Case Study
Audiologic brings premium AV experience to National Theatre's Learning Centre
16/12/2024
When The National Theatre (NT) was looking to provide a state-of-the-art audio visual experience within its Clore Learning Centre, Audiologic was the natural choice for guidance on technology and system design considerations.
The Clore Learning Centre is a facility offering events and courses for all ages, exploring the world of theatre from playwriting to technical skills, often led by the NT's own artists and staff. The centre comprises two main spaces: The Cottesloe Room, a 40-seat capacity flexible seminar space designed for presentations and small-scale workshops; and the Duffield Studio, a larger studio space designed for practical workshops, covering aspects of theatre craft from scenic art to lighting design.
When Ben Steinitz, Building Systems & Compliance Manager at the NT, contacted Audiologic about the project, our in-house applications team got to work on preliminary system designs, considering the brief and existing sound and video infrastructure which included Dante integration throughout. Having concluded the best approach would be a system built around Q-SYS, arrangements were made for the client to visit Q-SYS’s new UK Experience and Training Centre at Egham, allowing them to explore the design potential more fully.
At this point Audiologic brought experienced systems integrator Morton Audio Visual Services into the frame and the project scope later expanded to include the John Lyons Education Studio (JLES), a larger workshop space designed for movement and text-based workshops.
The Duffield Studio was relatively straightforward in terms of use case and architectural considerations; with audio distribution and control catered for by a Q-SYS Core 8 Flex, and video handled with the Netvio portfolio of 4K60 HDR extenders to a projector and motorised screen.
The Cottesloe Room required more careful planning due to the space’s high-spec interior finishes, hard reflective surfaces, and a no-fixed-furniture layout. With additional considerations of video conferencing, recessed speakers and AV interoperability with the adjacent foyer space; the design needed to cater for complex acoustics, flexibility and discrete installation.
The space was kitted out as a full Q-SYS conferencing suite with a Core Nano, CX Q 4K8 8-channel networked amplifiers, NC-12x80 conference cameras, TSC-70-G3 touchscreen controller, Shure ULX-D radio microphones, Williams IR Assisted Listening and Shure MXA920 ceiling array microphone. The latter chosen not only for its directional pickup, voice lift and natural speech performance, but crucially due to its Q-SYS ACPR (Automatic Camera Preset Recall) integration. Again, Netvio extenders and HDMI matrix were deployed with internal broadcasting feeds to an LG 110” display, and to the projector in the foyer, completing the installation.
The final phase of the project, over at the JLES, presented unique challenges in its use cases, to which Q-SYS’ open architecture lent itself perfectly. Once again, audio and control was handled by the Core 8 Flex, supported with Netvio extenders allowing for front and rear inputs to a surround sound and projection system. The large projector screen is in front of a set of double doors (secondary entrance) and rather neatly, the Q-SYS system controls a maglock (via GPIO) which prevents those doors from being opened from outside while screen is fully extended and in use.
Duffield studio (with Shure MXA902 ceiling array visible)
The rooms at the Clore Learning Centre were installed and commissioned in April and the JLES a few months later in August, following a seamless delivery and installation, handled by Morton and with commissioning support on hand from Audiologic. Tom Morton (Morton AV Principle) commented,
“It’s always a pleasure working with Audiologic on projects such as this, especially when the design is based around Q-SYS and I was delighted to have had opportunity to work closely with Ben at the NT on this. It’s an iconic venue, and these ancillary spaces presented a few challenges that we were pleased to be able to solve for the client. Everything went smoothly and whenever we needed advice or support from Audiologic, it was on hand and without delay.”
Ben Steinitz from the NT was full of praise for Morton AV and with the results of the Q-SYS, Shure and Netvio solution that has now been in use within the spaces for the last few months.
“I was introduced to Tom by Audiologic and from a client perspective, found the three-way collaboration between us, distributor and integrator to be fluid and constructive. The design process and installation were exemplary and the visit to Q-SYS Experience Centre early on really helped put my mind at ease that this was the best technology path to take. In fact, I keep thinking of more applications that could run on Q-Sys.”
Duffield Studio
Cottesloe Room