TiMax Spatial Sound Creates the Soundscape in the New Treetop Golf

This UK theme center features soundscape environments, based on high resolution 3D objects, created with the SoundHub show control system from TiMax and amplifiers Powersoft.

The fifth headquarters of Treetop Golf, an innovative space around this sport that has recently been inaugurated in the commercial area Metrocentre, located in Gateshead (United Kingdom), It has two eighteen-hole courses aimed at families, that simulate trails of tropical environment and ancient explorers.

In both fields, environments have been designed immersive soundscapes, based on high resolution 3D objects, Built with the powerful show control capabilities of TiMax SoundHub, according to the design of Dan Roncorini, audio consultant and specialist in this system. The specialist Full Production has been responsible for providing the theatrical vision of this thematic space.

Specifically, a TiMax system SoundHub-S32, with I/O on red Dante, manage the three holes of each course, where thematic appeal comes to life with lighting and seamlessly animated immersive audio.

In the so-called zone Tropical Trail, the scene is set with precisely located audio objects, like the song of birds that travels from the bushes to the level of the trees and descends to another area of ​​​​low plants; along with noises and actions of insects and animals.

The ultra-compact two-way passive speakers EMS-41 of EM Acoustics, powered by amplifiers Powersoft Unica, provide distributed sound reinforcement, hidden and hidden within the scenic birdhouses of the route.

The installation, the first that has been made by Powersoft Unica in the United Kingdom, counts sixteen cloud-based amplifiers of this model, con 128 amplification channels, 48.000 watts of power and only 16U of rack space, with redundant Dante and PoE backup power, together with a Mover low frequency haptic transducer from this manufacturer.

There are several speakers hidden in each hole, so that none are visible to guests. Players activate audio content by hitting or missing their putts in every hole, while there is a continuous soundscape running in the background.

“We use TiMax just to make it special and credible: When you close your eyes you are in the middle of a jungle -explains Dan Roncorini-. You can hear precisely located content anywhere in that space, since SoundHub handles audio objects very well. It's more involving, The speakers disappear and you only hear the content, not where it comes from”.

In the moments of winning or losing in the game “a high degree of automation has been created, both aurally and visually”. Thematic characters, like him Baron Von Batwing (the vampire bat) in the area of Ancient Explorer, They have a wide selection of comments to make about golf performances.

The audiovisual content, produced in 4K for spatial audio by sound designer Dave Shepherd, This time it runs in random scripted loops in QLab, instead of using the TiMax system.

Once the sound interference between the holes was eliminated and the speech of the thematic characters was clear and intelligible, Roncoroni had to design the spatial audio for Gateshead's new Treetop Golf before the attraction was finished.

This specialist describes it as “the chicken and egg moment”, as the client wanted a design to base on before pricing. The flexibility of TiMax was considered ideal to adapt to any budget variation”, states.

With only the architects' diagrams and no contractors' plans, Roncoroni planned the first audio design based on guesswork. "Fortunately, The result was an almost totally satisfactory design - he remembers -. We had to move some equipment at the last minute, But practically it hasn't changed.".