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mance, which maintains consistency. And, of course, the products are robust and sound great. “Amplification needs to be reliable, so that you can put them in, let them run, and not have any issues with them.”
When the decision came to increase the energy levels in the lounge, a technology solution that would match the room’s direction was sought, and the Cottontail Lounge was born.
An audio configuration made up of six d&b audiotechnik E8 loud- speakers and two E15X-SUB bass speakers, powered by d&b audiotechnik D6 amplifiers, offers the required sonic force on the dancefloor. Bose 251 speakers and MB4 bass enclosures supply the peripheral areas.
“The space was always going to act as a lounge, not necessarily DJ-focused, but it was always going to be able to accommodate perfomances from solo acts, duos and that kind of thing,” revealed Martin. “We decided to stick with d&b because of the available space, the rotatable horns were particularly useful. All we did was increase the quantity from four to six and took out some of the peripheral reinforcement.”
Though the audio set-up could be tweaked to accommodate the Cottontail Lounge’s new direction, the lighting scheme was going to need a completely new solution. Until now, there had been very little emphasis on dynamic lighting, the team needed new ideas, and
Image by James Newton
“This innovative lighting provides one of the best club feels in London, it’s
simple to operate but highly effective, and we have
received many positive comments.”
before. They learnt that the design inspiration behind the product was Danish lighting pioneer Peter Johansen. “Knowing that it was Peter’s design and that Ian [Kirby] was selling it immediately filled me with confidence,” said Shaun. “It was like having an old trustworthy team back together.”
Martin was also convinced. He knew that they needed to find a balance of impact - a feature that would transform the room, yet not disrupt the infrastructure that was already in place, such as the CCTV and sprinkler systems. He reflected: “With the SGM LED Balls we knew we had found the solution; it had an attractive price point, it could be set flush to the ceiling and the fact that each finger on the two classic Starbursts could be cut to length meant we could design the bursts without intruding on the other services and provide dramat- ic colour washes. With so many balls it was quite time consuming but it couldn’t have been more straightforward to install.” Each ceiling ‘finger’ of light extends on average to 2.5 metres. A 750-pixel media display has also been installed. It resides behind a tinted glass wall at the back of the room, and is screened off by a track-mounted gauze curtain, in a bookable seating area. Each pixel of the SGM LED Balls can be mapped and addressed individually, so that low-resolution video signals can be passed - con- verted in the MADRIX media server and lighting effects generator, and output as DMX commands. With a pitch of 120mm (vertically and horizontally) the display forms a perfect square, yet each pixel outputs less than half a watt. With the solid state solution, Playboy Club London does not have to worry either about maintenance or heavy heat dissipation over the heads of its high-rolling customers,
www.mondodr.com Image by James Newton quick.
“They (Marc Merran and Dan Ferris) were adamant that they didn’t want any conventional disco-style moving heads, and in any case the low ceiling height wouldn’t permit it,” said Shaun. Shaun asked TMC’s Martin Tarpy to begin the search for an innova- tive and dynamic ceiling effect that would be manipulative, flexible, and could be customised to display graphics such as the club’s famous Bunny head motif.
Despite the challenge, Shaun had faith in TMC, as he explained: “The Music Company have worked with me for 25 years. I think they are the best in the business, without a doubt.” After a call to SGM’s UK reseller Ian Kirby at LED, Martin and Shaun were soon watching in amazement a YouTube video of the LED Balls’ spectacular pre-launch at Frankfurt’s Prolight + Sound expo a month
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