PRODUCTION HIRE SHOW 2020 VISION WITH FULL MARTIN
Experienced operators City Centre Leisure Group have opened the resplendent Club 2020 in Bournemouth - with a programme of appearances by top international DJ's (including Erick Morillo and Trevor Nelson) and a technology infrastructure to satisfy the most discerning of practitioners.
The leisure company - run by Josh Simons, Alan Simons and John Tyror - also run the Landmark restaurant in the town, and had actively been looking for a nightclub to own and operate having previously worked as promoters. They knew the pedigree of Northampton-based Production Hire when Mark Neal's company were asked to provide sound reinforcement for a Missy Elliott concert they were promoting at the Bournemouth International Centre.
Production Hire are no strangers to Bournemouth, and recently Mark (known as 'Knocker' to his mates) carried out a high-profile installation at the nearby Opera House, using a Martin Audio line array.
In fact over the years he has turned increasingly to the Martin Audio catalogue, filled with the confidence of someone who has been running the brand reliably in his hire fleet.
The conversion of the 840-capacity, former K-Bar has been inspired. The ground floor dance room (and adjacent tented chill area) lead down to a VIP mezzanine room and further down still to the main room in the basement.
Wherever you look there are snugs and annexe rooms to chill out in - and they are invariably served by one of Martin Audio's architectural AQ series speakers, and illuminated by the Pulsar Chroma range, operated from Dynalite wall panels, with various presets programmed into Pharos boxes.
When it comes to providing a punchy sound, that will keep the local party people working out to R&B, House and Electro on the dancefloor until 4am, Knocker has gone for a lethal combination of Martin Audio Blacklines and intimidating ground stacks of the original Wavefront 8's in front of the DJ booths on each floor.
'I use Blackline for aggression and cut on the dancefloor - and for DJ monitoring,' he says. 'It has that bite anywhere you need it. The AQ's produce a smooth, transparent sound and are perfect for the bar areas.'
So what do we have? Production Hire have presented two highly-specified control booths in the different dance rooms - and all the speakers throughout are finished in white, to match the interior décor (which was contrived by the operators themselves).
Production Hire run 24 Wavefront 8's in their hire stock, and while half of these have been reconditioned for deployment on long-term lease to 2020, all the AQ's and Blacklines are owned by the venue.
On the ground floor, two stacks of Wavefront W8 and W8S complement sets of AQ12 and AQ8's - as well as the F10 DJ monitors. In the large tented area guests chill out in the former conservatory, with music delivered at reduced volume through another pair of AQ8's.
For the mezzanine VIP lounge - where a permanent DJ booth has been set up - there are two further AQ8's. The stairway then leads down to the deceptively large main club, with its resin-coated floor. Here two ground stacks, each comprising of two W8 and two W8S, and a pair of F10's lay down their intentions immediately - while a further pair of F10's serve as DJ monitors.
Multiples of AQ12 provide the infills with further bass extension coming from a pair of AQ215 floor-mounted subs, while a pair of AQ6's service this floor's dedicated chill-out bar.
Production Hire have carried out an excellent job, creating the right mood with judicious choice of the Pulsar LED FX among the large monochromatic murals, and providing simple control from preset lighting states. They have done the same with the audio in this multi-zone venue, where the routing and gain structure are assigned to line-configured BSS Soundweb 9088iis (with two SW9008 expanders) - and an SW9010 'Jellyfish' wall remote for local source select and volume control. This provides a capacity of 24 outputs and eight inputs - with most channels in use.
'The whole system is correctly time aligned and EQ'd - and any DJ source can be sent anywhere in the building,' confirms Knocker.
Josh Simons says he is delighted with the impact of City Centre Leisure's £1.5m-£2m conversion - particularly the use of technology. 'We have already had people like Babyshambles and Peaches Geldof playing here - and we have the pedigree of sound system that will appeal to the calibre of DJ's like Erick Morillo and Trevor Nelson.' Furthermore, the versatility of the system will enable the venue to stage the type of different events they have planned.
Further information from:
Maureen Hayes, Martin Audio Jerry Gilbert, JGP Public Relations
Tel: +44 (0)1494 535312 Tel: +44 (0)1707 258525
Fax: +44 (0)1494 438669 Fax: +44 (0)1707 267140