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Danley Loudspeakers get Standing Ovation at Winder-Barrow Cultural Arts Center
Like residents in many small towns that once seemed very far from big towns, the people of Winder, Georgia found themselves squarely in the path of metropolitan expansion from Atlanta and nearby Gwinnett County. Rather than hide their collective heads in the sand and become a (mere) bedroom community, they sought to revitalize their downtown district to actively retain the lively community dynamics that have helped to define Winder since the days when it was the home to bustling clothing manufacturing and warehousing facilities. To begin with, they renovated the old Duck Head Clothing company facility to create the Winder Cultural Arts Center, which is now home to the Georgia Piedmont Arts Center, Winder Community TV12, and the Winder-Barrow Community Theatre.
The theatre was designed from the start as a multiple-use facility. Said Pam Veader, theatre president and live sound technician, "We wanted our new space to be flexible enough to host meetings, seminars, conferences and weddings. None of the area schools have theaters - they've been using their cafeterias - so we wanted them to be able to use it too. The community band was without a permanent home, and they expressed interest in using it as well. So indeed, we needed the theatre to be unusually versatile."
"The theatre board called us in for acoustical advice before they had done so much as hammer a nail through a board," said Ron Stanford, audio/video specialist for Georgia-based contractor dB Audio and Video. "It was a shell. There was nothing in there but a bunch of beams. I have to admit, I was skeptical about anyone's ability to turn that space into a first-rate theater on any budget!"
From an audio perspective, the fixed and relatively low ceiling height presented the greatest challenge to Stanford's design. Fortunately, everything else that the theatre planned to do worked to Stanford's favor. The width of the theater would be a mere forty feet, not wide enough to worry about, given that he would keep most of the energy off of the side walls by using the tight pattern control of Danley loudspeakers. They also planned to install a gradually sloping floor from the stage to the mix position, sixty feet back, which would reduce resonances. Finally, with 225 seats and people, they had all the acoustic treatment they needed.
The low ceiling inspired a unique on-stage microphone system. Stanford constructed a grid of microphone inputs above the entire stage with connections to a patch bay at the mix position. Depending on the position of props and blocking for a particular play, they can easily hang Audix M 1245 hypercardioid condenser microphones from short cables anywhere on stage. An Allen & Heath GL 2800 console mixes all of the on-stage sources and playback devices. A Biamp Nexia SP provides modest processing for two flown Danley SH-100B full range loudspeakers and two ground-stacked Danley TH-112 subwoofers. QSC RMX-series amplifiers power all of the loudspeakers.
The Danley SH-100B uses Danley Sound Lab's patented Synergy Horn technology to deliver unprecedented fidelity and pattern control with edges that are so defined they're like walking into another room. Stanford used that pattern control to focus energy to the seats and away from the walls and ceiling. Unlike the SH-100, the SH-100B adds a subwoofer that uses Danley's patented Tapped Horn technology to deliver smooth bass down to 35Hz. To ensure they had all the bottom end that they needed, Stanford added two Danley TH-112 subwoofers, which also use Tapped Horn Technology, bringing the overall frequency response down to 28Hz at any SPL the theatre could reasonably desire.
"The theatre wanted the capability to create very natural sounding special effects," said Stanford. "For instance, they'll be doing a production of MASH in which they'll have very real sounding helicopter effects. No other loudspeaker can convey the realism than a Danley unit, no matter how loud it is. Beyond that, the Danley loudspeakers have excellent musical fidelity and speech intelligibility. Finally, they're going to have movie nights. With these boxes, the sound quality will far surpass all of the movie theaters in the area!"
"We had students from both high schools in here last week performing one-act competition shows," added Veader. "They were performing a matinee and an evening show. To keep the students occupied during the time in between, we put on a DVD of Transformers. With all that bass?! The Danley boxes sounded amazing!"
"In all, it was an inspiring project to work on," Stanford continued. "I'm sure that if they hadn't moved on it, that shell of building wasn't far from demolition. They went to the right people from the start, and now this small community has a state-of-the-art theater!"
In picture: with the help of Danley loudspeakers, dB Audio/Video transforms an old manufacturing warehouse into the Winder-Barrow Cultural Arts Center.
6th November 2007
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