New York, NY (October 22, 2025)—New York University’s (NYU) John A. Paulson Center is a lot of things to a lot of people. The LEED Gold-certified complex sports athletic spaces, nearly 60 classrooms, eateries, student and faculty housing, and cutting-edge facilities for dramatic and musical arts education. Those performance sites were created by Masque Sound working closely with acoustics and AV consultancy Jaffe Holden, a Trinity Consultants team.
Masque Sound provided a turnkey solution covering audio, video, control and communications across multiple rooms. The installation equipped venues including the African Grove Theatre, Iris Cantor Theatre, Theater C, Ensemble Rehearsal Room and multiple other rehearsal/ensemble rooms inside the massive complex.
For the performance facilities, L-Acoustics loudspeakers and subwoofers are used throughout, paired with LA12X, LA4X and LA2xi amplifiers and an L-ISA immersive audio processor for spatial sound design. Mixing is handled by a range of Yamaha consoles including CS-R5, CL5 and QL1 models, complemented by Rio and RPio stage boxes for flexible I/O.
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For wireless audio, Masque supplied Shure Axient Digital systems with handheld, bodypack and DPA headset microphones, alongside extensive wired microphone inventories from Shure, Sennheiser, Neumann, AKG and others. Avid Pro Tools HD Native, Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite and PMC Studio Monitors support advanced recording and post-production workflows.
In addition to the extensive gear suite, Masque engineered and installed more than 200 custom AV panels and a Dante-enabled network backbone, allowing any performance, rehearsal or recording space to be interconnected for both audio and video.
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The centerpiece of the installation is the Iris Cantor Theatre, a 350-seat professional-level proscenium, fly-loft theatre equipped with tracking L-Acoustics arrays that move in tandem with the orchestra pit lifts. This engineering solution was developed in an effort to accommodate changes in stage geometry without compromising sound imaging. The system design also accounted for the diverse needs of user groups, from musical theatre and classical music ensembles to recording artists and student technicians.
