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A Blast From the Past
Throwback to the days when good sound meant big sound. Ghetto blasters were big, loudspeakers were bigger, bass was raw and thumping – maybe you were the proud owner of that Piano Black Pioneer or Technics stereo stack?

Times have changed…. it was all very manual and physical, with bygone retro rituals for playing records, cassettes and CDs. Wasn’t achieving great sound complex? Even with decent audio knowledge you needed to get to grips with the dials, button combinations, sliders and settings. Even on some moderately high-end pieces of domestic kit (not to mention professional audio consoles and interfaces!), it was a world away from today’s sleek sophisticated devices.

In the health and fitness sector, Group Exercise was gaining popularity. Taking a lead from the ‘Disco’ scene, fitness operators began to fit large full range cabinet speakers in the corners of their studios. With large and loud reverberations, it was all about high-levels and thumping bass-beats. Even though it was a noise assault you could feel, often this was to the detriment of the audio clarity which was overlooked and lacked the depth, emotion and intimacy.

Since the evolution of mobile technologies, consumers have become much more discerning with multipurpose devices and high-fidelity headphones now being a commonplace on the high street. Our ears are now pre-tuned to expect refined, immaculate sound. Operators looking to move with the times and meet rising consumer expectations understand that they have to elevate their member experiences. By delivering high quality, highly intelligible, enthusing audio with a crisp punchy bass beat, class participants are now motivated, not assaulted.

The New Disruptors
It was primarily the emergence of the boutique fitness concepts that positively challenged the industry. These specialised boutique operators recognised the demand for a more bespoke fitness class experience and aptly raised the bar. They delivered an enhanced and personable end-to-end experience in their studios through innovative branding, edgy design and fitouts, unique workout programmes and by creating hubs of social communities that were on trend, fun and relevant. The boutiques, who were the new disruptor operators, began to develop concepts to invigorate and create a buzz in and around the industry. With Indoor group cycling steadily gaining popularity, many of the early boutiques were based around Cycle Studio concepts. With a structured bike layout, Cycle Studios could be dynamically designed to create a theatrical, immersive and urban social experience. Engineered pro-audio became a sure-fire way to create the natural affinity between class rhythm and the beat. Combining iconic playlists with Rockstar instructors commanding the vocals, the boutiques delivered the depth, emotion and intimacy consumers craved.

Similar to US based Soul Cycle, European operators started looking for ways to further enhance the participant experience. In collaboration with these forward-thinkers, Hutchison Technologies began to engineer distributed audio systems into premium studio spaces. Combining independent bass cabinets with an increased number of compact mid-high loudspeakers strategically positioned closer to the listeners, distributed audio reinforcement is able to produce a perfectly uniform sound coverage. Characterised by warmth, clarity, depth and high-intelligibility, distributed audio surpasses expectations. Class goers are washed with driving motivational beats and instructor vocals that are soulful, clear and concise.

We challenged the traditional Group Exercise Studio design brief and through acoustic assessments and distributed audio solutions, developed the flexibility to design systems according to the structural and acoustic properties of the space. By installing strategically-positioned, acoustically absorbent materials to eliminate unwanted reverberation and flutter, the resulting controlled acoustic environment transforms the studio space into a bespoke, blank ‘audio canvas’ and eliminates the potential for a ‘muddy’ unintelligible audio experience.

These days, technology needs to be accessible and easy to use. Where once you’d find an analogue mixer covered in switches and dials, audio is now processed by a professionally programmed digital signal processor (DSP) and controlled by a familiar instructor iPad out on the studio floor. Not so different from our own personal devices, the instructor iPad presents the AV and Lighting Controls on a highly intuitive interface that needs no formal training to use. It has been designed to be a ‘walk up and go’ instructor tool! The DSP can process instructor vocals and music separately, so you’re now guaranteed crystal clear class instruction that’s comfortable to listen to and effortless to follow. Regardless of whether you’ve got a high-octane instructor belting out instructions or someone a bit more softly spoken, the participant experience is normalised.

Continued Innovation
We believe that Group Exercise instructors are performers. Like any stage performer, it is important that they receive live feedback on how the music and vocals sound to the ‘audience’, in our case the class participants. Traditionally the Group Exercise instructors are positioned behind or in-between the first bank of speakers and don’t actually know how the class sounds to the participants in terms of both level (loudness) and intelligibility (clarity). The addition of a monitor speaker enables the instructors to set the perfect balance between music and vocals. This seemingly simple fix adopted from the live sound scene provides the instructor with an invaluable overview of how the class sounds.

As advocates of pro-audio for fitness, we continue to develop systems for those operators who strive to give their members the ultimate audio experience. An example of one of the latest innovations is our Duet Audio System. Not only are the instructor vocals and music processed separately, the resulting output signals are routed independently through dedicated amplifiers and speakers. Since speakers work more efficiently when operating within a controlled frequency range, the quality of both music and vocals improves. Additionally, this also gives instructors greater dynamic control of the music and vocal balance, allowing them to deliver crystal clear instructions during the most high-energy of classes.

If virtual escapism is what you are looking to offer your members, then ambisonic systems can deliver that immersive experience. These complex systems deliver 3D audio that envelopes listeners with sound from all perceived directions. The effects can be quite spectacular. In order to deliver a genuine 3D ambisonic experience and realise the full potential of this specialist solution, as with most cinematic audio formats music tracks need to be specially produced to the correct multi-channel standards (think home cinema surround sound formats THX & Dolby).

So with the bar well and truly raised, discerning fitness operators are following the disruptors and developing their own in club boutique-like fitness experiences. We have been an integral part of many premium Group Exercise Studio concepts that have been rolled out within larger health and fitness clubs. Maximising the use of studio spaces to deliver custom distributed audio, feature and FX lighting with fantastic display solutions ensures that today’s hyper-savvy members are offered a truly exceptional Group Exercise experience.

Pro Audio Glossary
Found us by chance? Loose the jargon and fully understand professional audio today with Hutchison Technologies.

Acoustic Foam - A specific type of open-celled expanded polyurethane foam that allows sound waves to enter and flow through the foam, absorbing their energy and preventing them being reflected.

Acoustic Treatment - A term to describe a range of products or constructions intended to absorb, diffuse or reflect sound waves in a controlled manner.

Auto AV & Control AV - Hutchison Technologies proprietary automation and control technology. Translates complex AV signals into much more manageable commands and gives the user vastly simplified access to the entire audio-visual arrangement through user friendly control pages presented on an iPad.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) - The process of analysing and modifying a signal to optimise or improve its efficiency or performance. It involves applying various mathematical and computational algorithms to analogue and digital signals to produce a signal that's of higher quality than the original signal.

Distributed Audio - Multiple smaller loudspeakers precision positioned to give full and even coverage across the studio space. Generally combined with separate low frequency Bass speaker reinforcement.

Duet Audio System - Processes the instructor vocals and music separately, then reproduces the outputs independently through dedicated amplifiers and speakers.

Group Exercise - Fitness class undertaken in a group setting, led by a personal trainer or group instructor.

Instructor Monitor Speaker - A single monitor speaker that is positioned to give instructors an accurate overview of how music and vocals sound to the rest of the class.

Pro Audio - High quality, studio-grade audio equipment.

3D Audio System - A complex specialist system that delivers a spatial audio experience and immerses the listeners in sound from all directions. This system requires audio tracks that are produced the correct format.

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