Project Description
The Rumor Mill is a great restaurant/microwbrew pub/live music venue located a short stone’s throw from the ferry landing in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. With live entertainment booked nearly every night and tons of great artists playing there, it was time to treat the room acoustics to enhance the quality level the entertainers and patrons enjoy. Theater Design Northwest was hired to consult on acoustics and come up with some solutions. We chose a multi-disciplined approach to the project:
1. First, verification of the house sound system to ensure it is performing to spec
2. Remove the often misused graphic EQ, set system response to flat
3. Measure the in room response of the system with our Acoustisoft R+D setup
4. Install a BBE loudspeaker controller, use delay to sync arrival times of left and right main speakers for phase coherency
5. Add broadband absorption using Kinetics Hardside 2″ panels
6. Remeasure in room response and equalize using BBE for flat in room response.
7. Create a preset on the BBE Loudspeaker Controller so the system is plug and play for the owners and performers. You turn on the system and know you are getting a flat system response off the bat; the board EQ can then be used for artistic colorings instead of trying to tune a system flat by ear.
Using a loudspeaker controller set up with accurate tools like Acoustisoft is an excellent way to enjoy more consistent performance from any sound system. And quality acoustic products like Kinetics along with a skilled design should be the first line defense against poor sound quality anywhere, from a great venue like Rumor Mill to home theaters and even in residential living spaces.
