David Attenborough: Our Story
London, 2025
Project Credits:
Produced by Open Planet Studios in partnership with the Natural History Museum
Production Management and Principal Contractor: Bild Studios
Projection Solution and Video Programming: Bild Studios
Video Content Design: Luke Halls Studio
Audio & Show Control System Design and Installation: Raven AV
Sound Design: Gareth Fry
Composition: Nick Powell
Lighting Design and Installation: Full Production
Front of House and Interior design: The Experience Machine
Rigging Design and Installation: Star Events Group
Scenic Design and Construction: Firecracker Works
All imagery (c) Trustees of the Natural History Museum
In a first of its kind exhibition for the Natural History Museum, David Attenborough: Our Story surrounds visitors with both audio and video content, in a purpose built, standalone structure housed within the Jerwood gallery.
Once again collaborating with Bild Studios, Raven AV provided both the audio and show control systems, as well installation, commissioning, and support services. The audio system comprises three layers of EM Acoustics loudspeakers to create a full 360° soundscape, with a Z axis. The loudspeakers range from the compact EMS-41, up to the flagship R8, enveloping the audience in sound, and enabling attention to be drawn to content on any of the four walls. Every loudspeaker forming the perimeter ring was housed within bespoke backboxes with acoustically transparent grilles, in order to achieve optimal placement without fouling the projection.
Critical to the spatialisation of the audio was a TiMax SoundHub. Raven AV has long relied on TiMax due to its inherent flexibility, and this allowed for a swift and effective deployment, ensuring any movement of audio content through the space sounded natural and artefact free.
Show control is provided by both Figure53’s QLab, as well as a Q-Sys Core Nano. These distribute both OSC commands and timecode, via a Visual Productions TimeCore, to the large array of media servers and projectors that make up the video system.
Our sincere thanks to Autograph Sound for their support with this project.
Installed System:
12x EM Acoustics R8
2x EM Acoustics EMS-81X
20x EM Acoustics EMS-51X
12x EM Acoustics EMS-41
6x EM Acoustics S-18
4x EM Acoustics Di06-D
3x EM Acoustics Di10-D
1x QSC Q-Sys Core Nano
1x TiMax SoundHub
1x Apple M4 Pro Mac Mini
1x Visual Productions TimeCore
Netgear AV Line Switching
