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NEW SYSTEM SOUNDS GOOD TO HILLSDALE COLLEGE —Fieldhouse Audio System Features Yamaha DME32 Digital Mixing Engine— HILLSDALE, MI (March 16, 2001)—Since its founding in 1844, Hillsdale (MI) College has held many unique distinctions. Located in the southern Michigan town of Hillsdale, midway between Cleveland and Chicago, the private four-year liberal-arts institution with a student population of around 1,200 has never accepted any federal taxpayer funds for its operations. It has also held a non-discriminatory policy which saw the admission of black and female students a full 20 years before the Civil War. In the early 1970's, Hillsdale became the first college to introduce the IBM System 3, Model 6 computer. And in early 2001, the college also has the distinction of being among the first educational institutions to implement a new sound system with the Yamaha DME32 Digital Mixing Engine as its nucleus.
The new system, located in the College's George Roche Health Education & Sports Complex-Jesse Phillips Arena was a design/build effort between the school and All-Tronics, Inc. of Battle Creek, MI. The 5,000-seat Complex, containing basketball courts and a 200-meter indoor track, has seen a number of expansions over the years, and is home to Hillsdale's varsity athletics in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, NCAA Division II. "This building is the main field house for the school," explains Andrew Walker, design engineer for All-Tronics. "It's really a multi-function facility. They use it for volleyball, basketball, special events and convocations, when held indoors. It's a remodel from an original field house built in the early 1900's, so structurally, it's very substantial. The reason for this integration was that the original system was a series of 8-in. ceiling mount speakers and, needless to say, was not providing sufficient coverage or the clarity needed for speech or program music."
Ted Matko, director of technical media for Hillsdale College, elaborates, "Gain before feedback was always a problem. Plus, we always had to bring in auxiliary sound equipment for certain events. There were always complaints that people couldn't be understood." Walker and senior technician Scott Corstange worked in tandem with Matko. "The basketball court and a series of movable bleachers had to be covered." "The system is really simple," Matko continues. "Microphones and playback equipment are plugged into an existing Yamaha MC2404 analog console. The signal then goes directly to the Yamaha DME32, which, for conversion, has a single MY4AD card on the input and a single MY4DA on the output—and then straight to the amp racks." He continues, "The DME is handling speaker control, EQ and timing. The need for a comprehensive system controller arose from the fact that there are no audio technicians stationed at the field house. We chose the Yamaha DME32 because we needed a 'set it and forget it' processor that had to be bulletproof, and so far, it has worked very well."
The Yamaha DME32 is a 32-input, 32-output processor, expandable to 128 inputs and 128 outputs with 32 cascade busses. Applications include loudspeaker system control, matrix/routing, multi-effects processing, surround mixing, submixing and format conversion. Parameter adjustments, scene changes and other functions can be accessed from the front panel, using an intuitive "block diagram"-style programming, proprietary software and an outboard computer. The unit's software offers a variety of DSP "components" which are available from pull-down menus. The new speaker system is comprised of six Electro-Voice XI-1152/94F (X-Array 90x40) cabinets, distributed in N-S-E-W fashion—two per main bleacher section and one on each end bleacher section. Two Electro-Voice/Altec Lansing EP950 cabinets, positioned at opposite ends of the room, cover the floor area. Because the new system is more amperage intensive, all cabinets are driven by QSC Powerlight PL1.4 amplifiers for high frequencies and Powerlight 4.0 for lows. "The ceiling height is around 36 feet, and the place has big beams," notes Walker, "and the speakers are rigged to basketball supports with ATM Flyware. Things lined up nicely. All the racks are located in the press box above the bleachers, so they're not in the way. They've got the amps and Starin PD420VS power sequencers." Playback equipment includes an existing 360 Systems Instant Replay, Technics cassette and Califone CD player. "The first application was volleyball," Matko adds. "And everything worked like a charm. For only running six speakers, this system sounds as good as a big arena. An announcer can get really crazy and scream with no distortion or feedback. Music and speech is understandable. Best of all, no one complains. We like that." For more information on the DME32 Digital Mixing Engine, visit Yamaha at NSCA 2001, Orange County Convention Center, Booth 603 and Demo Room 208A; write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Commercial Audio, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail info@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.
© 2001 Yamaha
Corporation of America |
