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NEWS index >>>>

Altmar-Parish-Williamstown CSD

Seymour College Union at SUNY Brockport

Webster Spry Cafetorium

Saratoga Springs High School Acoustic Design

Congratulations, Stan!

Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center

Liverpool High School Auditorium Extreme Update

Burnt Hills Ballston Lake High School Auditorium Renovations

Why You Should Subscribe to Our Channel

Portville Central School Unique Auditorium Redo

WXXI TV PRODUCTION STUDIOS

Making University of Buffalo’s Townsend Hall Quiet

Welcome to YouTube

Lakeshore Middle School

Williamsvile CSD

St. Bonaventure University Field House Completed

Grand Island High School Auditorium

NEW – the ever growing “Wall of Shame”

Coming Attractions: WONY Radio SUNY Oneonta

Coming Soon to YouTube – 3 NEW Videos!

Coming Soon:  St. Bonaventure Reilly Center Completion

St. Bonaventure Project Begins

Williamsville Central School District Renovations in Review

Williamsville Central School District Music Program Projects

Central Square High School

Cortland High School

Belfast High School – Extraordinary Transformation

Newfield High School

Pro Sound Web >> AVL Talks About Using Yamaha’s Active Field Control (AFC) Acoustic Room Conditioning Technology

University of Rochester Recording Studio at Gavett Hall

New Television Studio Facility at Edison Tech.

LeMoyne College – Grewen Hall

State University of New York at Cobleskill  

University at Albany PDP Broadcast Studios

Utica Memorial Auditorium Ice Arena

Genesee Community College NEW Richard C. Call Arena

X20 Xaviar’s On The Hudson Acoustical Design  

Theatrically Themed ETC Headquarters Hosts Stan Jordan

AVL Designs Inc.’s Impressive Upgrade at Glens Falls Civic Center Featured on Pro Sound News

Sound & Video Contractor’s Interview with AVL’s Seth Waltz: PART 1   AFC / Baldwinsville Project  

Sound & Video Contractor’s Interview with AVL’s Seth Waltz: PART 2

Baldwinsville High School Auditorium Renovation

Acoustic Design at Massry Center for the Arts

LED Conundrum Reprinted by RAVE Publications

AVL Designs Inc.’s New York State Police Project Receives CISCA Gold Award

Glens Falls Civic Center (aka Cool Insuring Arena) Sound Upgrade Spotlighted by Pro Sound Web

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Altmar Parish Williamstown CSD

Altmar-Parish-Williamstown CSD

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Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Central School District located near Tug Hill, New York, affectionately known as “The Snow Capital of the World,” was in need of renovation for their junior-senior high school auditorium and music departments.  This makeover was to encompass a full gut of both the auditorium and the adjacent music spaces.

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The project called for significant improvements to benefit their theatrical and live music performances in the auditorium.  It included addressing the acoustics, audio, video, theatrical lighting and controls, HVAC noise, and house lighting.  Likewise, the music spaces would gain better-quality acoustics and reduced mechanical noise.

 

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Ashley McGraw architects contracted AVL Designs Inc. as their consultant for this project. Working with the team at Ashley McGraw and FS Engineering,  plans were developed to radically change all these spaces.  

 

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As with any renovation project, existing conditions can be a limiting factor. The school district had hoped to raise the fly space over the stage and to provide a catwalk in the auditorium.  For a variety of reasons, these could not be accomplished so viable alternatives were developed.  A motorized truss was installed in the auditorium allowing access to the theater lighting.  The rigging system was replaced, allowing for safe operation on stage within the limits of the building height.  To make loading and unloading of arbors easier, a brick house system was incorporated into this plan. Sidewall box torms* were added to assist with lighting areas in front of the stage that could not be reached using the truss. *Torms= proscenium length curtains  

 

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.A significantly enlarged control booth was added to allow audio, lighting, video control, and motorized spotlight control. This last item was required due to the room not having a location for manually operated spotlights.  

 

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The follow-me system allows an operator in the booth to control motorized lighting fixtures utilizing a point-of-view camera to follow people on stage accurately.

 

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HVAC noise control was a challenge due to having reuse of some ductwork and chase locations within the building. One significant noise-related challenge was in locating a mechanical room above and behind the stage with a storage room below. Isolating mechanical noise so that it does not enter the rear of the stage was achieved through a variety of methods and it was successful. Target noise levels within the auditorium and music rooms were also met with a combination of duct linings and silencers in critical locations within the duct.    

 

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The new lighting system consists of all LED fixtures from ETC, and VariIight. The new audio system includes a digital console from Allen and Heath, loud speakers from Fulcrum Acoustics, control systems from Crestron, wireless microphones from Sennheiser digital, projection from Panasonic, PTZ camera from Panasonic and many other products. The auditorium was just commissioned in the third week of January 2025 and will be put to good use for shows starting in the spring.

 

The music spaces were renovated as well providing significantly improved acoustics.  

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Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2025+

 

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Seymour College Union SUNY Brockport

Seymour College Union at SUNY Brockport

Seymour College Union at SUNY Brockport was being underutilized by the campus due to a dated interior, poor lighting, poor acoustics and minimal AV capabilities.  So, under those conditions, it was not the “go-to” space on campus.

SEYMOUR College Union BEFORE renovations

The university decided it was time for an upgrade. AVL Designs Inc., partnered with Holt Architects, was enlisted to give the space new life.

 

Seymour Hall SUNY Brockport

Improved acoustics with absorptive fabric and wood acoustics elements tamed a 3 second reverb time (think “Ice Rink”) down to a well behaved 1.25 seconds. This was a great improvement.

 

Seymour College Union

A brand-new audio system, with both stage and distributed loudspeakers, was also added. Independent AV systems were installed in multiple huddle-style locations, along with bright fresh room lighting*, all under control of a Crestron control system.

The extensive re-do has been well-received. Seymour College Union is now a popular, highly used facility!

 

*Credits:   Lighting and interior designs – Holt Architects

 

Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2024+

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Webster Spry Middle School

Webster Spry Cafetorium

 

.Webster Spry Cafetorium

This cafeteria project at Webster Spry Middle School involved entirely new construction as they were adding a fully operational auditorium where they could put on plays, concerts, lectures and other live productions. A theatrical stage was added with direct garage door openings onto the exterior to facilitate load in and load out for various types of events that they would be hosting.

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Known as the “Webster Spry Cafetorium,” it now has full stage rigging as well as a complete audio system, video system, and theatrical lighting system. Due to this being a combined space used for cafeteria functions as well as performances, and the fact that there is no permanent seating in the room to absorb sound, acoustical treatments had to be incorporated into the ceilings, walls, and other aspects of the room to provide appropriate acoustic conditions.

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The control room was elevated to make way for cafeteria use. This change then made it necessary to enable remote monitoring so that the audio operator can hear what is going on in the room below.  Pro lighting consists of color changing LEDs in various locations in the room, which you can see in the pictures.

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Back to the “cafetorium” tag. The middle school uses this facility as a lunchroom, a teaching/study area and, now, an auditorium. Anyone remember what the sound was like in your old school cafeteria?  Well, nothing has changed! Cafeteria sound, untreated, is like living in a tin-can.

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. We discussed the ins and outs of handling unbridled sound in cafeterias in a previous post entitled “Help, I Work In A Cafeteria And I Think I’m Going Deaf!”  Needless to say, we put our expertise to work in conquering the “tin-can-sound-chamber-syndrome” and the acoustic quality in this cafetorium has vastly improved. Happy ending!

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Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2024+

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Beautifully repurposed cafeteria

Saratoga Springs High School Acoustic Design

Beautifully repurposed cafeteria

 

In response to some very positive compliments concerning our cafeteria acoustic design at Saratoga Springs High School, we thought we would share that project news with you.

 

Saratoga Springs high school cafeteria

 

Cafeterias are tough, as we explained previously in  “Help, I Work In A Cafeteria and I’m Going Deaf!” .  Truly, cafeteria space is one of the worst when it comes to conquering the acoustics. Think “tin can.”  

 

cafeteria

 

This space at Saratoga Springs High School started out as a repurposed gym/classroom, converted into a large upscale cafeteria.  

 

 

high school cafeteria

 

Our scope of work was to acoustically compare the existing condition to the architect’s intended design. Their plan was a change for the better but, after modeling the space, we made recommendations that would step up those improvements beyond the original goal, while still preserving the look. We added K13 FC roof deck treatment above the new ceiling clouds, as well as changing wall materials and cloud materials. The school is very pleased with the results.

 

Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2024+

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