Autograph Sales was appointed to help design and install the system with sound designer, Sarah Weltman. Having collaborated before on the refit of the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo, the Globe's technical manager, Paul Russell, asked Weltman to design a system of high quality, capable of fulfilling almost any event that the Underglobe may host.
"Flexibility, versatility and speech intelligibility were the key aims of the system, whilst keeping control and operation simple to enable a non-technical end user to walk up, switch on the system and play a CD, or perform and make announcements using radio mics," states Weltman.
At the heart of the system is the new Allen & Heath iLive-T mixing system, installed to cater for greater input requirements and control of theatrical productions, musicians, bands and other events that frequently perform at the venue.
Several loudspeaker systems were modelled in the space, with Meyer Sound products - comprising several UPJ-1P's, UP-Junior's, USW-1P's, and UPM-1P's - chosen for their coverage, size, quality and the fact that they are self-powered. Meyer Sound's MAPP highlighted coverage and levels throughout the system and helped to engineer speaker placement, delays and output levels.
The system is distributed throughout the room to give even coverage, controlled by a central Allen & Heath iDR DSP system. The iDR-8 16x16 matrix mixer and iDR-Out expander unit are utilised to provide 10 inputs into the system from wall panels around the venue, and 16 outputs to the loudspeaker system. PL-4 and PL-5 wall panel controllers are fitted to give users remote, simplified control of the venue's loudspeakers and wireless systems, and operate the system as if it were a standalone audio system.
Simeon Ludwell, design engineer for Autograph Sales, comments: "The iDR system allows very complex processes to be simplified and condensed into one button push, allowing end users to operate the system without needing to know what is going on in the background."
(Jim Evans)
