CE Pro May 2024 - 19

INTEGRATOR INSIDER
Channel
Rotating Immersive Retail
Experiences Thanks to Dante
WITH RESIDENTIAL
Camp Experiences began
Integrators taking on more
light commercial/resimercial
work, as an example I want
to share Midtown Video's
innovative development to
improve the audio experience
for a retail chain.
Camp, A Family Experience
Company, has eight
locations from New York to
California. Each toy store
features standard retail
off erings in the front and an
8,000-square-foot ticketed
experience in the back,
revealed by a secret passage
disguised as a bookshelf.
As the retailer opened
new locations, they
introduced additional
themes including Space
Camp, Cooking Camp,
and Sports Camp. To keep
each location fresh, Camp
would rotate the thematic
experiences between their
locations every six months.
Imagine getting called back
to the store twice per year
to re-position speakers and
re-run 16 AWG cable from
the rack to every single
pendant hanging throughout
the space.
As their success grew, so
did their partnerships. Soon,
there was " Mickey and
Friends, " allowing kids and
parents to celebrate Mickey
Mouse's birthday with giant
projection-mapped rooms
featuring classic Disney
characters.
cepro.com
to launch the same day as
feature fi lms, including The
Little Mermaid in Atlanta
and Trolls: Band Together
in New York. To make way
for the Trolls Experience,
the Encanto Experience
running in the Manhattan
store was taken down,
crated up, and shipped to
launch the new Washington,
D.C., store.
Each experience is a
combination of AV technology,
set building, life safety,
in-person camp counsellors,
and merchandising.
You can guess where AV
fi t into the construction
schedule: Last! We were
given the shortest amount
of time on site, and only
after the carpet was laid,
the sets were built, and the
paint had dried.
We needed a solution to
reduce the amount of AV
work during hectic theme
rotations, and still meet
deadlines and expectations.
Enter an idea from
Camp's Director of IT, Josh
Wright. He also serves as
their AV liaison (and lighting,
control, building access,
etc.). Having a partner
with such a broad understanding
of technology is
critical to success. At the
outset, Wright standardized
a 6 x 6-foot unistrut grid
suspended 13 feet above
the fl oor at every store.
From the grid, we mounted
all the DMX lighting, Wi-Fi
access points, IP cameras,
pendant speakers, and
projectors.
With each theme
rotation, our busy techs
moved speakers and re-ran
cables to fi t the new fl oor
maps. " Mickey's Birthday "
audio zones didn't line up
Dante and the network
grid give us the freedom to
dynamically re-draw speaker
zones without having to
run a bunch of new cable.
If the new layout calls for
a pendant speaker to be
moved, a 10-foot patch
cable guarantees that we
can reach a network jack. If
we overload one location
" You can guess where
AV fi t into the construction
schedule: Last! We were
given the shortest amount of
time on site. "
precisely with the summer
camp bunks. Isabella's Flower
Garden isn't the same
shape as Ariel's grotto, and
the speaker zones required
precise boundaries.
" If I put a network jack at
each intersection of the 6
x 6 grid, can we somehow
reduce the amount of time
and work it takes to rotate
themes? " Wright asked.
Yes, it could - if we
converted the speakers
from analog to Dante! The
next three store buildouts
featured network jacks in
the unistrut grid, and about
20 SoundTube IP-enabled
pendant speakers. We
fi lled the rack with Netgear
M4250 switches and ran
shielded twisted pair to all
170 network jacks.
with devices, we can simply
add a small PoE+ switch.
This is how we solved
the " Sing along with the
band " Concert Arena in
the Trolls Experience - it
features an extra set of 6x
IP-enabled trapezoids and
a 15-inch subwoofer with
Audinate Avio Dante-toXLR-output
adapter.
Half of Camp stores have
these network jacks. Once
we can convert the rest,
Camp will have successfully
reduced the AV install
times company-wide. We're
looking forward to meeting
the next deadline with great
enthusiasm.
JESSE MILLER is CEO of
Miami-based Midtown
Video, Inc.
May 2024 CE Pro | 19
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CE Pro May 2024

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