When Northern Light won a competitive tender to provide an advanced technical infrastructure for the new £35 million Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, the company set out to design a fully-integrated system that were versatile, reconfigurable and provided the facility to carry out remote system diagnostics over a LAN via a PC.
With three audience tiers (including fixed-seating balcony and upper balcony levels) and optional ground floor seating wagons — enabling the 1200-seat auditorium to convert into a larger 1800-capacity standing space — issues such as sight lines and evenly dispersed sound were of paramount importance.
The need to network through two lighting bridges and a forestage, plus ancillary areas such as a second, 225-capacity studio/function space, a foyer and a number of dressing rooms requiring show calls, placed an exacting challenge on project manager Simon Cooper. All this is within an extraordinarily high, seven-storey building — measuring 25.27m from stage level to fly tower — with orchestra pit and motorised floor.
Cooper was also aware that with Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), the UK’s largest theatre group, running the venue, sound and visual reinforcement would need to be world class, since the Aylesbury Waterside would be a circuit venue for the nation’s top touring productions. In each instance, he evolved a solution to match the challenge.
In its favour, the architectural design created by the Arts Team at RHWL — a strikingly curved façade and a timber-finned interior — has resulted in an acoustically ‘dead’ interior, without unwanted reflections.
Thus, with Willmott Dixon winning the main building contract and Northern Light tasked with handling the specialist work to a specification devised by Carr & Angier Theatre Consultants, the installation company has succeeded in delivering a production infrastructure which will enable the client, Aylesbury Vale District Council, to decommission its old Civic Hall in favour of this new, multi-cultural arts centre, and kick start the new development in the town centre.
Sound System
For the primary sound system, Northern Light chose 14 of Martin Audio’s purpose designed WT3 arrayable 3-way compact theatre enclosures. These are designed in three vertical pairs on either side of the proscenium arch, focused onto each balcony, with a single enclosure at the base. This is complemented by a centre cluster of seven WP3F arrayable compact theatre enclosures to provide true L/C/R imaging.
Two floor mounted WS18X subs, either side of the stage, add LF extension, while Martin Audio WT15’s provide stage fills and four WT2’s and a pair of S18(F) subs are mounted on the second lighting bridge to form the delay system for the balcony. Finally, under-balcony support is provided by Martin Audio’s C6.8T ceiling speakers — six on each level.
The main PA system is powered by Martin Audio amplifiers, situated in a dedicated rack room close to the proscenium arch in order to reduce cable runs. These consist of 13 x MA5.2K, 2 x MA12K and 1 x MA1.3s, while the Martin ceiling speakers reside on a separate circuit, driven by QSC CX602V and CXC302V.
The main FOH mixing desk is a Soundcraft Si3 64-input desk, which can either be operated from the control room, set above the first floor balcony, or from a mixer lift position in the stalls.
“We were able to offer the theatre a better mixing solution than originally planned — and they were delighted,” stated Simon Cooper. “We recommended the Si3 largely because, although digital, it is basically a direct replacement for an analogue desk, and all the existing cable infrastructure was there.
“This solution offers a lot more processing power, all built into the desk — meaning that they are saving space on outboard equipment and getting a lot more than they were expecting.”
All audio is processed by a Biamp AudiaFlex (offering up to 24 I/O’s), with output expansion, while among the playback devices in the main auditorium source rack are the new Denon DN-F300 solid state playback unit with CD and minidisc playback, with USB connection direct to the Si3.
Lighting
ATG have maintained continuity with their other theatres by opting for the ETC Eos lighting control surface. The network, consisting of 63,999 DMX universes, operates on their proprietary Net3 protocol, using ACN to stream DMX over Ethernet (via 16 ETC Net3 nodes). Supplied with the Eos is an iRFR Net 3 Radio Focus Remote (with an application for iPhone and iPod Touch).
Ambassador themselves supplied the generic and automated fixtures while ETC supplied the power in the shape of 600A 3-phase supply in a dedicated dimmer room. This comprises six racks of 331 x ETC Sensor+ 3K dimmers, 34 x 5K dimmers, 55 x 3K non-dim and 24 x 5K non-dim switching (all in a single DMX universe).
Also situated in the dimmer room is the ETC Paradigm processor, which controls 32 general house/work light circuits throughout the main auditorium, with custom outstations located throughout the building.
Cabling
Northern Light pay credit to the main electrical contractors, Oxford-based Darke & Taylor, who provided the entire cabling infrastructure to Northern Light’s design. In addition to the sound and communication cable infrastructure two ethernet networks (one for sound, one for lighting) have been installed utilising Power over Ethernet (PoE) with a fibre backbone, using Cisco SRW224G4P 24-Port 10/100 + 4-Port Gigabit switches. This will extend the Waterside’s options for plugging in third party devices.
Function Suite
The Waterside Theatre’s second room has been equipped with a 32-input Yamaha LS9 and existing d&b loudspeakers and amplifiers, redeployed from the Civic Hall. Sound management is under a Biamp Audia Solo DSP control and lighting is handled from an ETC Element console with Zero88 betapacks.
Video
Northern Light have provided Sony cameras for the main theatre and the studio, and associated video and audio playback devices utilising video infrastructure.
Additionally, TV distribution throughout the building is via a ProMax digital TV modulator, processing locally modulated off-air sources, such as from the Sony cameras to digital TV.
Communications
Symetrix 8x 8 DSP is preferred by Northern Light for paging processing. Simon Cooper credits the useful set of tools in the software, including full show relay calls to all dressing rooms with paging from the prompt corner, control rooms, stage door and front of house.
A Canford Tecpro Intercom Master Station has also been specified for both venues for general communication for the technical team to enable important announcements to be heard in designated locations.
Ancillary Equipment
The foyer is equipped with a Denon 5-disc carousel and Numark iPod dock to enable the manager to play different sources in the foyer, while included among the loose equipment is a 16 x 16 of Digigram 16-way stand-alone stage box audio over Ethernet, with a breakout box for further Ethernet capacity and a plethora of loose cabling and stands.
Finally, Northern Light have supplied four portable trolleys with Denon CD, Numark iPod dock, Tannoy monitors and Soundcraft EPM6 mixer, which can be used anywhere (including the meeting rooms on site).
Having commissioned the system — and provided full DDA compliance — Northern Light will handle training and provide full technical support for the next 12 months.
In summary, Simon Cooper declared, “Key to the success of this project was the interface between the main contractor and electrical contractor and ourselves. In particular, the support we received from Darke & Taylor was fantastic.
“We have set out to provide as much system integration as possible, with simple and straightforward user interfaces, and at the same time provided remote access to the overall system via the resident Dell PC, which also contains all the configuration software.”
Elizabeth Adlington, Chief Executive of Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, concluded: “We bring a diverse range of shows to Aylesbury from rock and pop and musical theatre to classical music and dramas and it is crucial that for each and every performance the sound and lighting is of the best possible quality. Since opening the building in October we have been treated to great production for all of our shows and in our first month have already received a very positive response from our audiences to the quality of sound and lighting at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre”
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