THE MARY LOUIS ACADEMY
Jamaica Estates, New York
Photo by: © Matthew X. Kiernan
The Right Place at The Right Time
Our journey with The Mary Louis Academy (TMLA) begins in October of 2024 during the Sarah Hart tour. When we arrived to setup and met the wonderful and friendly staff, they had mentioned that they wanted to start making upgrades to their space. After having seen the gear we brought - JBL Line Arrays, Yamaha Console, etc; and after having been informed that we also specialize in systems integration, they were curious as to how we could improve upon the sound system in their space.
A few months later, WiredUP designers visited the space again to demo a 20K projector setup, which ended up not fitting into the budget restrictions this time around. Designers specified a sound system that would work as two-seperate systems, but would be tied together as one. Confused? Well - there needs to be a level of utility use for the more-frequent times that teachers and staff need or want to come in and simply turn on a microphone and not have to worry about how to use a sound console. But for productions and musicals, a true sound console is the key to successful audio.
Utilizing a QSC MP-M40, designers were able to achieve this “separate but the same” PA system. A pair of wireless microphones and a pair of mic ports installed in the wall feed directly into the MP-M40, which is used essentially as the utility mixer and Digital Signal Processor for both systems. The video input in the front of the room uses HDBaseT to send audio and video over a single cable to the utility mixer as well, taking the guesswork out of how to connect a laptop to the projector and sound system at the same time.
All new equipment officially loaded-in.
Assembling the JBL CBT70J+E's
New rack mounted. Out of sight, out of mind.
New rack build completed. Simple, yet effective.
Yamaha TF5 at Front-of-House.
New JBL PA hung, using the existing "Schedule-40" pipe from the previous PA, per the customers request.
Single-Cable Audio/Video operation using HDBaseT devices from WyreStorm.
Old Speakers - EV SX500+
Old rack. Assorted InterM devices, tape deck and CD Player.
Before the mass exodus!
We were sure to not ask questions we didn't want answers to.
Rack be gone.
Equipment Utilized
Processing and Power
At the heart of the entire system is a QSC MP-M40 Mixing and Paging processor. All sources, including the Yamaha TF5 at FOH connect to the MP-M40.
From the MP-M40 outputs, the next stop for the signal is a Crown DCi4|600 DriveCore Installation series analogue input amplifier. The MP-M40 outputs 4 individual signals, 2 for the mains and 2 for the delay fills. Since the DCi4|600 has 4 individual inputs, the system runs 1:1 between the processor and amplifier.
Sources
The sources for this system include the Yamaha TF5 at FOH (primarily used for musicals and shows with numerous wireless bodypack microphones), Shure SLXD wireless microphones (connected directly to the MP-M40 for utility use), 2 XLR inputs on the deck for wired microphones, and the WyreStorm HDBaseT converter for extracting audio from connected video devices.
Speakers
The main PA consists of two sets of JBL CBT70J-1 + CBT70JE-1. Delay speakers are JBL Control 25-1L’s. The result is a space with an outstanding audio experience that fills the space with clarity and energy.