In keeping with the extension of Covid-19 precautions, both nationally and state-wide, we will continue with our policy to work off-site but, we do assure you, we are working.
AVL Designs Inc. continues to work on all current projects and coordinate with all of our clients as we move through the situation. We can be reached by email, phone or video chat /meetings.
Stay safe & healthy!
Covid 19 – AVL Guidelines
AVL Designs Inc. will not be attending meetings off-site for the next two weeks and will reassess our policy at that time. We will continue to be available via email, phone and video meetings.
Punch lists and other site work that have been scheduled are being postponed until the public health situation has been better established.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause but the health and safety of all concerned is our top priority.
We continue to work on all current projects and coordinate with all of our clients as we move through the situation.
Thank you.
Popularity has its challenges. The University of Rochester, for instance, offers an audio and music engineering program which already had a couple of recording facilities on campus. With a vision for the future of the sound industry, and under the leadership of Grammy Award winning audio engineer Stephen Roessner, this rapidly growing major of study at the university needed new space.
To accommodate the growth and development of the program, the U of R planned to install a new recording studio with larger live rooms, multiple mix rooms and a large control room for instructional purposes.
The building that was selected was Gavett Hall. The team of experts hired to carry out the task were AVL Designs Inc., SWBR architects and Bergmann Engineers working in conjunction with the U of R decision makers.
The greatest challenge in utilizing Gavett Hall for the studio is that the location put the live room directly above a computer lab in an existing building. Live rooms can have sound pressure in the 104dB + range when used for live bands. It was critical that these sessions could occur without the computer lab hearing it.
AVL Designs Inc. was contracted for acoustical design as well as creating an infrastructure for equipment to be added at a later date. Working with SWBR’s architect and their structural engineer, we had to find a way to assess what options we would have for controlling transfer between floors. A floating slab system was designed but it was being installed upon a substrate that was not the standard for this type of system.
Utilizing custom software, an estimate of field STC (Sound Transmission Class) for this assembly was derived. Walls were designed to isolate the live room from the main control room as well as from hallways and adjacent mix suites. High STC doors from industrial acoustics corporation were selected for all of these spaces as well. Final field tests confirmed that the floor to floor isolation was within two decibels of design standards, which with a custom assembly is exceptional.
Mechanical noise in the spaces needed to meet very low levels, in the RC 20 range. We also had to make sure duct runs and conduit did not create sound breaks in the wall construction which was designed to high STC levels. This required specialized mechanical design and electrical. Our AV design team worked with mechanical and electrical engineers from Bergmann Associates to achieve the desired results.
The university has since outfitted the spaces with their own equipment and have installed wiring to the infrastructure that was designed in the project and the project went online very recently.
Read Bergmann PC’s article here
Read University of Rochester’s article “The Art and Science of Sound” here
As part of an expanded program to teach high school students production in the news and television arena, Edison Technical High School in Rochester, New York has added a new 4k-capable television studio facility.
AVL Designs Inc. created the design for acoustics, video systems, lighting, curtains and rigging.
The soundproof studio allows observers to watch the on-camera action through adjacent windows. An attached computer classroom with video editing CPU’s is available for students to edit and modify the content produced in the studio. See more =>>
Grewen Hall at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York is the oldest – and largest – building on the prestigious campus. Built in 1948, the 86,500 square foot Grewen Hall boasts 17 classrooms, numerous administrative offices and lecture halls.
AVL has been working with Le Moyne College for a number of
years on many successful projects including classrooms, medical wings, science
buildings, performance spaces and other parts of the campus. The most recent
project was a renovation of a large lecture hall in Grewen Hall. AVL Designs Inc. created the acoustical, as well as audio
visual, designs.
Pictured here: assorted wooden
acoustical panels – some absorptive,
some reflective- chosen for their excellence
and unique functions. The extensive AV system features a Crestron control
system and Panasonic projectors.
AVL Designs Inc. recently completed a multi-faceted project at the State University of New York at Cobleskill.
The project consisted of a renovation of a lecture hall and a gymnasium field house. The lecture hall space is now being used for more multipurpose events including music, standup comedy, small theater presentations and video conferencing.
AVL Designs Inc. was contracted by the architect to provide acoustic design, audio system design, stage rigging, curtains, lighting and controls as well as video presentation capabilities for their new lecture hall.
Before and after photos show you the extent of the renovation, which was substantial. In essence, it was a “full gut” of the space.
The gymnasium/field house had two issues. One was extremely live acoustics making the room unsuitable for many uses. Graduation and other events are performed in the gymnasium and the sound quality was quite poor. The primary reasons for this were twofold. One contributing factor was the acoustical condition of the room and the other was the sound system itself.
The old system suffered from poor intelligibility due to comb filtering. This was a result of a poor design not poor devices. The new design includes Danley loud speakers which are used for both bleachers and general court area audio. A fully distributed system over the court is used for events such as graduation. Acoustical treatment has been added throughout the gymnasium to reduce reverberation time and to minimize first reflection energy from the sound system.
Both spaces were ready for use early this year and have been well received by the clients and their guests.