Any performance hall audio installation is certainly challenging, but what happened when Illinois State University, located in the city of Normal, wanted its new performance hall to also function as a major classroom area for its Arts Technology courses?
It turned out to be an awesome combination. But there were challenges to achieve those satisfying ends, including several bone-crunching go-rounds between the school and consultants on what the two performance spaces needed, some lengthy delays with funding that held up the overall project and, of course, all those garden-variety install issues that go with every job. The idea of building a concert and performance space started at the university as early as 1996. Consulting firm Acoustic Dimensions was brought in early on for the project, which ended up as one of the longest-lasting on the consulting firm's books. Recommendations for the space had already been made by 1998, but were held from implementation due to lack of funding at the university. It took four more years for the school to assemble the funds they needed to complete the performance spaces, and then the project could actually begin.
Interestingly, a critical turn in the destiny of the performing arts center started during that four-year period as changes took place in the school curriculum. After 20-odd years of offering courses and workshops on digital arts, in 2000 the College of Fine Arts debuted an undergraduate and graduate program for Arts Technology.
What did this budding program need? Equipment.
Assistant professor Aaron Paolucci, who came to the university in 1999, was instrumental in crafting the then-new audio program at the school. Currently a teacher in both the Arts Technology and the School of Theatre programs, his knowledge in theatre sound design, digital audio creations, editing and engineering made him a perfect choice to become the sound supervisor for both programs. One of his initial tasks was to acquire all the needed equipment. In gaining a performance space, "suddenly, instead of getting a $1,200-a-semester budget for sound, I had a $400,000 budget," Paolucci said.
But it wasn't only about the equipment.
"We didn't use the Center for the Performing Arts as a 'just' a vehicle to get equipment; we used getting the space as a way of fleshing out a sound program and a lighting program," he said. So the crafting of the Arts Technology curriculum went hand-in-hand with the development of the performing arts center.
So, of course, it made sense for Paolucci to also serve as the school-appointed audio consultant for the performing arts center project, coordinating the efforts of the consulting firm as well as the audio contractors and installers. After looking at the very high-end original proposal from Acoustic Dimensions, Paolucci realized it was no longer what the space needed.
Paolucci's appeal was this: "Don't just think about the sound booth and what is good for the physical space; think of the program as a whole, how this building is a teaching facility.
"Sometimes, we just don't need fancy stuff; we need a certain quantity of quality equipment," he added. "I'd say out here, we have more beer tastes than champagne. Our needs are little bit more practical, so one of the common-sense aspects was getting more quality, reliable equipment, but at a lower price point." What Paolucci wanted was wider variety of audio materials. Instead of a rider-friendly $50,000-plus mixer, Paolucci asked for a more affordable Mackie 32-by-8 mixer so they could go on to purchase more mics. The school asked for Atlas mics (MS-20E) and drum stands (DMS- 7E), as well as two tripod stands with booms (TL34-15E,TL34-21XE); a Crown SASS-P MKII mic; Sennheiser EW135 HH wireless mics with transmitters and MKE102S-EW mics, as well as an antenna, booster and distribution system. Add to that a handful of Shure, EV, AKG and Crown mics. Also ordered were a Schoeps CMC64SET CMC6 Preamp, MK4 mic, SG20 Clamp and a B5 Popscreen.
"We worked the budget over and over and over again," said Brian Elwell, a project manager for Acoustic Dimensions who served as the acoustics consultant on the job. While $400,000 sounds like a lot of money, "in terms of outfitting the two rooms–one being a concert hall–that's an extremely tight budget," Elwell said. But, "it was very satisfying to know we could work with the university to complete both of their facilities, meet their budgets and make them happy. There are not a lot of bells and whistles, but it's certainly a functional one that meets their needs," he said, adding that they chose simple consoles for students who have never touched a board. "Then, they were able to purchase more accessories to give their students a broader scope of knowledge," he said.
Also, "we went into two completely different spaces,'' Elwell said. "The systems and the acoustics are just completely different in the two rooms.'' Ewing Theatre is a 450- to 500-seat space, and the concert hall can seat anywhere from 630 to 830 people depending on how loose the seating is configured. Both systems offer some flexibility within the sound system. The Ewing theatre has a permanent center of cluster speakers with portable surround sound speakers. Paolucci actively encourages his audio students to mix and play back theatrical scapes if the show stands to be enhanced. The concert hall has two audio clusters on motorized winches, which allow them to be flown and hidden.
Also, "the key to this audio system is that it's extremely well-integrated into the building," Paolucci said. All the systems were "arteried" (a term coined by Paolucci)–the wiring for all the different signal paths for the audio, lighting, video and Ethernet systems were integrated along with the electrical wiring, so everything was all internal instead of overlaid inside an already-completed building. "So at any given point, all you need to do is go to the nearest wall, find the nearest patch and patch in," he said. "So there were just gobs and gobs of interconnectivity within the building before any of the equipment was even installed. It's just the kind of commonsense stuff that should be built into any performance facility."
Traveling with a "handful of tools and a whole bunch of equipment," when audio installer Patrick Driscoll of Davenport, Iowa-based ESC arrived, it was time to put all the paper-pushing and dialog to the test. The installation phase was challenging, but went pretty smoothly, Driscoll said, despite the fact that it was the largest project he'd ever done at the time. Driscoll installed all the equipment: In the concert hall, a Middle Atlantic SPN- 44-312 side panels set is accompanied by a Middle Atlantic MRK-4431, 77-inch rack; also, an Atlas SACR-191 AC Power Sequencer, a RWL-1 Atlas Rack Light and two Rane MDX4400 processors. Speakers in the Ewing theatre include JBL Control 1, EV SX300E and EAW KF6952 and an EAW sub. A Mackie 32-by-8 mixer and Mackie HR824 speakers were also installed.
Paolucci cited the Rane digital speaker controllers as one of the prize items of the audio collection. "They're essentially an all-in-one tool to get all the processing done you need,'' Paolucci said. In his opinion, you're "hearing the kind of refinement to the signal that is as sophisticated and complete as any multimillion-dollar sound system.'' Paolucci chuckled, adding, "in my opinion" (he's quite aware this all might be grounds for debate out there in the audio world).
Driscoll finished off by performing all the testing of the sound equipment, including the equalization and level-setting. He said the system has required very little tweaking. "I think ultimately, we achieved what the school needed," Driscoll said.
Now, three years later, the performing arts center has demonstrated that it's doing what everyone needed it to do. The space has a full concert-and-play schedule, and Paolucci has gone from teaching with cassette decks and old reel-to-reel machines to solid, state-of-the-art audio equipment with anywhere from 12 to 16 students who possess a strong interest in sound creation, editing and engineering. Many of those students already have a decent background. "Now, our facilities are attracting a high caliber of sound student,'' Paolucci said. "And it's sort of snowballing."
"The key here is to not look at the performing arts center as just a building–it's a workshop, it's a classroom, it's a laboratory, it's a production house and it's a theatre," Paolucci said. "It's the hand that feeds us.''
