Newcastle University’s Culture Lab is a digital media facility for enabling the development of new digital technologies for solutions to arts, humanities and social science research problems. The facility features a live event space for performances, lectures and interactive displays, and state-of-the-art workshops.
All of Culture Lab’s spaces are networked using EtherSound over standard Cat-6 cable. Specific facilities include a testing and recording studio for digital sound and labs for multimedia audio-visual projects.
Digital Village (DVI) supplied and installed a professional post-production and recording facility. DVI also provided a comprehensive EAW NT Series self-powered loudspeaker system, along with a Mackie TT24 digital mixing console, for the new live performance space. The system comprises six NT26 two-way cabinets with a 12-inch driver and 60×45-degree dispersion pattern; six NT59 cabinets with a 15-inch driver and dispersion pattern of 90×45 degrees; and six NTS22 dual 12-inch subwoofers. All NT Series loudspeakers offer onboard DSP technology known as Gunness Focusing.
Newcastle University’s John Ayers was responsible for specifying the system. “We were looking for a system that could provide as close as possible to studio monitor-like sound quality but with the output of a P.A. speaker,” Ayers recalled. “We tested a number of different systems from several manufacturers, A/B’ing each one against Genelec studio monitors, and the EAW NT solution was the only one that came close. While other systems had the output, none could combine it with the audio quality of the NT Series. Furthermore, NT is lightweight, compact and portable, and the trapezoidal design of the mid-high cabinets means that they can easily serve as floor monitors if required.”
For more information, visit www.eaw.com, www.ncl.ac.uk/culturelab and www.dv247.com.
