Accommodating more than 65,000 students in the greater Houston area, the Katy Independent School District recently began updating the performing arts centre A/V systems in four of its seven high schools. Broadcast Works of Tyler, Texas was contracted to do the installation and made extensive use of SymNet Edge and Radius AEC open architecture Dante network audio DSPs, as well as Avid SC48 consoles..
‘The old A/V systems were 1990s vintage and entirely analogue,’ says Broadcast Works Project Manager, Aaron Comer. ‘Teqniqal Systems system designer Erich Friend assessed these systems and determined that they could transform the performing arts centres from outdated to cutting-edge by revamping only the front end and control systems. The existing QSC amplifiers and Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers were basically in excellent shape.’
With other systems initially in the frame, Comer and his team preferred SymNet Edge and Radius DSP from an early stage in the project: ‘We had worked with this other manufacturer’s products in the past, and it was always a challenge,’ he says. ‘In contrast, we’ve done a lot of Symetrix jobs, and they always go well. Ryan Curtright, Symetrix’ Senior Technical Sales Engineer, worked with us to put a nice package together centered on SymNet solutions. Based on our past experience, we knew it would work well and reliably – and would save the district some money.’
The new systems make use of the Dante network’s stability and flexibility to send signal long distances without copper and provide digital patchbays that allow users (including first-year students) to select among each stage’s 70-plus inputs for allocation to a 48-channel Avid SC48 console.
Stage inputs include a multitude of wired input plates together with a portable rack feeding a SymNet Edge and SymNet xIn12 expander. Rather than running all of the stage inputs back to the sound booth, as in the old design, the new system uses a stage-located SymNet Radius AEC to collect them for transfer to the sound booth over Dante. That same Radius AEC, together with a SymNet xOut12 expander, receives the final house mix from the sound booth (again via Dante) for output to the stage amp rack. The portable SymNet Edge rack pairs up with a 16-channel wireless microphone system or an additional 12 hard-wired microphone channels, and can connect to the system via any one of four Dante ports located around the stage.
Each sound booth contains three SymNet Radius AEC units with additional input cards, three SymNet xIn12s, and three SymNet xOut12s. Broadcast Works designed a custom computer interface using Symetrix SymVue software, allowing any input source to be routed to any channel on the Avid SC48 console. In turn, the console sends 23 channels back into the SymNet system for transfer to the amp rack via Dante.
‘We trained a group of freshmen who had zero experience with a system like this and, within a couple of hours, they were completely comfortable and playing with the whole thing,’ Comer reports. ‘Despite its complexity from our perspective, SymVue makes it simple from their perspective. They get it.’
For less elaborate events, Broadcast Works gave each school an iPad with the Crestron app that to enable them to turn the system on with a minimal number of commonly-used microphones and input sources. The iPad gives control over commonly-used inputs and their individual volumes, as well as overall system volume.
The new systems’ easy learning curve made it possible for the theater and music departments in all four schools to start production on fall programmes without delay. A few of the highlights include The Wizard of Oz and a Masquerade Serenade concert’
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