Williamsville Central School District in upstate New York has extensive music programs at all seven of its middle and high schools. A district-wide renovation is underway with varying scopes at each school.

Williamsville’s East High School Auditorium

AVL Designs Inc. has been contracted for acoustical design, audio, AV, stage rigging and curtains for each school.

Music classrooms are being renovated and many new, large rehearsal spaces are being built.  AVL tested existing schools and, based on meetings with their music teachers, developed preferred conditions.  

Auditoriums are being renovated to varying degrees. Acoustic improvements and sound system enhancements are being rendered for all of the auditoriums. Some are even getting new stage shells and stage rigging.

Williamsville’s Heim Middle School

As various parts of the work come to completion, we will post details and pictures of the work in progress.

Williamsville’s South High School Auditorium

Central Square High School, located in Central Square, New York City, contracted King & King Architects to head up the renovation of their auditorium. AVL Designs Inc. was hired by King & King to assess the performance systems and design a new system for the school.

Audio and acoustics were the top need for the district. The school has a wide-ranging music and theatrical program, and the space is used for many events each year.

First: Fix the Acoustics

AVL Designs Inc. dealt with the acoustics first, as many acoustic concerts are held in the room. So, in the design, the side walls are canted in segments to provide lateral energy distribution into the seating area. Overhead clouds are curved, to provide a measure of diffusion to overhead reflections. The under-balcony ceiling has diffusive elements, as well, and the rear wall is absorptive to minimize echoes to the stage.

Next: Audio and Lighting

The main sound is built around Danley Sound Labs’ audio main speakers, chosen for their fidelity, pattern control, and frequency range. Drive electronics and amplification are provided by Ashly audio products, and the man house console is an Allen and Heat SQ7. An Ashly Audio NE 800MM is used as a day to day automixer, fully automating small functions. Wireless microphones were selected from Shure using the QLX D series.

The AV system includes a Crestron control system, 298” Diagonal 16:9 screen, and Christie DHD Series projector. Two touchscreens allow control of the video system as well as audio selection between automated and manual controls.

The lighting system is a hybrid using both incandescent dimming and LED fixtures. ETC Source Four, Color Source, Fresnel, and Philips SL bar and Punch Light fixtures were used in the design. The dimming and control are Strand with a Strand Neo Console.

Due to COVID-19, the system has not seen much use, as of yet, but the performance use in the future looks bright.

Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2021+

Cortland High School produces many music and theater arts performances each year. They are home to a Concert Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra,  Chorus, Modern Band, Dance, Cultural Music, and performance  theater.

The high school auditorium was aged, and not well suited acoustically for most of the program. Top priority for this project was to improve the acoustics, and next in line, was developing the technical: audio, AV and lighting.

AVL Designs Inc. provided the district with a primer on electronic acoustics, which we offered as a solution for the needs of their multipurpose space.

AVL Designs Inc. is a LEADER in the application of electronic acoustics in the US, with over 30 systems deployed.

Electronic acoustics allows a room to take on entirely different acoustical  character for varied performances. The system enhances the stage and the seating area, provides extended reverberation time and adds early reflection energy to the seating area. Physical acoustics were designed to work with this system. The panels, which look like they are all the same wood, are, in actuality, multiple types of acoustical  products.

The base condition of the room is a warm neutral frequency balcony with a low noise floor. This makes the room ideal for theater, lectures, and other uses. When music is involved, by use of electronic acoustics, the room can change on the fly.

One key item that was added was a highly accessible catwalk for front-of-house lighting access. Stage rigging was replaced with new Brickhouse™ arbors, for added safety, and extensive stage electrics.

An existing dimmer rack was refurbished to provide continuing use of ETC S4 fixtures, all other lighting is LED based utilizing fixtures from ETC and Varulite. Control for lighting is provided by ETC paradigm and Ion ZE 2K consoles.

Audio consists of an extensive new system designed around Danley Audio main speakers, Ashly Audio® DSP and amplification, Allen & Heath SQ series consoles, and Sennheiser wireless systems. The system is Dante connected to a second console in the video control booth on a lower level.

Video presentation and green room systems are controlled via Crestron and utilize Christie®, Panasonic, and Crestron display products.

Newfield High School

Newfield High School’s auditorium was an outdated facility housing a very active theater group. In fact, people at the highest levels of the school administration have contacts who work in theatrical productions in New York city. Those pros come in to operate shows at New Field High School.

 Newfield High School needed an update!

AVL Designs Inc. was contracted to design new stage rigging, lighting, audio, video, and make room acoustic corrections for the auditorium. The architect was tasked with raising the height of the fly space to make it more usable for productions, as well as adding a balcony and enlarging the entire seating area of the auditorium. 

The resulting changes to the room are striking, not only visually but functionally as extensive system improvements have been made.

Lighting has been enhanced with LED lighting fixtures as well as additional moving heads. The new audio system is a dramatic improvement. It includes an Allen & Heath D live digital console, expanded wireless microphone inventory, a new sound system Mains, subwoofers, over and under balcony fills and stage monitoring are included.

An electronic stage orchestra shell was added to enhance sound on stage as well as in the house using proscenium loudspeakers to expand the coverage of the electronic shell into the seating area. 

The stage fly space was raised in height and all new counterweight rigging was designed using brick house technology. Although a FOH catwalk is part of the project, it could not be properly located to provide good lighting positions to the pit area. A motorized  FOH batten was included  just below the  catwalks. This batten is populated with moving heads, allowing flexible for forestage lighting.

The new video system is a utilizes an HD laser projector with Crestron controls. Projection is made to a 298” diagonal screen. An HD PT Camera provides video feeds to green rooms and streaming.

Note: Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 problem, their first show was canceled. As a result, photos of the room were taken with the disarray of an abandoned building, being evident in all of the photos. The cast and crew were told to “leave the building and don’t come back” and they hastily left everything behind, just as it was during their show prep and rehearsals. We hope to get better photos of the room when all of this subsides.