Inside Boston University’s Decision to Use Biamp Tesira DSP

Working with HB Communications, Boston University School of Law upgraded its audio and classroom capture solutions by turning to Biamp Tesira. But why?

Tom LeBlanc Leave a Comment

Arthur G. Martins, learning and event technology specialist for Boston University School of Law, explains BU School of Law's decision to use Biamp Tesira DSP solutions in class room capture and other audio objectives.

After Boston University School of Law began using Biamp Tesira digital signal processing (DSP) in its Sumner M. Redstone Building, we wrote about it. We tackled how integration firm HB Communications’ Biamp DSP solution plays into classroom capture and overcoming other audio challenges for BU’s technical team.

We focused on the tremendous cost savings the university saw as a result of the Biamp Tesira solution.

“Moving the audio signal routing to Tesira not only allowed us to accommodate the additional rooms in the Law Tower, but it also saved the university over $10,000 by eliminating the need for the analog switcher,” said HB Communications senior systems design engineer Michael Dodge.

That’s the success story part of it. We thought it would be informative to go back to before BU knew its ambitious audio strategy would be successful and figure out how the school and HB Communications arrived at the Biamp Tesira DSP solution in the first place.

Arthur G. Martins, learning and event technology specialist for Boston University School of Law, took the time to show me around BU School of Law and talk about the decision to go with Biamp.

We started in the control room where much of the AV equipment lives, including a large DSP server. However, Martins pointed out, each classroom is self-sufficient and has its own Biamp Tesira. “But it’s also run through fiber and other cables into this control room. So we can actually run each classroom if we need to through mixers.”

The new Biamp Tesira scheme is part of a recent technology upgrade and replaces a previous Biamp solution.  It was during an InfoComm show when Martins first saw Tesira, he recalled, and subsequently discussed with HB Communications’ Dodge.

“[Dodge] said, ‘If this is what you want to do for all the rooms, we can bring these Tesiras and do some AVB’s bridging across the building.’ That’s where we saved in the cost.”

As Martins walked from control room to lecture hall to classroom, he discussed the impact of the Biamp Tesira solution.

On Biamp Tesira and Classroom Capture:

We have classroom capture in all the rooms. Most of the rooms are set up for a distance set, so if you have a conference call, we have system of devices, so you can hear on either end. The [Shure] mics are very important in these classrooms. The rooms are acoustically sound, have ceiling microphones, wireless mics, and all that programing and audio go through Biamp Tesira, so it can be captured on electric capture, or on the backup recorders, and so forth.

On Discernable Audio Improvement:

The improvement was noticed internally, definitely. By faculty and students? Yes, some of them mentioned, especially going through IT and AV that the technology is sometimes worth the admission.

So in lecture capture they can hear all the audio. We have hybrid classes and they want to hear what the students are asking. It’s definitely noticed by faculty staff and the students. We use some of the recordings that we have here for other schools on the university now. Students listen to it, so they can spec it out when they do other rooms in the university. It’s definitely a big benefit, and noticed.

Learn more about BU School of Law’s decision to choose Biamp Tesira in the video above.

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