U.S. INSTALLER SELECTS iDR FOR SOUND INSTALLATIONS

U.S. production sound services provider and sound contractor, Simon Productions, recently completed the design and installation of two programmable DSP distributed audio systems in the Los Angeles area using Allen & Heath's iDR Series.

The two systems - which both incorporate 10 input / 10 output iDR-8 digital mix processors, as well as PL-4 wallplate controllers - were installed at the luxury Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and UCLA's James West Alumni Centre in Westwood.

According to Simon Productions' Terry Stewart, the new audio set-up at the beachfront Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel replaced a traditional 70-volt ceiling system for background music. The Allen & Heath iDR-8 provides control and processing for a new digital jukebox that serves the public areas on the entrance level of the hotel. "What they wanted was a more high-end looking and sounding system, more hi-tech," Stewart explains.

The system now includes a touch screen custom music jukebox with JBL two-way speaker cabinets and subwoofers throughout the area, which includes the four-story atrium lobby, adult bar and a brand new restaurant. "These are all divided into zones, which are controlled by the PL-4 wallplates," Stewart reports.

"Each area has its own PL-4 controller so that, if necessary, staff can adjust the volume," he elaborates. "I've set up volume remote controls - one zoned for the subwoofers, the other for the two-way, high/mid boxes and I’ve also programmed the LEDs on the PL-4 panels so that staff can monitor the signal activity."

The Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel adult bar

Simon Productions developed a custom music system for the installation. "We built a digital jukebox that is accessed through touch screens. Any hotel patron can walk up to a touch screen and choose any song that they want. Tim Thorney, who is a record producer, categorised the entire library, selecting California-based bands or anything to do with California."

The hotel originally wanted to use Apple iPods for music playback. "The problem was that the iPod isn't set up for ease of use in a corporate situation, especially in the kiosk mode. So we had to create a jukebox on our own PC-based system and load the material onto that hard drive," Stewart notes.



The Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel’s new touch screen-controlled, custom digital jukebox

Stewart also installed an iDR-controlled sound system at UCLA's alumni association building. "They have three main rooms there," he reveals, "and they wanted an easy to operate way to manage those rooms because they don't have an in-house sound engineer. The iDR-8 is the main brain that controls all the rooms, including EQ, compression and limiting."

The alumni association requested that the rooms - one approximately 40x30 ft., the other 20x20ft. - plus a lobby area and hallway, be both interactive and isolated. "If they have meetings going on in two rooms simultaneously, those rooms are independent. But if they have a meeting in a room and want to use the hallways as overflow, we fill all the rooms with that sound," he explains.

"We programmed all the PL-4 panels to control that, and it was great to be able to simply connect them to the back of the iDR unit’s PL-Anet output socket," he continues.

Simon Productions installed SLS Loudspeakers at the alumni association centre. "We used down fill ceiling speakers in the main lobby area. It's like an overflow, 70-volt speaker system, but it can operate as a PA system as well. They use it for a monaural speech PA system, and they also have parties in those rooms where they need music playback."