This will enable the club to utilise Dolby Atmos sound technology. Dolby Atmos transforms music performances by allowing sound to move anywhere around a room, even overhead.
The New Year will see the first in a number of Dolby Atmos enabled events, kicked off by Hospital Records on 23 January, utilising 22 Martin Audio loudspeaker channels.
Incorporating synchronised lighting cues, generated from music mixed in Dolby Atmos, Ministry of Sound will immerse visitors in unprecedented soundscapes delivered through the new Martin Audio CDD's and the existing ring of six bespoke Martin Audio ground stacks, positioned around the dance floor.
The additional speakers are designed to enhance the club's existing setup and change the perception of the way music is heard, confirms MoS production manager, Chris Thoms.
"When Dolby decided to introduce Dolby Atmos to the club world they were looking for a flagship venue to showcase it. We were approached both as a business and a music company - but more importantly we already had a six-point system set up, and The Box is an acoustically treated space - so it was a perfect fit.
"We told Dolby we wanted to maintain consistency with Martin Audio, so I contacted Jason Baird [Martin Audio's R&D director]. We discussed various options and he recommended the CDD15 because of its coverage and power output - and the fact that it could compete with the SPL level of our existing stacks and give us enough punch."
Thoms explains the sound panning principle. "With our current dance stack configuration you have always been able to get a left/right stereo pan wherever you are standing in the club. With Dolby Atmos, content is free from channel restrictions, allowing artists to pan individual audio objects anywhere across a room, including overhead, while maintaining the original stereo bed."
The installation proved challenging due to an already congested ceiling. "It's very tight because we have all the H&V and lot of fixtures up there. In that respect the mounting options on the CDD were useful - half the speakers are on yokes and a few are on steel suspensions. They are set at a uniform distance of 2.3m apart in a grid because they have to be close together to provide the best coverage for spatial elements."
Hospital Records is hosting the first event and producers and artists from the label have been working closely with Dolby to master their music in Dolby Atmos. "We are delighted to have the new Martin Audio speakers installed," states Thoms. "They have become perfectly integrated into the existing sound system infrastructure to support a Dolby Atmos performance."
In conclusion, Lohan Presencer, CEO, Ministry of Sound, states, "The sound system in The Box is the best in any nightclub anywhere in the world - but for our 25th anniversary next year, we wanted to raise the bar even higher. Dolby Atmos allows our patrons to experience the future of dance music, creating multidimensional soundscapes the likes of which have never been heard before in a nightclub environment."
(Jim Evans)
