University of Rochester Recording Studio at Gavett Hall

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.

New recording studio in U of R’s Gavett Hall.

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.

Source University of Rochester photo J. Adam Fenster

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

New Television Studio Facility at Edison Tech

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 =>>

LeMoyne College – Grewen Hall

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.

Acoustical and audio visual designs by AVL Designs Inc for Grewen Hall

AVL Designs Inc. 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. This 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.

Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium

Adirondack Bank Center Utica Memorial Center ice rink

Utica Memorial Auditorium (Adirondack Bank Center) is a unique venue and a registered historical landmark. The 5700 seat hockey arena is the home of the Utica Comets. In recent years, the venue has had many upgrades to the building, lighting, video and scoreboard systems. An audio upgrade was also done in 2012, but the results were not satisfactory for the owner.

After numerous attempts to improve the system with tuning and other adjustments, AVL Designs Inc. was contracted [June of 2018] to do an assessment of the system.

While none of the specific equipment was inherently substandard in quality, the implementation was another matter. Intelligibly was poor throughout the seating area. In the room environment (7 seconds reverberation) the speakers were just too far from seating for their acoustic capabilities. The system was under-powered and lacked user interfaces that allow tuning microphones to various voices etc…..

After an initial assessment, AVL Designs Inc. was hired at the end of July to design a new system, bid the system and get it installed in time for the first fall game of 2018, [October 5, 2018.] Not a simple task!

The design phase took four weeks. Site visits were made, testing done, and Lead Designer Geoff Nichols started in 3D CAD analysis software. During design, Danley loudspeakers were selected after an analysis of various options. Due to the tight time frame, Danley was contacted to verify their ability to meet this schedule. Danley made the unusual decision to start production of the products prior to the bid being awarded, fully aware that substitutes could occur and they might not ship these to this job. That decision is what ultimately allowed this to be a successful project that met the time line.

The project went out for bid on August 17 2018. A two week period was allowed for bid returns and the results were in – the low bidder was Edward Simon & Co. LLC of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They bid the project entirely to spec – no substitutions.

Utica Memorial ice arena

Project Completed With 3 Days To Spare!

Edward Simon & Co. LLC has a reputation for high quality, on-time delivery with extensive expertise in sound. This project was no exception. A crew of 5 hit the site in late-September and had the entire system operational in 10 days, three days before the first game!

The new system consists of 32 Danley loudspeakers, Danley Amplifiers, QSC Q sys DSP, Midas Console, Shure QLXD Wireless systems, and other support equipment. The system met all expectations and provided high intelligibility speech and impactful music to all 5700 seats.

ETC Gives AVL Designer Stan Jordan A Super-Star Welcome!

Stan Jordan, AVL Designs’ expert stage rigging and lighting designer, was guest-of-honor at ETC’s (Electronic Theater Controls) Middleton, Wisconsin headquarters last month. ETC is a global leader in the manufacture of theatrical rigging and lighting control technology.

ETC’s Impressive Headquarters

Upon his arrival at ETC’s theatrically themed headquarters building, Stan was given a whirlwind tour of the center of operations and both of their pristine factories.

As you see in the photo (Stan is on the far right) their headquarters is designed to resemble a vintage theater marquee which was all set with their “Welcome” sign for AVL’s Stan Jordan!

Stan spent much of his time with their rigging and lighting experts getting updates on their many systems and, in his own words, “eating great food and lots of good cheese! It is the Cheesehead State, you know!”

While he was there, Stan met with key leaders, engineers plus research & development personnel at ETC to discuss current and soon-to-come trends pertaining to motorized rigging and lighting systems including system commissioning, life-safety concerns, programming and structural implications.

Glens Falls Civic Center’s Impressive New Sound Upgrade Featured On Pro Sound Web

AVL Designs Inc. was just featured on Pro Sound Web for our sound design project at the 5000 seat Cool Insuring Arena [formerly the Glens Falls Civic Center] in Glens Falls NY.

Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls NY

The Glens Falls Civic Center once hosted the great Mike Tyson where he won his 20^th consecutive pro boxing title, among many other notable events. And, now, they are back in the news with this impressive sound update.

For Complete Project Description: Cool Insuring Arena [sports]

Press Releases

Project Completed With 3 Days To Spare!

ETC’s Impressive Headquarters