Audio Solutions for a Community Hub
Sound Solutions for a Multi-Purpose Community Hub
Project: The Lindisfarne Club, Newcastle
Installer: Blaydon Communications Ltd
After many years of suffering with noise on their system and poor-quality audio, not to mention the endless battle against the phantom of the organisation that meddles with the sound system, the Lindisfarne Club contacted Blaydon Communications Limited to provide a solution to their audio problems.
Based just a few miles outside of Newcastle City Centre the social club is at the heart of the community. Providing social events and a wonderful place to meet for the people of Wallsend and the North East of England as a whole.
We spoke to Paul Dougherty, MD at Blaydon Comms, about the project and what solutions they came up with to improve the sound across the different areas of the building, meeting the client’s need for operational flexibility.
“Upon first assessment of the system, it was obvious why they had problems. Easily accessible controls on old analogue equipment combined with an untidy mess of unbalanced low-quality cabling meant the system was susceptible to both human and electrical interference.
As part of the initial assessment, we collaborated with the client to determine what their end goal was so we could make sure our proposal would continue to meet their needs for years to come. Their requirements were simple enough, they wanted a dependable, interference free system that could be used throughout the club in multiple rooms, and this was something we had provided many times before.
Our solution used several manufacturers to get the desired outcome for system performance and ease of use, but the routing of audio is where things got complicated. The users wanted an easy method of being able to use microphones individually in the bar, lounge, and concert room, but also have any combination of rooms if required. This included routing the microphones to work in their own space whilst also having the ability to work across other rooms. The system also had to operate with a TV decoder to allow sports commentary and music.
Without hesitation a TOA M-9000M2 Digital Mixer was recommended. Its modular design could easily cater for the required input and output needs of the system. TOA’s range of remote-control interface panels meant that complicated audio routing could be programmed into the main unit and the user could have a simple push button facility to choose the required mode of the system. Initially provision was made for single room use with everything working in its own space. We used an extra mode to include music in both the bar and lounge. The last mode was programmed so that all rooms could hear their own microphones and microphones from other areas too.
Moving the club into the world of digital audio was the only solution that would give the ease of use they needed combined with the behind-the-scenes complexity required for the system to work. Yet again TOA have a perfect bit of kit to fulfil this need and we are confident that the system will provide many years, probably decades, of fault free service for them.”
“Another solution for audio provided by Blaydon Comms. In an environment that has many users this system allows different levels and room configurations for sound whist making it simple to use for multiple operators.”
Ian Bridgewater
Director & Technical Sales Manager,
TOA Corporation (UK) Ltd
You can download a pdf of this project here