Opening night
Published: MEA
The latest edition to Dubai’s bustling party scene is The Story, a new lounge/bar in Internet City. James Ling takes a tour as it opens its doors for the first time.
As Pro Audio Middle East approaches the Holiday Inn Express in Dubai Internet City, we are not sure what to expect. In a few hours its new rooftop lounge/bar, The Story, will be filled with guests as it opens its door for the first time, and there is a hive of activity to ensure the venue is ready and performing to its best in time for the opening.
Preparations for the opening night are well underway by the time Pro Audio Middle East arrives. Taking the elevator straight up to the fifth floor we are greeted by the usual hubbub of various crews making their final preparations. The curious thing is that the sound team isn’t amongst them. They can be found sitting back on one of the comfortable sofas listening to the music.
This is the calm before the storm for Em-Tec. The team has been working for the last few weeks to install and tune a Funktion One system to the bar and now it is purely a case of the fine tuning to make sure everything sounds as good as it possibly can.
Em-Tec CEO Alex Bracken and general manager Andy Williams are clearly satisfied with the system and confident about how it will perform. Their role onsite at this stage is to provide reassurance to The Story’s management that if there are any audio issues, they are there to help.
Taking a quick tour of the lounge/bar with the pair it quickly becomes evident that their confidence is not misplaced. ‘We have three areas really, a bar area indoors which has got the new BR218 double 18 sub and two F1201s,’ explains Mr Bracken. ‘The main lounge area has got four F1201s and a single BR18 and four F81 cabinets – two in the private room and two on the exit.
‘You come outside to the terrace and you’ve got five F101s and two BR118 single 18s, one in front of the DJ and one at the other side of the bar,’ continues Mr Bracken. ‘It’s a terrace that probably sits about 50 to 60 people. It’s got a lovely warm sound with a beautiful view.’
‘We’ve got an E100Q to power all the bass, which is awesome – I love an E100, it’s my favourite amplifier now. I think it’s even warmer than the E90Qs and E45Qs,’ adds Mr WIlliams. ‘I think it’s an exceptional amplifier. With the E100Q I can run all four basses individually, so I have every bass speaker on its own individual control to tweak and change every zone to make it fit. That is really useful,’ he smiles.
‘I’ve got an F60Q which is a four channel FFA amp driving the F1201s in the bar,’ continues the Em-Tec general manager. ‘They can zone it very well, they can just have the two speakers and the double 18 by the bar, everything else can be off. They can have the outside on and they can really zone and control each individual area,’ he explains. ‘Then I’ve got two F40Qs to do the F101s and the F81s inside.’
Processing for the system is courtesy of a pair of XTA DP1048s, and this is part of the system Mr Williams has particular praise for. ‘XTA has just brought out a nice little control panel which is really useful. Over RS-232 we can now control the interface, so I can now do program changes, I can use it as a zone mixer. Before you would need a separate zone mixer, now you can get the panel to control whatever you want,’ he smiles. ‘The obvious things to control are the volume and the programs. You can set it up to do anything, which is a really useful feature.’
Completing the technical setup is the DJ position. This consists of a Pioneer DJM2000 Nexus mixer with a pair of CDJ2000 Nexus digital DJ decks. There are two DJ positions at the venue – one inside and one on the terrace. As a result the DJ equipment needed to be portable to move between the two. This has led to the use of a pair of QSC K-Series powered speakers as monitors. ‘We would like to use Funktion One, but sometimes when you’ve got DJ booths that move around that becomes very awkward because they are not powered speakers,’ explains Mr Bracken.
With the tour complete, it’s time for Pro Audio Middle East and the sound team to get out of the way so The Story can complete its preparations for opening night.
A couple of hours later we return to find a venue transformed. The crowds of workers have disappeared to leave a relaxed, modern lounge bar. The resident Spanish DJ is putting the system through its paces, and clearly enjoying the equipment he has been provided with.
As The Story starts to fill up, Pro Audio Middle East gets its first opportunity to hear what the system can do. The most noticeable factor has to be the depth of the bass. Mr Williams is quick to explain that this is due to Funktion One’s new Bass Reflex range of subs.
‘The Story was the first time I had used the BR218 double 18 and they asked me to turn it right up so they could check the hotel,’ he recalls. ‘There is one track I play all the time with a bass that goes right the way down and I always hear it go down and it plateaus out. But this went all the way down and kept going. I felt it go right down and I’ve never heard a bass system go that low,’ smiles Em-Tec’s GM. ‘I’m amazed how good it is. It’s phenomenal and it’s a different sound from horn-loaded.’
Bass has genuinely been the biggest concern with this venue. With its position at the top of the hotel, management wanted to avoid complaints from residents in the rooms below. As a result, the subs have been installed on acoustic pads to provide a level of isolation. Equally, the outdoor terrace needs to have its sound levels tightly controlled to avoid complaints from the neighbouring residential area.
With the opening party in full swing the reason for Em-Tec’s continued presence becomes clear. As the venue fills up and the music level rises, Mr Williams is on hand to ensure the SPLs are kept in check. This is where the level of control built into the system is at its most evident. ‘We’re on the fifth floor, we’re outdoors and we’re right above the rooms, so obviously control to make sure the noise levels aren’t too bad is the biggest challenge,’ he explains as he once again darts off to make a minor adjustment that keeps the neighbours happy whilst allowing the party to continue.
As the opening party starts to wind down and the guests drift away, there is a clear sense of satisfaction from the Em-Tec team. The evening has gone well, the bar’s management is happy and it’s another successful launch that will act as a good reference for the installer. ‘It’s nice to do the launch of a new venue. We are doing so many at the moment, it’s crazy,’ reflects Mr Williams. But he is quick to add that it is the quality of the work, not the quantity which is important. ‘I’m not a businessman, I’m interested in doing great sound.’
And that is behind what Pro Audio Middle East finds most gratifying about The Story’s opening night. Partygoers were discussing the quality of the sound system amongst themselves and there is not a bad word to be heard. That has to be the biggest complement any sound system can get.