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Granite Town Media readies auditorium and AV for upcoming deliberative sessions
Summary
Granite Town Media staff said they will lay carpeting, adjust microphones and test new acoustical panels to reduce reverberation before the town and school deliberative sessions on Jan. 31 and Feb. 5.
Granite Town Media’s director, Chris Gentry, told the board on Jan. 29 that staff will set up the upstairs auditorium on Friday to prepare for the town deliberative session scheduled Jan. 31 and the school session on Feb. 5. "We have been working tirelessly upstairs, working on the audio systems and other ways to try to dampen it," Gentry said.
The media team plans temporary fixes for the immediate session and longer-term work on acoustical treatment. Gentry said staff hope to borrow carpeting from other floors to "line the outer section and the inner middle section" to blunt reverberation and will pursue 2-inch acoustical paneling for sidewalls when timing and approvals allow. He noted prior resistance from the heritage commission and emphasized matching any treatments to the room’s historic style before installation.
The team tested several options, including large acoustic blankets; Gentry said the blankets provided only limited improvement in prior trials. He also described adjustments to microphone placement and battery-cycling procedures to keep wireless mics functioning during long sessions. "So by depleting them, we're cycling the battery," he said when outlining the practice to maintain reliability.
Gentry and colleagues also identified a practical source of delay in recent broadcasts: audio routed to the lobby TV rather than directly through the ceiling speakers caused a half-second lag relative to TriCaster output. He said staff made Dante routing and amplifier changes that improved audio both inside and outside the auditorium.
Board members encouraged in-room mic discipline and reminded attendees that laptop and microphone orientation affects pickup. One member suggested that higher attendance would reduce echo by introducing more sound-absorbing bodies in the room; another noted floor wear concerns when adding carpeting.
The chair, Mike Thornton, and staff said they expect setup to begin Friday and that staff will be on site early Saturday to fine-tune systems for the deliberative sessions. The board did not take a formal vote on AV measures during the meeting; next steps include finalizing any vendor installation plans and, if needed, seeking heritage-commission input for permanent panels.
