Audio Arts & Acoustics Facilities

Presumably, you've landed on this link by way of curiosity. Well, we'd like to think our significance is aptly represented within the Faculty, Classes, and Mission links rather than descriptions of equipment and dimensions of rooms. Still, we can understand how working with API, Midas, Neve, Martin, Norsonic, Audio Precision, or Pro Control might be appealing. It is for us too! But if nothing else—if this is the singular occasion to capture your attention—remember the undying words of H.F. Sandroff, "They're just machines!" Our interest plainly lies in what you do with them and what criteria you use in doing so. Here it is then, if you must have a peek, the equipment and facilities of the Audio Arts & Acoustics Department of Columbia College Chicago.

This classroom/demonstration space is currently set up for Psychoacoustics and Sound System Design. It is a combination lecture room and listening environment. Students monitor source material wirelessly, through an infrared headphone listening system or through several sets of loudspeakers depending on the course and lesson.

This is a teaching and lab setting for roughly 170 entry-level students taking the AA&A core class Production I Audio. There are fourteen production station carousels, each including a Macintosh G4 running Pro Tools LE software with a 001 I/O breakout box. In this class, the Pro Tools rig is strictly used as a multi-track device as the students manually route all signals thru a patch bay and a 16-channel Midas Venice analog console. There is also a small voice-over booth designed to accommodate single microphone spoken word recordings.

This classroom/lab is set up to teach Basic Audio Systems, Studies in Hearing, and Audio Measurement Techniques. In it you can find workbenches with a wide range of signal generation, measurement, and analysis tools. It also is home to a Media Matrix system and multiple analog audio processors.

Specifically intended for Audio for Visual Media students, Studio D is the department’s sole mixing environment that provides both far-field [ATC SCM20 in 5.1] and near-field [Mackie HR824] monitoring. It is outfitted with Digidesign’s proprietary control surface, Pro Control™ for TDM systems, exchanging mouse-based working methodologies for true hands-on console-style mixing, editing and DSP processing. It’s matched with a Pro Tools MIXplus system that uses the Universal Slave Driver for syncing to full-size DV. There are two mixdown formats available: DAT for two-channel mix masters and DTRS for eight-channel stem and surround mixes.

This laboratory/classroom is specially intended for students in the Audio Production II and MIDI Programming and Digital Synthesis classes. The classroom is outfitted with four DAWs, based on Power Macintosh G4s running ProTools, Max/MSP, and other digital audio editing and processing software, Digi 002 I/O units, and miscellaneous MIDI equipment and controllers. The clasroom works in conjunction with the Advanced Digital Audio Production Laboratory and is connected to the internal network linked to a central server so that students can back-up their work and/or access their files in either room. Monitoring is done both via headphones as well as Genelec 1031As for presentation and lectures.

This laboratory/classroom is home for the Acoustics Program. A multitude of classes are taught here including: Studies in Transducer Theory, Engineered Acoustics, Architectural Acoustics, Acoustical Modeling, and Acoustical Testing I & II. Students have access to and use test equipment from Norsonic, Brüel & Kjær, Goldline [TEF], Quest, Onosoki, and Audio Precision. There are also two small booths used for critical testing: [1] has been earmarked for analyzing the frequency response and on/off axis characteristics of loudspeakers, and [2] has a SpectraQuest Machinary Fault Simulator to mimic conditions common to industrial sites.

The physical space of this studio is used by the Live Sound component of the department, partly to house their considerable cache of reinforcement equipment, however, all of the LSR courses are taught here as well. With large screen projection capabilities, the space is usually set-up for an intense 7.1 surround sound experience, but can quickly change to simulate typical stage environmets. The gear list is as follows: Midas DA-01 FOH console, Midas PR-40 monitor console, Martin Audio W8’s, WT3’s, and W8CS’s, Martin LE12J’s, Community CSX25’s and 28’s, XTA DP226’s, BSS Crossover FDS318 and BSS Omnidrive FDS388 and FDS366, Lab Gruppen 3200’s and 6400’s, AB International ER2500’s and 4000’s, QSC MX700’s, Klark Technik DN360’s, ART HD31’s, BSS and Avalon DI’s, Audio Control Maestro Surround Controller,and microphones from Sennheiser, Beyer Dynamic, Earthworks, Shure and Octava.

Formerly a bona fide bank vault with three foot wide steel-plated walls and a massive circular vault door, this room has been converted to become our live reverb space. Obviously, recording students utilize it for natural reverb, but acoustics students also use it to test and measure by altering the surface composition with absorptive panels.

This lecture and demonstration space is utilized by Recording I and Live Sound Recording courses and includes raked, theater-style seating. It’s equipped with a Control 24 control surface linked to a Pro Tools MIXplus TDM system with 24 channels of 24-bit I/O for multi-track mixing and recording. Outboard processing includes: TC Electronics M2000 and 2290 effects units, Lexicon LXP15 and PCM60 reverb, Lexicon PrimeTime, Aphex 100 series processors, Kepex gates, UREi 1176, 1178, and dbx 160 compressors. Mix-down machines are Tascam DAT or Sony APR5000 analog two-track and monitoring is done through ATC SCM50 and Genelec 1031A.

Production II Audio students use the ADAPL to accomplish a series of labs in sound design. It features fourteen Macintosh G4’s outfitted with Digi 002 Rack systems. These DAW’s [as is the case for all audio related computers] are on an internal network linked to a central server so that students can back-up their work and/or access their files. The course requires the use of onboard plug-in technology for DSP processing and a Pro Tools internal mixer for automation. Because all of the workstations are set up carousel style in the same space, all monitoring is done via headphones.

This control room is situated so that it too can use the two recording spaces mentioned above. The room is designed to accommodate Master Class in Music Design as well as overflow from the other advanced recording courses. It features a classic analog combination—Neve Series 66 console matched with a 2” 24-channel Studer A-80. Here too, Pro Tools is available with another 24-channel MIXplus system. The outboard gear is plentiful including Lexicon [300L, PCM81, PCM60, MPX100], TC Electronics [M2000, 2290], UREi [1176, 1178], Drawmer, dbx, and Aphex. Monitoring is done through ATC SCM50’

This studio is a small audio for video post-production suite configured for assembly, editing and audio treatment of student’s projects ranging from advertising commercials and film/video to non-picture advanced sound design. It is equipped with another Pro Tools MIXplus system that syncs to full-size DV via Digidesign’s Universal Slave Driver. There is a sizeable compliment of processing plug-ins that afford students the opportunity for significant manipulation while using Pro Tools automation capabilities to either mix to two-channel DAT or eight-channel DTRS for film/video stems. Monitoring is done through ATC SCM10’s

This is the facility’s premier music production studio for advanced students. It boasts a 64-input, 16-buss API Legacy recording console matched with a 2” 24-channel Otari MTR-90 analog tape machine. Alternatively, a full Pro Tools MIXplus system with 24 channels of 24-bit I/O is also available. The API is outfitted with 32 channels of the company’s legendary model 212L mic-pre, 64 channels of the model 550L EQ and model 768 routing and auxiliary module. The fader section includes Flying Faders automation. Outboard gear is first-rate: reverbs from Lexicon [960 with LARC, PCM81, PCM60’s] and TC Electronics [M2000], delays from TC Electronics [2290], compression from API, UREi, dbx and Aphex, gates from API, Gatex and Aphex, and filtering from Pultec and UREi. Monitoring is done through ATC SCM50’s and Genelec 1031A’s. Adjacent to the control room are two recording spaces [A ­ large, and B - medium] linked with up to 16 channels of cue. Recording II and Contemporary Music Engineering students both track and mix in Studio A.

Every studio has access to the Department’s substantial microphone collection which includes all the usual suspects. Some outboard gear is available in portable racks which can travel from room to room. Cage-style check-out is required for all location recording kits.