A true community project, construction of the centre took place over a 10 year period from 1974 to 1984. A mainly volunteer-based workforce numbering literally thousands of people either living at or visiting the Findhorn Foundation Community took part in the building work of the pentagon-based project. Inside, an auditorium area was designed to seat 280 people, with the potential for a total of 400 to be present overall.
Used primarily for music, drama, dance and mixed media shows, the auditorium's dedicated sound and lighting systems means it makes an excellent audio-visual demonstration and conference venue. Additionally, sound connections located throughout the auditorium can be relayed via a patch bay into an adjacent recording studio making the recording of live concerts a possibility - in fact, the BBC has already recorded a symphony orchestra here.
Universal Hall MD, Peter Vallance comments: "When we decided to upgrade our existing cinema presentation facilities here at the Universal Hall, Findhorn, our aim was to have a first class audio and visual package which was both versatile and reliable. With generous funding from Scottish Cinema in place we were able to do just that. At the Universal Hall we put on a variety of events apart from cinema presentations, ranging from concerts and conferences to touring theatrical shows, stand-up comedy shows, and dance events. Acts as diverse as The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mike Scott & The Waterboys and Frankie Boyle have all been here.
"We already knew of the quality of HK Audio sound equipment from Ian McIvor of Acorn Audio who regularly supplies us with an HK Actor system plus HK Premium PR:O monitors, for our larger shows. Ian arranged for Pro Audio specialist, Neville Raine from UK HK distributor John Hornby Skewes to come up from Leeds to demonstrate a range of HK speakers here in the Universal Hall."
He continues, "Because of the pentagonal shape of the space and the 3-400 capacity, following Neville's advice we decided to purchase four of the HK IL 15.2 speakers flown as two clusters, powered by a Lab.Gruppen FP2600 power amplifier, in order to achieve the sound coverage required. The flown clusters each use HK's MC1 mounting cradle system, making the install as straightforward as possible. We have also added two HK Audio Premium PR:O 12MA active and two Premium PR:O 12M passive stage monitors to complement our audio purchases.
"Here at the Universal Hall we have a requirement to record conference sessions, and so we are also trying out an Allen & Heath ZED12FX mixing console."
(Jim Evans)
