Addition of David W. Robb

Press Release – David W. Robb

New Rochelle, NY

Acoustics Dimensions is pleased to announce the appointment of David W. Robb as Senior Associate in their New Rochelle, NY office, where he serves as the backbone of the Audio and AV Group, providing design direction, quality standards, documentation supervision and a critical ear for all performance space projects.

David is one of the innovators of modern audio installation design, integrating products and techniques from the touring industry into the world of permanent installations. His two decades of audio systems design for performing arts venues are informed by his years of hands-on experience with live sound production acquired through extensive worldwide touring.

Prior to joining Acoustic Dimensions, David spent the last twenty years as principal audio and video systems designer for JaffeHolden Acoustics where he directed all activities of the systems design group while providing innovative solutions and management for key projects, including the Hollywood Bowl; John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Opera House and Eisenhower Theater; Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall and Juilliard School; Radio City Music Hall; and the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera’s summer touring venue, the Carlos Moseley Pavilion.

Earlier in his career, David acquired a wealth of practical knowledge about the entertainment business through extensive touring in North America, Europe, and Japan. He began as a musician, then spent over two decades as touring sound company manager, mix engineer, production manager, or electronics technology specialist with such popular artists as Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Yes and Bob Dylan.

This Week | Snow in Dallas

While our New York and UK offices may not find experiencing snow unusual, our Dallas office has received 6.2" so far today--a pretty unnatural occurrence.

So, members of the team braved falling snowflakes and scraped together a bit of the drift from on top of the cars for an impromptu snowball fight.

Given that it is supposed to ice tonight we've all been advised to take our laptops home in case the roads are bad tomorrow. After all, one of the things a city doesn't have when snow is a rare occurrence is street cleaning equipment. Luckily we live in a digital world, and can all resume a normal business day in front of a fire with an internet connection.

This Week | Testing Product

One of the fun parts of being a consulting firm is that you have access to gear. We frequently perform testing of the latest professional audio, video and lighting products under varying conditions to test specific products out for project applications.

This week after hours, our lighting team in Dallas tested several outdoor LED fixtures comparing them to conventional incandescent fixtures. A benefit to LED fixtures is that they typically use far less energy than incandescents, but they still have to perform in the areas of output, maintenance and color temperature.

David Stephens, Jason Foster, and Craig Janssen followed the testing (that's Jason with a light meter to the left) while Dan Schoedel photographed the results.

(The images with the uplighting were particularly amusing since they all looked as if they were telling ghost stories around a campfire. )

This Week | Rapid Prototyping with Bethel Church of Crown Point

This week, Mantel Teter Architects and Bethel Church of Crown Point, Indiana were in our offices for a rapid prototyping exercise.

In 48 hours, we toured facilities, confirmed programming, then went through full schematic design as decisions were made interactively with the architect, client leadership, and acoustics, audio, video, lighting and staging designers for Acoustic Dimensions.

The real-time feedback of having all of the disciplines in the room at the same time allows the process to move much more quickly than traditional processes where much of the work is done by individual team members in their own offices. Not only that, but it also allows people to work in parallel process without misdirection as conflicts in design are revealed and resolved quickly.

While rapid prototyping of facilities is an intensive process, it can also be a lot of fun. Not only is there the energy of collaboration with a team of people working toward a common goal, but it is also satisfying to both client and design team to get to solid deliverables in a focused, concentrated amount of time.

Of course, you don't get through a process like this without some burning of midnight oil, and there was definite appreciation by all for espresso this morning after working so late into the evening morning.

Whenever we go through a rapid-prototyping exercise, we always ask the client for feedback on the process. Steve DeWitt--the senior pastor at Bethel--had the following input: "Overall I found the experience to be extremely positive. I’ve been involved in four major building projects and this was a first for me. I am very pleased with the product that we are taking home with us. It is remarkable what we were able to get done in essentially 48 hours."

Pastor Steve also had valuable input on scheduling and the information that we provide ahead of time which we will use to adapt and shape the process going forward.

This morning, when Craig Janssen stepped into the office, he paused for a moment and said, "I continue to be amazed by the people we work with."

(Sidebar: "Me too.)

On Site | The Joys of Commissioning

AD had the opportunity to celebrate multiple project openings this month: Sullivan Performing Arts Center, the Village Church, Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, World Outreach Center, Champion Forest Children's Building, and the Rockwall-Heath High School Performing Arts Center.

If you've ever been on a construction site about to open, you know that everything centers on timelines and details. All of the trades are onsite all at once working to beat the clock for opening day.

Because AD is a multi-disciplinary firm, we have multiple disciplines on site as well. In addition to "punching" the project (testing to make sure everything is installed properly and creating a punch list for the owner) our audio team works to EQ systems to get the tonal responses correct. The lighting team focuses lights and programs the console. Video calibrates projectors and balances cameras. Acoustics verifies operation of door seals, checks that isolation is in place and takes measurements to verify noise criteria while identifying any problem areas that need to be addressed.

As you might imagine, it is almost impossible to tune a sound system or listen for noise and vibration with drills, nail guns and movement of scaffolding in play, so we tend to wait until the other trades have left for the evening to begin our work. This makes for many late night/early morning meals at Waffle House or Denny's as the team makes their way back to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep before heading back onsite again.

There is something about being on site in the weeks before a new facility is about to be unveiled. Among the trades, design team and client there are alternate moments of panic and joy as all the final details come together. Being part of this "opening day" energy forms strong relationships--not just between the members of our team, but also with architects, contractors, integrators and clients.

It can be a fairly exclusive club, because the only way you are invited back for the next job is if you did an excellent job on the first one.

It also helps when you are one of those people who work hard with a smile on your face. (Even when a site crew sticks you with the pink hardhat because you were the last one there so you could get some peace and quiet to tune the system.)

Office Culture | Retro Holiday for AD-CA

What do you do when the Principal in your office is turning 50? You have a company holiday party with a 50's retro theme!

While we did not break out our poodle skirts or rolled up jeans, we did go bowling and enjoy time together at the Corvette Diner. Together there were 20 of us on 3 lanes trying to "out bowl" each other with style, strikes and spares (and just a few gutter balls)!


Including families is a big part of our time together. The AD kids had a lane all to them and were soon laughing as the older tried to teach the younger. Craig and Angie Janssen (along with daughter Brooke) also joined us from the Dallas office. Brooke had a style all her own and was soon dubbed our overall "Best Bowler" for her enthusiasm, style and scoring ability!

After the bowling festivities, it was on to dinner at a local 50's style eatery where the fun continued with lots of food and a bowling trophy for everyone. Overall Acoustic Dimensions Champion went to Jeff Miller with the actual Top Score award going to Jackie Breshears (making all the women proud!). Vance was awarded Most Strikes with other players being recognized in categories such as Funniest, Curviest and Cutest to name just a few.


Karen Mrvich shopped for all the kids and found gifts that each could enjoy. From the oldest to the youngest, all were pleasantly surprised - particularly James and Renata Black who will soon enjoy the arrival of their first child in February.

Coming together like this outside the office provides us the opportunity to gather as families and friends to celebrate what the season means to each of us. As we reflect upon the past year we know that we have much to be thankful for. Here is to a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous new year!

Office Culture | The AD-TX Holiday Party

This weekend was the holiday party for AD-TX at Dave and Busters. Each year, we spend a Saturday together with all of the families--the one time all year, we get to be in the same room at the same time. Given that most of our team has been together for a long time, it is quite something to see the families grow bigger and the kids grow up.

The magic of the event happens by all of the things people do to put it together. Kathy Smith does an amazing job of selecting gifts that are perfect for each of the children. (She even comes equipped with batteries, box cutters, screwdrivers and scissors so that it is easy to get them all opened and assembled.) Brian Elwell--the most amazing "Santa" we know--creates these beautiful moments interacting with the kids, and has a running monologue that makes the adults laugh out loud. And Erin Brady--our Marketing Manager--planned all the details. She even created hilarious AD trading cards that have "mostly true" facts and nicknames for our team.

We were very excited that Erin arranged for fully loaded power cards for the team. (And we heard there was some negotiating by some of the older kids who wound up with their parent's game cards.)

Vance and Jackie Breshears flew out from our San Diego office to attend the event. (Highly appropriate since for the first few years, the company holiday party was just the Janssen's and the Breshears at a local restaurant.) Vance presented Cathy Hutchison with an award. It seems the San Diego office won "The Best of El Cajon" (it should be mentioned that AD is the only acoustics firm in El Cajon) which became a running joke about doing acoustics in fast food restaurants since El Cajon is a bedroom community to San Diego. (Note the AD-San Diego team is posing in In-Out Burger hats.)

Howard Rose and Brian Takacs represented the New York office (and we probably should confess beat unnamed members of our team multiple times in Daytona racing.)

There is something special about celebrating with our team and their families beyond simply a great meal, laughter and challenging each other's honor at skeeball.

The best reason to have all the families together is that it gives us a chance to say "thank you"--which Craig Janssen did for the whole team. You see, when you are working on the types of projects we do--it isn't a 9 to 5 job. And we are deeply appreciative of the late nights, time spent in airports, and supportive families who share the talents of their spouses with the rest of the world. Something that a simple party--even one with video games--can't possibly express enough.