards, tablets and video on demand are increasingly visible in the classroom, adoption and deployment of such technologies are typically managed at the district level. Such was the case with Greenwood School District in South Carolina, who selected ASW to design and integrate networked presentation systems in over 700 classrooms across 18 sites.

ASW Sales Engineer Shane Boyce worked with the district to define their needs and create standardized systems that formed an enterprise solution. Each classroom features a projection system with audio reinforcement and interactive whiteboards. Teachers have simple and intuitive control of the system though an Extron control system. That control system is the key in allowing the district to effectively maintain the technology. With projectors under heavy daily use, lamps are destined to fail. The Extron system emails facilities staff to let them know about lamp failures, projector alarms or even if a projector is disconnected – a sign of possible vandalism. “It’s one thing to put in all of this great equipment, but it doesn’t do the students any good if we can’t keep it operational,” says Dwight Herring of GSD. “Once Shane’s crew has a school up and running, then I still depend on them for a quick response to service issues.”

Web-based IPTV is a core component of each classroom from the perspective of the teachers and students. Again, an enterprise level design is at work here as seven load-balanced SAFARI Montage servers provide on-demand content district wide. ASW has long enjoyed a close relationship with SAFARI, who has remained the leader in classroom video-on-demand systems for nearly two decades. The Montage content server comes with a core content package of over 2500 titles and 13,700 images that have been reviewed by a team of teaching professionals. They meticulously index and catalog the media according to grade level and subject area curriculum standards for each state. That means that teachers can choose specific program segments that focus on individual curriculum requirements simply by searching against the standard. The entire class can watch clips on the projection system in the classroom, or teachers can put together playlists for the students to watch individually in a media lab. And when the content providers are from major media establishments such as Disney, National Geographic, PBS and BBC, quality is never in doubt.

Server based content isn’t the only thing to watch, though. Over fifty MPEG4 video encoders throughout the district capture and redistribute cable TV feeds, legacy content libraries on VHS or DVD, and live student-produced video. That student-produced video originates from production carts that ASW designed. The exact implementation varies according to each school’s needs, but they all have a couple of prosumer camcorders, a video mixer, wireless microphones and a preview monitor. Students can roll the cart all over the school and plug into the network to send live video to all of the classrooms. Remember those monotone morning announcements read by the Principle? That’s not what happens in Greenwood. Students interview school faculty and produce a morning show, delivering the news the way it should be delivered in a high-tech school. Some schools even added optional Teleprompters and green screens to allow keying video weather-announcer-style. The AV club is a whole lot cooler than when we were pushing slide projectors around!

Shane’s team also implemented digital signage throughout common areas in the schools, and installed wireless, GPS synced clock systems district-wide. So, from presentation systems to IPTV to mobile production carts to digital signage and clocks, ASW has spent three years working in Greenwood, bringing schools online to what is essentially an enterprise video network. “I really like working with school systems,” Shane notes. “You know that what you are doing is having a real impact in the community.”

New Hope Baptist Church of Fayetteville, Georgia is a vibrant ministry! Much of their effectiveness is due to a sweet spirit and good communication. They struggled for many years with an auditorium sound system plagued with deficiencies. It was not at all consistent with the pace of their ministry.

They came to Atlanta Soundworks (ASW) and asked, “What would it take to provide an optimum sound system in our sanctuary?”

Knowing the room well, the Atlanta Soundworks Engineering Team recognized both acoustical and electronic difficulties in the existing room. They collected some basic measurements and copies of early architectural drawings and then placed a call to Renkus-Heinz system designers. Renkus-Heinz created a computer model of the room and developed a speaker package that, for the first time, was matched to the room. The central cluster contained three main-floor, full range speaker cabinets, upper and lower side fill boxes, a front down fill, and a stack of subwoofers. A balcony ring containing eight speakers was mounted to an overhead cat-walk, and four in-step speakers were installed to give point-source presence to the front rows.

ASW then filled in the design with Biamp digital signal processing and Lab Gruppen amplifiers on each speaker box.

Galen Boyce, President of Atlanta Soundworks, commented, “After attending many special events at New Hope over the last 20 years, this has fulfilled a dream of mine”. He counts it a privilege to be the company chosen to finally offer the best solution for the audio issues in their Worship Center. He also offers a “well done” to the ASW Team on an exemplary installation.

New Hope’s technology team then said, “We need a way to access this speaker cluster for any future adjustments, service, and cleaning. Can we put it all on a chain hoist?”

Believing there are really no limitations to what can be done, ASW agreed to make the arrangements.

With calculations of the cluster approaching 3,000 pounds, ASW brought in Atlanta Rigging to discuss the installation of a hoist to hold and elevate the cluster. A structural engineer was contracted to confirm the building could sustain the stress in a localized area. The engineers were told what New Hope wanted, and how they hoped to do it. After a structural study, the design was approved.

Now, to create some way for the whole cluster to attach to a chain hoist, Polar Focus was contacted. Polar Focus was given the cluster design and the system requirements. In a short time, they came back with a steel apparatus that brought the whole cluster together to hang from one bolt. Concerned about hanging a ton and an half from one bolt, Atlanta Soundworks questioned the plan. The Polar Focus engineer responded that this bolt was rated for 80,000 pounds. Three thousand pounds was no problem.

A local acoustical engineer, Paul Christopher was invited to evaluate the room. His tests identified several areas of problematic reflections. The major reflector was the large domed ceiling. Paul pointed out that the sound paths will change with the new cluster and the auditorium may sound like a completely different room.  The room acoustics were deferred until the new speaker system was installed.

The package was approved, delivered, installed, and aligned. For the first time, clear, comfortable sound was heard in every seat.

The addition of an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing console provided even greater control and flexibility to the room.
The room was then re-tested and there was a significant improvement in room reverb and intelligibility. The sound was now directed onto the listeners, not the walls and ceiling.  There was far less sound energy directed into areas that did not need coverage.  This was the fourth sound system installed in New Hope’s auditorium, and the first one that met their expectations.

An acoustical design was submitted using Econo-wedge rock wool panels by Perdue Acoustics. The proposal laid out a plan for wall treatment and a second phase that addressed the huge dome ceiling. While the ceiling was known to be problematic, resolving the dome reflection was going to be a big step financially. After a few months, New Hope decided to proceed with the wall treatment.

After treating the back wall of the balcony and one side of the forward walls, New Hope’s technical director, Clark Dailey decided to run a test. He shut off half the cluster and ran pink noise towards the half of the room without the wall treatment. When the noise was suddenly shut off, he could actually count about a second and a quarter decay time. When he reversed the energized cluster and fed the same pink noise signal towards the walls with the new treatment, the sound in the room went away nearly as quickly as it was shut off. Amazed with the results, he called in several other observers to hear the remarkable test and they were all impressed.

Atlanta Soundworks has been invaluable in the success of this technology upgrade. The goals of New Hope’s ministry were always in the forefront of every discussion, the criteria of every decision. The project details were organized and executed with professionalism. ASW’s expertise motivated every action to benefit New Hope Baptist Church and their technology goals. This was a win for everyone!