The Opportunity
HU’s Art Farm | Boutique Wedding and Event Venue is situated 30 minutes from Auckland in a picturesque rural setting with majestic elevated views between Coatesville and Riverhead Forest.
The venue was conceptualised by Mrs Hu, a patron of the arts, as an international art residence for performing and visual artists, enabling collaboration and a platform to showcase their work in a custom-built gallery. When the venue is not used as a residence, the facilities are hired out for boutique weddings, corporate events, retreats and accommodation.
The wedding venue and restaurant recently underwent extensive works that included improved acoustics and an upgrade of the sound system for its wedding venue. An important part of the audio requirement was the ability to minimise noise spill from the wedding venue and observe council guidelines in the idyllic setting.
To ensure high quality sound in a controlled environment, HU’s Art Farm | Boutique Wedding and Event Venue contracted Luma Audio Visual to design a high impact sound system with sound monitoring capability.
The Solution
Luma AV engaged with JPRO to provide a unique solution of a HARMAN Professional audio system design in conjunction with SoundEar Visual Noise Solutions to meet strict council requirements of no more than 40dbA at the property boundary.
A SoundEar3-320 noise monitor was specified to provide automated reports and monitor the overall noise level produced in the venue. The SoundEar is integrated with a BSS BLU-50 processor to manage the sound system.
Luma AV selected 16x JBL Control62P pendant speakers matched with 4x Control 50ST subwoofers to achieve a full-range performance and well balanced, distributed sound to meet the SPL requirements of the venue.
“SoundEar provides an ingenious method to effectively control the volume in the room and meet council noise requirements!”
System Features:
- SoundEar3-320 noise monitor provides monitoring reports in conjunction with BSS BLU-50, including automated notifications and input gain reduction. It measures and logs the SPL in the room for a period of 600 days, with data accessible via USB for reference.
- JBL Control 62P white pendant speakers provide outstanding pattern control. They are evenly distributed throughout the wedding venue, allowing for consistent volume across the floor at a lower level.
- JBL Control 50ST compact subwoofers are surface mounted to the ceiling and provide high-power low-end bass response for the system.
- The system is powered by a Crown CDi 4300BL DriveCore amplifier with built-in audio presets; it sends and receives signals digitally through HARMAN’s BLU-Link audio bus.
- A JBL EON ONE Compact portable battery powered Bluetooth loudspeaker allows for fast and easy set up of sound reinforcement for outdoor functions, canapes and can be used as a monitor wedge on stage in the venue.
“We are very pleased with this project and look forward to many successful events at HU’s Art Farm.”
The Impact
“Our primary objective was to minimise noise spill and to meet council requirements of no more than 40dbA at the boundary. This was achieved through a professional audio design, complemented by purpose-built JBL Professional audio products and acoustic absorption and dampening,” says Josh Somerville from Luma. “SoundEar provides an ingenious method to effectively control the volume in the room and meet council noise requirements! SoundEar and BSS BLU-50 work cleverly together to create a big brother approach to noise control in the room. The combination of the JBL Control50 compact surface-mount subwoofers with the Control62P pendant loudspeakers provides an amazing experience for music and speech applications in the wedding venue that must be heard to be believed. Our client is exceedingly happy with the achieved result of meeting all objectives of this project.”
“We have improved our acoustics by installing white acoustic drapes and ceiling panels, while all air gaps are acoustically insulated,” says a HU’s Art Farm spokesperson. Our new professional JBL audio system allows for easy operation by any DJ and includes Bluetooth connectivity. The array of loudspeakers deliver crisp, clear sound with no dead spots when used for music or speech. The small portable battery powered sound system is reliable to use for our outdoor functions and easy to carry to other areas where needed. We are very pleased with this project and look forward to many successful events at HU’s Art Farm | Boutique Wedding and Event Venue.”
Tech Talk
JPRO’s technical design team adds “The system at HU’s farm was designed to deliver an outstanding music performance and experience – with the control of loudness. SoundEar provides an easy solution to reduce noise levels for businesses and institutions that need to comply with regulation. The system is designed to prevent the SPL from exceeding the limit and this is achieved using a limiter in the DSP for the PA, as well as a SoundEar 320 that monitors the ambient SPL in the room. If this exceeds a pre-determined average SPL over a minute, it triggers the BLU-50 DSP to reduce the input gain of the PA, thereby controlling the overall noise reduction in the room.”
“The use of quality loudspeakers with exceptional coverage is important in achieving this result. The design specification required multiple JBL Control62P pendant speakers distributed throughout the venue at a lower SPL. Unlike conventional loudspeakers mounted on speaker stands that need to be loud at the front to reach the back (thereby introducing loudness issues), SPL from the distributed Control62P system could be lower as it produces equal loudness across the coverage area.”
