Museums Victoria welcomes over two million visitors annually to discover the environmental and cultural past, present, and future of the state of Victoria. One of the organization’s five unique venues, Melbourne Museum, explores the wonder of life on Earth in a recently opened exhibit, Our Wondrous Planet. At the heart of this exhibition is a series of hands-on interactive experiences powered by an immersive layered soundscape delivered through Genelec Smart IP loudspeakers.
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“The museum knew what they wanted the exhibit to be from the outset,” said Mike Miller, technical project manager and system designer for the museum. “The rest of the multimedia team and I joined the project during the early development stage as the discussion around interactive elements began to evolve. The plan was to create seven new gallery space —all fitted with multimedia systems, including an immersive audio solution.”
Article continues belowThe exhibition is a showcase of Earth’s living systems, introducing visitors to ocean currents, root networks, coral reefs, rainforest canopies, and the creatures that inhabit these ecosystems. “We needed a sound system that would create an immersive soundscape, while also isolating audio in each zone to reflect the individual habitat,” Miller explained. “A particular challenge was the large projection screen in the center of the gallery. It hangs over the open gantry and causes unwanted sound to project down to the gallery floor below. We needed a solution that would allow for clarity and coverage in each zone, without overpowering the surrounding spaces.”
Many previous exhibitions at the Melbourne Museum have successfully relied on Genelec loudspeakers to create immersive environments. Australian audio-visual specialists, Lumicom, were responsible for installing the new sound system, carefully curated by the museum’s multimedia team in collaboration with musicians and sound design duo, Fuligin Sound. “We chose a combination of Genelec’s Smart IP series because we required an easy-to-install PoE solution to connect to the museum’s Dante network,” Miller added. “A total of 69 Smart IP loudspeakers were installed throughout the exhibit.”
The system comprises 41 compact 4430s, seven 4435 in-ceiling models, and three 4436 pendant loudspeakers to provide the general environmental sounds in each ecosystem, while 18 super-compact 4410s are positioned for more detailed elements to enhance the immersive soundscape. “We wanted the audio to sound like it was coming from specific interactive elements or animals in the exhibit, so the 4410s are discreetly positioned to isolate sound to these areas. Two loudspeakers are even placed inside an octopus,” explained Miller.
Larger 4430 loudspeakers are deployed around the open gantry and the walkway on level one to guarantee that wherever visitors stand, they feel part of the immersive experience. As Miller explained, the Genelec system is a network of Yamaha passive loudspeakers to deliver the general soundscape, while the Genelecs serve the immersive experiences with the more detailed sound. To avoid overpowering the gallery below and to ensure sound is localized to each zone, eleven channels of audio are mixed in Dolby Atmos to sync loudspeakers with their immersive elements.
Visitors can now discover different animals and ecosystems while surrounded by a carefully constructed soundscape that sounds as though it originates from the environment around them. “Genelec provides an outstanding combination of exceptional audio quality and a practical feature set that makes a complex installation like this so much easier,” concluded Miller. “Our Wondrous Planet has become one of Melbourne Museum’s most popular exhibitions. I’m extremely proud of how the immersive elements have come together to create an experience that feels natural. The detail and precision delivered by Genelec loudspeakers have been pivotal in making this happen.”
