Skip to main content

Audiovisual Technology: Alcorn McBride at Las Vegas’ Mob Museum

News

Alcorn McBride, the leading manufacturer of show control, audio and video equipment for the themed entertainment industry, is working closely with the Mob Museum in Las Vegas to bring both sides of the story of law enforcement and organised crime to life. The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, which first opened its doors in February 2012, comes complete with iconic artefacts, including parts of the wall from the St Valentine’s Day massacre.

Related: Alcorn McBride Profile / Theme Park Reflections: a Conversation with Steve Alcorn and Peter Ed / Audiovisual Technology: Alcorn McBride at Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Exhibit and Visitors Center    

Alcorn McBride have assisted with state of the art theatre presentations and visitors will be able to enjoy interactive exhibits and environments, which include FBI wiretap surveillance and weapons training, as they immerse themselves in the world of law enforcement and organised crime.

Audiovisual Technology: Alcorn McBride at Las Vegas' Mob Museum “We have three floors of exhibits, and a large portion is content. Visitors start at the third floor with the birth of the mob and continue down to the first floor, which documents the mob today, ” explains Ryan Markus from the Mob Museum.

“There’s so much amazing content: The average leg walk [for visitors] is two hours. Most of our equipment is controlled by Alcorn gear – we have several racks full – and it’s been awesome.”

Alcorn McBride’s equipment has been used throughout the museum for audio, visual and show control to help bring the building’s historic 1930’s location, a one-time federal courthouse and post office, to life. There are over 1, 500 lights in the museum controlled by a LightCue DMX recorder and four Alcorn McBride DMX machines.

To aid authenticity, 10 AM4s have been employed throughout the museum, some of which provide playback for phones to assist visitors in understanding what “mob speak” sounds like.

According to Alcorn McBride: “Five Alcorn McBride V16Pro frame-accurate show controllers for serial and network devices control six Digital Binloop HD’s, which play loops of a diverse range of video content tailored to particular exhibits. One exhibit calls for visitors to pick up a rotary telephone that sends a tone to one of the V16Pros telling it to play a certain audio track. The tone in turn signals an Alcorn McBride AM4 Digital Audio Machine, a professional MP3 and WAV audio player.”

AVI-SPL was the primary AV integrator, with programming support by Kevin Ruud. The project was designed by Ray Kent, Westlaske Reed Leskosky with the maintenance and system programming being managed by Mob Museum AV/IT staff Ryan Markus and Nester Ramos.

Alcorn McBride’s touch panel interface for show controllers with Ethernet is currently being utilised by the museum for tour guide presentations. However, the museum is about to start phasing in use of the new ShowTouch application for the Apple iPad. “The private guides and tour operators use iPads, and soon they will be able to use Touch for iPad to pause and restart equipment as they give their presentations, ” Markus explains.

Calling the Alcorn McBride gear “awesome” and “rock solid, ” he enthused that the system “has come back online without any issues after a couple of power outages. It’s really great!”

Share this

More from this author

Related content

Your web browser is out of date. Update your browser for more security, speed and the best experience on this site.

Find out how to update