Since the bijou, 160-capacity club is situated in the basement of the new Sloane Square Hotel; the operating team knew they had to make every square metre count.
While Goodrich and his team of collectives have provided design inspiration around the perimeter wall, with a million hand-drilled holes, LED backlit to create a kind of pointillist fresco, complemented by silver leaf flecked flooring, a curved bronze bar and discreet booths, Duncan Stirling has come up his own piece of sonic magic.
His father Andrew Stirling is a highly-experienced pro audio design consultant, with a rich pedigree in the studio world. While Stirling Senior doesn't generally specialise in venue installation (let alone nightclubs) he was more than happy to stretch a point in the interests of his son's enterprising project. His mission was to expose "a generation of MPEG users who don't know any different" to a greater dynamic range within Kitts.
"We were looking for a small, directional speaker system which would squirt a lot of energy into a small space," said Andrew Stirling. "The Nexo PS8's got the vote because they produce a huge amount of energy out of a small box. The Nexo LS-400 12in subs were also small and front-loaded so we knew they would be fairly directional." Four of the full range speakers and a pair of the subwoofers were specified.
Stirling Audio thus extended their shopping list with Nexo's UK distributors Fuzion plc to include a pair of Camco Tecton 24.4's and 32.4 amplifier, with t&m 8 loudspeaker for DJ monitor duties, powered by a t&m SA400E amplifier.
At the same time, Andrew Stirling - one of the founders of Allen & Heath - knew he also had to avoid sound spillage, and creating noise pollution for the hotel residents. His solution was to bring in Andy Munro of Munro Associates to lead-soundproof the ceiling and deal with other containment issues.
The Nexo PS-8's are mounted on rubber shock absorbers to cut down the transmission and the LS-400's are raised off the floor on spikes. Highly specified with Technics, Pioneer and Allen & Heath playback components, the DJ booth is isolated by being floated on a concrete plinth.
Optimised by the dedicated Nexo PS-8TD analogue processor, the sound is distributed by an Allen & Heath zoning mixer, while Stirling have introduced "a bit of black magic" in the form of the Aphex 204 Aural Exciter and Optical Big Bottom to enhance the detail and clarity of the sound.
"This will give us extra bass without sacrificing any headroom in the system, and at the same time we can add top end without saturation of the tweeter," Andrew rationalises. "The idea is to retain the system dynamics without the need for graphics."
The installation was carried out by another of Stirling's eminent peers from the studio world, Ian Davidson of Technical Earth.
Kitts, which opened last month, will operate until 2.30am from Monday to Thursday and 3.30pm at weekends.
(Chris Henry)
