Visitors to London’s South Bank have probably noticed their experiences becoming a lot more appealing to their ears lately, thanks to an audio networking overhaul at several of the region’s attractions.
Merlin Entertainment called on Audinate’s Dante audio networking technology at the Coca-Cola London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium and Shrek’s Adventure! London, among other attractions in the South Bank area.
The installation at Shrek’s Adventure! London – which opened in July 2015 – is particularly notable as “one of the ‘heaviest’ attractions that Merlin has created in terms of AV,” says Simon Casey, senior show services manager at the Coca-Cola London Eye, who has also been involved in many other Merlin AV installations.
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For Shrek’s Adventure! London, Dante facilitates audio processing and playout as part of a set-up that also features Medialon show controllers, 7thSense media servers, BSS DSP, Crown amplifiers and VUE Audiotechnik loudspeaker systems.
“The 7thSense media servers all have built-in Dante Virtual Soundcards and are outputting audio across the attraction site to the Crown amplifiers,” says Casey. “We can also send audio to other areas of the site – for example, messages for the ticket hall can be relayed to those waiting in the ride queue area at the Coca-Cola London Eye.”
Here’s a look behind the installation along London’s South Bank.
Previous positive experience with the Dante technology at other Merlin sites made the choice easy when it was time to outfit Shrek’s Adventure! London and other attractions in South Bank, says Casey.
The need for simplicity was even more acute given the complexity of the Shrek installation, which requires intensive interaction between performers and projections and close synchronization of audio and video.
At the Coca-Cola London Eye, background audio of various kinds is being processed via Dante Virtual Soundcards as part of a system that also includes Focusrite RedNet Ethernet-networked audio interfaces, Symetrix Prism DSPs and Attero Tech break-out boxes.
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