Timber Lake Camp Case Study

AtlasIED Atmosphere Heightens Campers’ Experiences at Timber Lake Camp

Timber Lake Camp, nestled atop a mountaintop in Shandaken, New York, in the scenic Catskill Mountains, offers a quintessential traditional sleep-away summer camp experience. Founded in 1962 and just 2.5 hours from New York City, Timber Lake is a co-ed resident camp serving approximately 800 campers and staff over a seven-week summer session.

Set on roughly 500 acres of forested land and manicured grounds, the site features two private spring-fed lakes, expansive athletic fields, and a full complement of arts, adventure, and waterfront programs. One of the standout features is how the camp blends spirited tradition with modern facilities: for example, the grounds include recently updated athletic turf fields, while the bunkhouses and central buildings, like the dining hall, blend high-end construction with country comfort and charm.

The dining hall construction proved to be acoustically challenging, though. High ceilings in some sections, pine-clad walls, and an extensive array of picture windows made for a perfect storm of muddled background audio. Camp staff contacted Nick Graci, CEO of North Stream, to help improve the audio within the vast hall.

“We were introduced to AtlasIED’s Atmosphere platform about two years ago and just fell in love with the product,” said Graci. “It solved a bunch of problems on our end, and we’ve probably installed over 20 Atmosphere systems in the past two years. We knew Atmosphere and AtlasIED’s loudspeakers would be a great solution for Timber Lake Camp’s challenges.”

An Atmosphere AZM8 was aptly suited to meet the dining hall’s needs. The AZM8 is an eight-zone digital signal processor and the heart of an Atmosphere audio control system. A built-in message player, virtual wall controllers, learning ambient noise sensing, Tilter Filter™, auto-gain, GPIO, room combine, and more make the AZM8 a processing powerhouse.

Programming is simple via an on-board web interface optimized for common use cases. The control interface is device agnostic, responsive, and meticulously designed for an ideal user experience without sacrificing design freedom. In addition to Ethernet, built-in Wi-Fi allows tablets and other controlling devices to connect directly to the AZM8 via rights-based access.

Seven zones were used in the dining hall for volume control, while the eighth zone accommodates an in-ear transmitter that transmits across a pond to an Atmosphere AZM4 in the camp’s pavilion that supports eight 6-inch loudspeakers. North Stream replaced the dining hall and pavilion’s previous loudspeakers with weather-resistant AtlasIED AS Series surface-mount loudspeakers.

A mixture of AS-8T, AS-6T, and AS-4T two-way surface-mount loudspeakers was installed inside and out of the dining hall. They feature an exceptional performance-to-size ratio for demanding foreground and background applications where durability, modern, understated aesthetics, and outstanding sonic performance are prerequisites. Equipped with low-insertion-loss transformers for 70V or 100V distributed applications, wattage tap selection, and low-impedance bypass, all easily configurable via a rear-mounted slide selector switch with a security cover. Their durable, scuff-resistant, high-impact ABS enclosures with UV inhibitor are weather-resistant (IP55) for consistent performance in adverse conditions.

North Stream enhanced the venue’s flexibility and ease of use by installing an Atmosphere C-ZSV wall controller, enabling staff to control audio levels and source selection across multiple zones with simple, intuitive controls.

With user-friendly controls designed to prevent accidental configuration changes, staff can confidently manage the system without technical oversight. This ease of use drives greater adoption, ensures the system delivers long-term value, and even boosts employee engagement by empowering staff to take ownership of their environment.

“The robust user interface (as well as being able to lock it down) is one of the things we love most about Atmosphere,” said Graci. “It’s programmed to be able to mute all the zones so they can go in and sectionalize. It locks down at 5:00 every night, so the outside automatically mutes, while the kitchen staff can still play music. So we just made it so it’s safe to use and they’re not going to ruin their investment.”

North Stream also installed Bluetooth audio inputs in the dining hall to accommodate streaming music via secure, rights-based access anywhere within range for various camper events. As Timber Lake Camp can be rented out during its offseason for weddings and other events, an XLR audio input was installed for DJs to plug into, eliminating the need for patch cables or custom wiring to the audio system.

Camp staff were so happy with the dining room upgrades that they asked for additional audio upgrades across the property. Another AZM4 drives the basketball court while a separate AZM4 supports the playhouse. North Stream also installed an Atmosphere AZMP4 to drive two 6-inch loudspeakers for a large-screen TV.

Because of the 100+ miles between the camp and North Stream, all systems are connected to Atmosphere Cloud. Through a rights-managed, secure cloud connection, integrators and end users can access their Atmosphere systems from anywhere, allowing them to check device status, monitor overall system health, make configuration changes, and troubleshoot issues without being on-site. The result is an audio infrastructure that is easier to manage, quicker to update, and far more adaptable to changing organizational needs. Users can make real-time adjustments, respond to issues immediately, and manage multiple locations from a single interface, creating a more streamlined and resilient approach to distributed audio management.

The cloud interface offers full configuration control, enabling users to adjust audio sources, manage multi-zone layouts, schedule playback or paging events, and tweak DSP settings from a central location. These capabilities are especially valuable in multi-building environments like Timber Lake Camp, where audio systems can be numerous and spread out. Atmosphere Cloud also supports multi-user access with adjustable permission levels, ensuring that technicians, management, and camp staff can each have the appropriate level of control while maintaining system security.

“Atmosphere Cloud is a great feature for us,” said Graci. “We have several clients that are upstate, four or five hours away, and I can just pull up the cloud and notice, ‘You’re in the wrong setting,’ or we can spin up a new preset for them and throw it on their device. That’s huge. Timber Lake Camp is one of those clients, and they’re so happy with the new audio systems and plan for more upgrades in the future.”

Those plans include installing an AZM8 in the camp’s playhouse with C-T4 wall controllers and equipping a second basketball court with an AZM4 and AS-10Ts loudspeakers mounted on light poles. Next year’s “big project” is outfitting the gymnastics building with an AV system that will include an AZM4 with AS-8Ts, AS-10Ts, and AS-10ST subwoofers. It’s a great time to go to summer camp!