New Orleans City Hall Parties With Symnet

May 12, 2005 8:00 AM

Although noise, feedback, uneven coverage, and even unintelligibility are acceptable, perhaps even preferable, on Bourbon Street, they are totally unacceptable when governing bodies convene at New Orleans City Hall. Specifically, the concern centered around the main council chambers, the site of numerous meetings by panels handling the city's business, such as the city council and the planning commission.

Symetrix's SymNet modular DSP audio processing and routing system has proven to be the answer to the New Orleans City Hall's audio challenges.

The root of the problem lies in an antiquated analog sound system that grew increasingly incapable of handling mounting audio demands. Meetings were difficult. Participants were challenged whether listening or speaking. It was virtually impossible to process or route the audio. In short, it was time for a change.

The task of finding a solution fell to New World Resources, a New Orleans-based AV systems integrator. "The system was really giving them a hard time," says company president, David Humphreys. "They tried various short fixes, but they finally decided that it was simply a bad design. They agreed with us that a new solution was needed."

Although it took the city a year of ruminating before settling on it, Symetrix Audio's SymNet modular DSP audio processing and routing system proved to be the essence of the answer to solving the thorny audio problems that had plagued the venue for years. Shortly after first learning about SymNet at an AV industry trade show, Humphreys knew the council chambers would provide an ideal application for a system that provided great processing flexibility and expandability.

"Since they were having problems with feedback and coverage, the idea was to redesign it to be a mix-minus type system that has the advantage of limiting the potential for feedback and improving intelligibility," he says. "In order to do that we needed a system that could handle a lot of inputs and outputs and provide processing on both. We didn't think a standard audio mixer fit this application."

The application demanded a robust processing and routing system. There were 11 microphone/speaker positions on the main dais, six mic positions on a conference table, and one for an audience podium, as well as inputs for several handheld mics, laptop computers, and a VCR playback system. Along with that, outputs included cassette recorders for archiving purposes, speakers for not only the audience area but multiple zones spanning some 50 offices throughout the eight-story building, and a cable broadcast system.

New World's solution was four 8x8 SymNet units, all linked in a ring fashion via daisy-chained Cat-5 cable. "We essentially created a 32-in, 32-out mixer that has the capability of providing a lot of processing on each input and output," Humphreys says. "That processing power comes in handy when we're driving live audio through 4in. mono speakers on the dais. It needs to be controlled so you don't get into a situation where you can blow a speaker. The processor has a high-pass filter, two-band parametric filter, and a compressor limiter that helps us control what goes through the speakers."

The numerous processing functions, all of which are handled via a computer software interface, make configuring and changing the system as needed a comparative breeze, says Humphreys.

"Had we pitched this project using a standard analog hardware-based system, there wouldn't have been enough space to install it, and the cost would have been prohibitive—probably five times more," he says.

SymNet comes in particularly handy for monitoring and controlling audio during live broadcasts of selected governing body meetings. "They can simply dial into the system during the meeting and tweak the audio as needed," he says.

With expanded audio capabilities a real possibility, SymNet also provides the city with a ready means of handling more inputs, outputs, and processing. As needs grow, it's easy to simply patch another 8x8 unit into the configuration, he says.

"SymNet is modular, so you're not locked into a DSP system that uses a card-based mainframe, which can be outgrown," he says. "You can add modules as needed in whatever configuration you want, and they're very easy to connect with drag-and-drop controls. I really like SymNet's expandability."

So far, though, the initial SymNet solution has met all of the city's needs. A year into using it, SymNet is giving the city unprecedented control over audio in a heavily used facility. Its success has spawned other similar installations in nearby cities. The city of Kenner, La., recently became a client of New World, and Humphreys again recommended SymNet. "It provides great value, it's very user-friendly, and its ease of programming is unsurpassed," he says.

For more information on professional audio signal processors from Symetrix, Lucid, and AirTools, please visit www.symetrixaudio.com, www.lucidaudio.com, www.symnetaudio.com, and www.airtoolsaudio.com.