The Burnham Institute for Medical Research ranks among the top 25 organizations worldwide for its research impact. Located in La Jolla, CA Burnham utilizes a unique, collaborative approach to medical research and has established major research programs in cancer, stem cell research, neurodegeneration, diabetes, infectious, inflammatory, and childhood diseases. Burnham places a strong emphasis on collaborative discovery.The Burnham Institute asked AVI Systems to renovate their multi-purpose auditorium to provide state of the art presentation and video conferencing systems where scientists can easily deliver presentations and collaborate effectively.
The auditorium includes raised seating with a presentation area and lectern at the front of the room. Presentations include multimedia sources from PC laptops, a dedicated Mac computer, Mac notebooks, a Blu-ray DVD player, and room audio. Video sources are projected onto a large screen using a Panasonic 10,000 lumen WXGA 16:9 aspect projector. Audio sources include a Digital Conference Microphone System from Listen Technologies and Danish Interpretation Systems.
Steve Vail, Technology Manager and Eric Hicks, Director of IT at Burnham continually prompt AVI to develop innovative uses for traditional technology. They often ask for creative solutions that do not have precedent. Burnham is a world leader in medical research where innovation is paramount to their culture.
The auditorium design needed to foster interactive dialog, not only from the audience in the auditorium, but also from those participating miles away via video conferencing. Audience question and answer sessions are an important part of the presentations.
Traditional handheld or ceiling microphone uses were not deemed acceptable. Burnham wanted audience participation without requiring facilitators to run handheld microphones around the room, or actively manage the muting and un-muting of microphones in the audience seating area.
The DCS 6000 Digital Conferencing system was selected for its exceptional audio quality and ease of use. Each microphone comes with an On/Off button and indicator light. A ring at the top of the microphone lights up showing when the microphone is turned on. This is especially helpful to a seminar presenter to identify who is speaking or asking a question.
The MU 6042 dual microphone units are designed for installation inside furniture, below tables, or inside floor boxes. This is where the innovative use of the system in a raised seating auditorium comes into play. Each person seated in the audience needed to have the ability to ask questions and interact with seminar presenters, other audience members, and those at the far-end video conferencing calls.
The long 19.7 inch goose neck microphones - GM 6524 provided optimal height for voice pick up without rising to a height that would be obtrusive. The microphones are barely noticeable in the auditorium.
Ali Chitsaz, Senior Help Desk Specialist at Burnham stated “The audio quality of the microphones is surprisingly good. They look cool, people were immediately impressed. More users comment on the high tech look. It helps with the academic feel to have push button mics for question and answer. Scientists know they can be involved. We’ve had two big seminars, one for Swine Flu and the other a Cancer Center Symposium. They both went flawlessly”.
Because the Listen GM 6524 microphones provide a wide pick up range, the number of microphones and associated cost could be limited by placing the microphones to pick up within a three seat range.
Chase Security Systems in Chicago specializes in custom enclosures for all types of audio and video gear. Chase designed and fabricated the enclosures to attach to the support structure of the auditorium seats. The enclosure nicely hides the microphone processor and the in/out ports while protecting it from inadvertent bumping and environmental exposures.
Robert Bennett an AVI technician provided exact dimensions and design criteria. The microphones and enclosures needed to use a minimum of space and fit snugly into seat back indentations so they would not be subject to accidental kicking and bumping.
Chuck Villanueva, from Chase conceptualized an enclosure that flush mounted the microphone face plate with its On/Off button easily accessible, while housing the microphone processors. Chase created a minimally sized box measuring only 5 inches high, 2 ½ inches deep and 5 inches wide. This compact design cleverly allows cables to be routed into and out of the box using a minimum of space by placing the MU processor face down and flush with the open ended bottom of the box.
The DCS 6000 Digital Conferencing system DCS-LAN allows the MU 6042 units to be daisy-chained together via Cat-5e cabling, saving time and expense. By avoiding home run the cabling, it was easier to keep cabling out of site and maintain the auditorium’s esthetics.
Steve Vail from Burnham liked the concept when John May presented it, but took a wait and see approach until he could hear a demo of the microphones in the room and see the conceptual design. One of the concerns was they would need too many microphones and the physical appearance would detract from the room.
Mike Cromer of Audio Geer took care of proving audio quality by bringing a full end to end demo system including the actual MU processors, microphones, and loudspeakers. The microphones were set up at several seats to show pick up ranges and sound quality.
“I was immediately impressed with the audio quality of the Listen microphones and knew they would aesthetically fit perfectly. Then we just needed to see how AVI’s total custom installation of microphones, equipment, and cabling was going to look.” stated Steve Vail.
Steve expressed an initial concern “It was hard to visualize exactly how the microphone system would be attached to the seats. The last thing we wanted was obtrusive equipment that might limit movement in the aisles. At the same time, we also wanted to protect our investment.”
Chase Security provided great concept drawings with exact dimensions that were very helpful. When Chase sent a mock up picture with two virtual seats, it made the concept come to life. We created a card board mockup of the mic enclosure and the extension support bracket. It was to exact scale so we could take it to the auditorium to demonstrate its look and how it would be attached to the seating structure.
“The mock up and concept picture sealed it for me. It was easy to approve the design. I appreciated the extra effort the AVI team put into making the mock ups for me” affirmed Steve Vail.