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Hub AI
LARES AI simulator
(@LARES_simulator)
Hub AI
LARES AI simulator
(@LARES_simulator)
LARES
LARES is an electronic sound enhancement system that uses microprocessors to control multiple loudspeakers and microphones placed around a performance space for the purpose of providing active acoustic treatment. LARES was invented in Massachusetts in 1988, by Dr David Griesinger and Steve Barbar who were working at Lexicon, Inc. LARES was given its own company division in 1990, and LARES Associates was formed in 1995 as a separate corporation. Since then, hundreds of LARES systems have been used in concert halls, opera houses performance venues, and houses of worship from outdoor music festivals to permanent indoor symphony halls.
Early versions of LARES were incorporated into prefabricated practice room products offered by Wenger Corporation, and related sound-shaping algorithms, based on the LARES research, have been implemented by Lexicon for home and professional listening spaces. In 2008, LARES was reorganized into E-coustic Systems. This coincided with a change from previous proprietary hardware to Intel server class processors and hardware. In addition, new algorithms were developed based on research into human perception of sound. David Griesinger was awarded the Wallace Clement Sabine Medal by the Acoustical Society of America for this body of work.
Dr. David Griesinger and Steve Barbar developed LARES in 1988 while working at Lexicon, originally located in Waltham, Massachusetts. Lexicon had become respected for its digital reverberation products used for professional sound recording and concert sound reinforcement. The name LARES is an acronym of Lexicon Acoustic Reinforcement and Enhancement System. In 1989, Griesinger and Barbar, at the request of acousticians Neil Muncy and Robert Tanner, installed the first production LARES system in the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. This initial system used two microphones placed at the balcony's front edge to pick up sound from the stage. The microphone signals were treated electronically, and the resulting signals were sent to 116 loudspeakers positioned in the ceiling and under the balcony. Griesinger presented a technical paper on the concept, process and results to the Audio Engineering Society. A primary component of the electronic treatment was the addition of enough digital delay to make the enhanced loudspeaker output wave arrive at its target seating area at the same time or soon after the direct sound from the stage. Reverberation was digitally synthesized and added to the signal, and patented time variant signal processing was employed to overcome coloration from acoustic feedback between the microphones and loudspeakers. Two LARES mainframes were used, one for the 60 underbalcony speakers and one for the 56 loudspeakers in the main ceiling.
On April 28, 1992, Griesinger was issued a patent for LARES entitled "Electroacoustic system". In 1993, LARES was nominated for but did not win a TEC Award in the category of "Signal Processing Technology".
In 1995, LARES Associates was established in Belmont, Massachusetts to differentiate the LARES product from the rest of Lexicon's product line. Since that time, hundreds of LARES systems have been installed throughout the world in performing arts centers, concert halls, opera houses, houses of worship, arenas, recording studios, conference rooms, sound stages, and outdoor concert venues.
At the Vienna Festival in May, 1995, a LARES system was used outdoors to augment the Vienna Philharmonic's performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by Zubin Mehta. Tens of thousands of concert-goers, for the first time, did not criticize the music as being spoiled by amplification. The sound company bought the LARES system for annual usage at the festival. In 1999, LARES was used in a similar fashion in an outdoor production of Turandot at the Forbidden City performed in China at the Imperial Shrine just outside the Forbidden City; staged by Oscar-nominated film director Zhang Yimou and again conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Some performance venues had their LARES system installed with no fanfare. The Brooklyn Academy of Music acquired their Howard Gilman Opera House system in the summer of 1997 but made no public announcement. Authorization for the purchase came from then-president Harvey Lichtenstein, who told a reporter in 1999 "Our feeling is that people have a prejudice against this kind of thing; they think that to use such a system is kind of faking it. We really don't think that's true." Mark London, director of capital projects was reported as saying "The system has added an amazing amount of warmth to the orchestra and significantly altered the acoustics of the hall." London stated that LARES was not turned on for opera, only for orchestra and theater performances.
LARES Associates added a company website on May 24, 1998.
LARES
LARES is an electronic sound enhancement system that uses microprocessors to control multiple loudspeakers and microphones placed around a performance space for the purpose of providing active acoustic treatment. LARES was invented in Massachusetts in 1988, by Dr David Griesinger and Steve Barbar who were working at Lexicon, Inc. LARES was given its own company division in 1990, and LARES Associates was formed in 1995 as a separate corporation. Since then, hundreds of LARES systems have been used in concert halls, opera houses performance venues, and houses of worship from outdoor music festivals to permanent indoor symphony halls.
Early versions of LARES were incorporated into prefabricated practice room products offered by Wenger Corporation, and related sound-shaping algorithms, based on the LARES research, have been implemented by Lexicon for home and professional listening spaces. In 2008, LARES was reorganized into E-coustic Systems. This coincided with a change from previous proprietary hardware to Intel server class processors and hardware. In addition, new algorithms were developed based on research into human perception of sound. David Griesinger was awarded the Wallace Clement Sabine Medal by the Acoustical Society of America for this body of work.
Dr. David Griesinger and Steve Barbar developed LARES in 1988 while working at Lexicon, originally located in Waltham, Massachusetts. Lexicon had become respected for its digital reverberation products used for professional sound recording and concert sound reinforcement. The name LARES is an acronym of Lexicon Acoustic Reinforcement and Enhancement System. In 1989, Griesinger and Barbar, at the request of acousticians Neil Muncy and Robert Tanner, installed the first production LARES system in the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. This initial system used two microphones placed at the balcony's front edge to pick up sound from the stage. The microphone signals were treated electronically, and the resulting signals were sent to 116 loudspeakers positioned in the ceiling and under the balcony. Griesinger presented a technical paper on the concept, process and results to the Audio Engineering Society. A primary component of the electronic treatment was the addition of enough digital delay to make the enhanced loudspeaker output wave arrive at its target seating area at the same time or soon after the direct sound from the stage. Reverberation was digitally synthesized and added to the signal, and patented time variant signal processing was employed to overcome coloration from acoustic feedback between the microphones and loudspeakers. Two LARES mainframes were used, one for the 60 underbalcony speakers and one for the 56 loudspeakers in the main ceiling.
On April 28, 1992, Griesinger was issued a patent for LARES entitled "Electroacoustic system". In 1993, LARES was nominated for but did not win a TEC Award in the category of "Signal Processing Technology".
In 1995, LARES Associates was established in Belmont, Massachusetts to differentiate the LARES product from the rest of Lexicon's product line. Since that time, hundreds of LARES systems have been installed throughout the world in performing arts centers, concert halls, opera houses, houses of worship, arenas, recording studios, conference rooms, sound stages, and outdoor concert venues.
At the Vienna Festival in May, 1995, a LARES system was used outdoors to augment the Vienna Philharmonic's performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by Zubin Mehta. Tens of thousands of concert-goers, for the first time, did not criticize the music as being spoiled by amplification. The sound company bought the LARES system for annual usage at the festival. In 1999, LARES was used in a similar fashion in an outdoor production of Turandot at the Forbidden City performed in China at the Imperial Shrine just outside the Forbidden City; staged by Oscar-nominated film director Zhang Yimou and again conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Some performance venues had their LARES system installed with no fanfare. The Brooklyn Academy of Music acquired their Howard Gilman Opera House system in the summer of 1997 but made no public announcement. Authorization for the purchase came from then-president Harvey Lichtenstein, who told a reporter in 1999 "Our feeling is that people have a prejudice against this kind of thing; they think that to use such a system is kind of faking it. We really don't think that's true." Mark London, director of capital projects was reported as saying "The system has added an amazing amount of warmth to the orchestra and significantly altered the acoustics of the hall." London stated that LARES was not turned on for opera, only for orchestra and theater performances.
LARES Associates added a company website on May 24, 1998.