Genelec helps you immerse yourself in the history and traditions of Finnish beer

An immersive audio installation made in the Olvi Brewery Museum combines the heritage of the area with the technology of Genelec. Smart IP models, including hanging speakers 4420, 4430 y 4436, occupy a prominent place, next to the AIW26 wall and subwoofers 5041.

He Olvi Brewery Museum (Only Foundation Brewery Museum) offers an opportunity to delve into the history and traditions of Finnish beer brewing. Located in Iisalmi, headquarters of the altavoce manufacturer Genelec, this is the only beer museum in Finland open to the public.

In its center is the immersive installation ‘The Spirit of Olvi‘. Integrated into a custom-designed five-sided space, invites visitors to a multi-sensory experience that uses light, image, vibration and spatial sound to explore the 145 years of history of Finland's last great independent brewery. The system is fully customized and powered by a sophisticated installation of altavoces de Genelec.

Janne Lankinen, operations director of the Finnish integrator 4business, led the technical design of the museum together with his creative partners, OiOi Collective. “From the beginning, It was a very collaborative process.. OiOi developed the script, visual concepts and soundscapes, while we take care of the technical infrastructure. We collaborated from the beginning with all other contractors involved to ensure that the technology was fully integrated with the architecture of the space”.

Lankinen, originario de Iisalmi, knew from the beginning that Genelec would be the right choice. “For me, the decision was easy. Genelec has its headquarters a few kilometers, Its sound quality is top-notch and its reliability is something we've trusted for years.. And how we mainly use their Smart IP active speakers for this project, we were able to power everything through a single network cable, No external amplifiers or additional signal or power wiring. This helped speed up installation and future-proof the system.”.

Smart IP models, including the hanging speakers 4420, 4430 y 4436, They occupy a prominent place throughout the museum. In immersive space, that offers a visual experience of 180 degrees through a five-sided asymmetrical viewing surface, 4business also installed five AIW26 wall speakers in the center of each screen segment, supported by eight 4430 distributed on the sides, rear and roof, and a set of four subwoofers de pared 5041, carefully controlled, behind the screens.

“The space is designed so that each screen can offer its own content independently”, explain Lankinen. “Speaker placement was a challenge, since the dialogue had to remain localized to the source and sound natural, regardless of the position of the listener. We also had to carefully control the bass, given the asymmetrical shape of the room. “We use an array of arc subwoofers to ensure uniform coverage of low frequencies throughout the space.”.

To further improve the experience, four tactile transducers Clark Synthesis synchronized with the soundtrack are hidden under the floor, adding a physical dimension to what is heard. “We've seen people gasp or smile when they realize they can actually feel the sound through their feet.”, states Aki Päivärinne, by OiOi Collective, who directed the sound design. “It's subtle, but it adds a layer of realism that really stays with you”.

Instead of relying on pre-existing spatial audio formats, each room in the museum was independently musicalized and mixed, with discrete playback channels for each speaker. “We don't use Atmos or anything like that”, says Lankinen. “It is a multichannel audio personalized for each space. The 4business team designed the playback systems to handle all of that and made sure it was intuitive to use.”.

This ease of use was crucial. Being an unstaffed and self-service museum, The entire system must operate unattended throughout the day. “Thanks to modern technology and automation, “More and more small museums operate without staff.”, comment Lankinen. "In the morning, Restaurant staff turn everything on with a single touch on a control screen. Visitors select their experience through a touch screen, whether it's a movie or a brewery tour, and the system automatically adjusts the volume, the content and even the lighting. It is completely automatic”.

Out of the immersive room, the museum continues to explore sound storytelling in creative ways. Raw materials exhibition features six Genelec speakers 4420 Smart IP and two studio subwoofers 7350, that play atmospheric audio that evokes the textures and aromas of brewing ingredients. in the cellar, four other speakers 4420 offer what Lankinen calls “a surreal soundscape, as if you could hear the fermentation process from inside the barrel”.