Est. 2015 Engineering for Hospitality & Nightlife · New York

Engineering rigor for hospitality and nightlife.

Schaeffer Engineering Group is a small, focused engineering firm building audio, lighting, and acoustic systems for the venues, hotels, and restaurants that take the room seriously. Designed, installed, measured, and stood behind — by the same people, end to end.

RECENT WORK
Outer Heaven
New York · Audio + Lighting
Audio System Design & Installation
Lighting Design for Hospitality & Clubs
Class 1 Acoustic Measurement
End-to-End in NYC

Three disciplines, one room.

Most hospitality projects involve audio, lighting, and acoustics interacting whether the design intends it or not. We work across all three so the room behaves the way the operator and the designer actually want it to — not the way three separate vendors hand it off.

Engineering with the operator in mind.

Most hospitality AV is sold by integrators who don't run venues, and most acoustics is delivered by consultants who don't build systems. We came up through both sides of that, and the practice is built around it.

i.
Single accountable team
A project moves through one set of hands from spec to handover. No four-way finger-pointing when the subwoofers are bleeding into the apartment upstairs and nobody knows whose drawing said what.
ii.
Sized for the work
Boutique to mid-market venues. We're not chasing arena tours or 500-key hotels. The work we do best is the 80-cap room, the 200-key boutique, the chef-driven restaurant, the rooftop bar with a bass problem.
iii.
Defensible methodology
Class 1 measurement, ANSI/IEC standards, calibration logged in every report. When the work has to hold up in front of DEP or a community board, it does.
iv.
Operationally fluent
DJ booths, line arrays, ducted returns, lighting console workflows, BOH wiring, ADA paths, sound-isolation chases. We know how the room actually runs because we've worked in rooms like it.

The Acoustic Services Division.

Class 1 noise measurement, sound transmission analysis, and code compliance — operating as a dedicated practice for clients who don't need a full installation, just the right answer fast. Reports inside a week, sized for the work the major engineering firms don't touch.

Read about the practice
Schaeffer Engineering Group
Acoustic Services Division
Acoustic Assessment · Sample
Noise Complaint Response & Sound Transmission Assessment
Principal finding: LAeq,60s 47.6 dBA — sustained exceedance of 42 dBA threshold during peak operation.

Got a venue, a build-out, or a complaint that needs an answer?