Lighting and Sound Lab

The Lighting and Sound Lab, located in Walker 210, is a versatile space dedicated to the exploration of sound, lighting, theater, dance, and intimate performances.

Sound

One of our five powerful sound and music composition workstations is installed in this room and connected to a mastering-quality surround system and contrasting URIE large format studio monitors. Snakes, mic cables, and a multi-channel recording interface allow small to medium recording sessions with the engineer in the room with the band, a working style famously practiced at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.

Sound system control is handled by an advanced BSS DSP system with a custom touchscreen designed and implemented by students in our advanced practicum course.

Custom diffusion in the room provides a warm acoustic environment with few harsh reflections providing the perfect environment for our wide-dispersion monitoring system as well as making the room exceptionally neutral for recording. Portable gobos allow significant customization of the room’s acoustics for different projects, as well as creating modest isolation between performers to reduce leakage into adjacent microphones.

A large video display makes this room excellent for work with video of all kinds. The room is equipped with a selection of foley surfaces and the lack of carpet in this room means we can do messier vegetable- and fruit-based recording sessions in this room.

Integration with our digital audio network allows this lab to be used as a control room for McArdle theatre recordings and broadcast mixing.

Lighting

This lab features a range of lighting instruments that allow students to explore theatrical as well as studio lighting technologies. A full grid and dimming system supports complex multi-cue systems. Additional lighting instruments, including moving lights, are brought in for special projects.

Performance

This room supports rehearsals for our theatrical productions as well as occasionally being a performance venue. The sprung floor, dance mirrors and natural light make it a wonderful and professional space to work in and seating is available to host intimate coffeehouse-style performances or late-night fringe theatre.