Author: jeffseitz

Date: Wednesday, January 20th, 2016. 6:45 PM

Location: Clowes Hall (Butler University campus, 46th Street) Indianapolis.

Parking: Plenty of parking is available in a brand new garage directly behind Clowes Hall and the Schrott Center. Enter off Sunset Ave. just north of 46th Street.

Entrance: Please enter via the northeast door (closest to the parking garage) – there will be a sign on door. We will meet on stage.

Note:  Start time for this meeting is 6:45 PM

Clowes Memorial Hall, celebrating 50 years, is a multi-purpose performing arts facility that serves Butler University and the greater Indianapolis community. It was once THE Indy Concert Hall and hosted Eric Clapton and Cream in 1967, as well as the ISO. Its programming has migrated over 50 years from symphonic originally, to more pop and road show use. This necessitated changes in acoustics and sound systems as a phased plan, now completed. Clowes Hall is now one of only a few performing arts centers in the region with a complete “LCR” (left/center/right) theatre sound system. It is optimized with acoustics driving the design. A new L-Acoustics array was specified and installed.

Our presenter will be David Wright of Wright Consulting Associates, now a part of a national engineering firm, KJWW Engineering Inc. David will review how design steps were prioritized with budgets and how acoustics were addressed before any sound system or product could be designed. If time allows, we also plan on doing a relative calibration for attendees’ SLM meters, as a field exercise. Bring your portable measuring mic and calibrators if you have one!

Our host at Clowes Hall will be Ernie Yezzi, Sound Technician/Technical Stage Crew.

** Click on the following RSVP if you plan to attend – the earlier the better!

POSTAL RECORDING on THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 7:00 PM.   

LOCATION:  1144 S Belmont Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46221

This was a rare opportunity to see a fully-functional analog and digital recording studio in operation.  Host Jake Robinson gave us a tour of Postal Recording and, with the assistance of some local musicians, provided an opportunity to compare the sound of analog and digital technologies. 

www.postalrecording.com

LOCATION:  Esco Communication, 8940 Vincennes Circle, Indianapolis, IN 46268

TOPIC: Networking and Digital Audio Transports

PRESENTER: Bradford Benn, Harmon Professional

COST: FREE

During our next meeting, Bradford Benn will review and compare protocols and application examples for networking and digital audio transports. 

• OSI, IP, TCP, UDP, PTP
• AES-3, AES-67, AVB, CobraNet, Dante, BLU, Qlan

** Please RSVP for this new date…even if you had RSVP’d earlier.  (RSVP is for head count only – the Meeting is free and open to all.)

Bradford Benn is a Vertical Market Manager for Harman Professional. He was heavily involved in the development of HiQnet System and Audio Architect™software, the evolution of the HiQnet™ protocol, and the development both of Ethernet AVB products and the protocol. He has been involved with such network intensive projects as City Center in Las Vegas, Lucas Oil Stadium, and the MetLife Stadium to name just a few. In addition to his responsibilities at Harman, Bradford serves as a co-instructor for the Syn-Aud-Con Digital training seminars as well as being an InfoComm University Adjunct Faculty Member. His dual-background in IT and audio has uniquely prepared him for this role. When he isn’t working, he can often be found behind a camera taking photographs.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 26^th at 7:00 PM

LOCATION:  Sweeney Chapel at Christian Theological Seminary – 1000 W. 42^nd St., Indianapolis, IN 46208

DIRECTIONS: Christian Theological Seminary is located on the Northwest corner of 42^nd Street and Haughey Avenue. Sweeney Chapel is on the East side of the campus near Haughey Avenue. There is a parking lot entrance off of Haughey Avenue just North of where the Chapel is located.  

COST: FREE

The campus at Christian Theological Seminary has long been revered for its unique architecture. Indiana University Professor and former Art & Architecture Critic for The Indianapolis Star Steven Mannheimer calls it “Undoubtedly, the best modernist structure of this scale and contemplative purpose in the city, and among the finest in the nation.” The building was designed in 1966 by acclaimed architect, Edward Larrabee Barnes (1915-2004), who also designed the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the IUPUI University Library among other works around the country.

Sweeney Chapel was added to the building in 1987. While beautiful and distinct, the Chapel was not performing well acoustically for its main application – speaking engagements. Gavin Haverstick from Haverstick Designs was hired to conduct acoustical testing in the Chapel and to develop a plan to improve the acoustical performance of the space. The Reverberation Time (RT60) at 500 Hertz (Hz) was measured to be 4.06 seconds in the empty Chapel. This is not conducive to intelligible speech, so a plan was put together to improve the acoustics of the space while trying to retain the modern feel of the room – a delicate balance.  

Gavin Haverstick will present a case study of the project. We will go through testing data that illustrates the results before and after the acoustical improvements were made in the room. We will discuss the acoustical consulting process, testing data, predictions and the implementation of acoustical materials.

This is a great opportunity to see and hear a fantastic piece of architecture here in Indianapolis while going through the process of renovating an existing space to improve the acoustics of a venue of this size.

Please RSVP at Eventbrite

 

LOCATION:  Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler University campus – 510 W. 49^th St. (Recommend heading Westbound from Meridian St. on 49^th St.)

DIRECTIONS: Hinkle Fieldhouse is located on the Butler University campus at the corner of W. 46th Street & Boulevard Place. It’s Bldg. 22 on this map:  http://www.butler.edu/campus-map/ and here is a link to Google Maps:goo.gl/7zEGfT

PARKING – Main lot (south side of Fieldhouse).  Enter the Fieldhouse via Gate 4 (farthest east)

Note:  Start time for this meeting is 7:30 PM

COST: FREE

Our next meeting promises to be a very informative one.  Hosts Joe Gentry and Russ Hoppel will review recently completed technical system upgrades at Hinkle Fieldhouse, including:

• A new center court LED video scoreboard with supporting video production suite
• New audio system – center scoreboard loudspeakers, audio infrastructure for new mix position and band position, Yamaha console and reconfigured and optimized signal processing for the entire sound system to all seats

The presentation also will include discussion of:

• Design considerations and construction challenges
• Addressing the challenge of overcoming a large, reverberant room and high crowd noise to maintain intelligibility
• Optimizing signal processing for live band vs. media vs. talker
• Managing feeds fir multiple broadcast – home and visiting radio, live TV, in-house video production

** Click on the following RSVP if you plan to attend – the earlier the better!