Hoodstar Dance Studio:
music everywhere, speakers nowhere

Hoodstar has three studios, each for a different style of dance. The music needs real volume, solid low end and a clear beat, wherever a student stands.

The owner also films dance videos in the studios and didn't want a cluster of speakers in the shot. The walls are covered in bright murals and one whole side is mirror. Add too many speakers and the picture gets busy.

On camera, the speakers can't steal the frame. So the main speakers are K-array: small enough to tuck into the ceiling and the room, and hard to spot in the footage.

But K-array speakers don't sound right just because they're mounted. They're small, so where each one goes, which way it points and how many you need all have to be worked out for the room before the sound covers the whole floor. That takes someone who has done it before. We planned the speaker layout for each studio, then measured and tuned on site after installation.

The low end goes to subwoofers placed by the windows and the column, where they blend into the room. An electronic crossover joins the subwoofers to the mains, so the bass hands off without a gap and the music sounds continuous from bottom to top.

All the electronics live in a rack inside a cabinet. In the studio you hear the music, not the machines.

In all three studios the ceiling looks like any other shopfront, and the speakers barely show up in the dance videos. The music is loud, the bass has weight, and the beat is clear from the mirror wall to the back of the room.