The Power of London
Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By John Murray Hill
STEP BEHIND THE DECKS OF THE TOP TWO CLUBS IN ENGLAND TO FIND OUT THE KIND OF SOUND SYSTEM IT TAKES TO MOVE THE MASSES
Guy Fawkes might have failed in blowing up the Houses of Parliament (if this needs explaining, check out the movie V for Vendetta), but audio dynamite still exists within the catacombs of London. Remix visited the capital of England's most infamous nightclubs, Fabric and The End, to find out what makes them tick, tick, boom!
FEELS LIKE FABRIC
Fabric is what the English would call “the daddy” because it's widely regarded as the venue with the most authoritative clout in the UK. Playing a broad range of genres, from rap and techno to drum 'n' bass, Fabric's moving Bodysonic dancefloor made by DJenerate (www.djenerate.com) and customizable preset system for DJs make it one of the most technologically advanced of its kind. “The Bodysonic dancefloor is patented, and we've signed nondisclosures, so we can't reveal exactly what it does,” says Fabric's chief sound engineer Sanjeev Bhardwaj, referencing the 400 bass transducers that emit low frequencies under the floor of Fabric's main room, allowing clubbers to absorb bass via their feet. “It goes far lower than the lowest speaker; it's really deep,” Bhardwaj says. “It's top secret. We're in development with DJenerate all the time, improving our technology.”
Located on the northern edge of London, Fabric has been instrumental in popularizing many of today's most loved subgenres and DJs, such as Jacques Lu Cont (aka Stuart Price), who produced Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor, which set a world record for debuting at No. 1 in 29 countries. “Fabric regenerated the whole surrounding area just by being here,” Bhardwaj says, wishing he'd bought a house nearby before the club blew up. “It didn't attach a genre to anything; it was just called ‘the Fabric sound.’”
Beyond “the Fabric sound,” how does its sound system measure up to clubs across the globe? “In 2001, I flew to Twilo in New York — Junior Vasquez's place,” Bhardwaj recalls. “I went to a night called Body & Soul just before 9/11. The Twilo system was awesome. They started it all off, really.
“We, and all the top clubs across the globe from America to Japan, are aiming for a hi-fi sound,” says Bhardwaj. “Imagine you are sitting at home and you have a perfect, top-of-the-range hi-fi. You put on a record and can hear everything with no distortion at all. That's what we're aiming for in Fabric. I had the guys from Womb [Tokyo's most futuristic club] meet me in 2002. They had a Phazon sound system (www.phazon.com), and after hearing ours, they were so impressed. I hear that in Womb they have an engineer sitting there all night EQing each song as it comes on.”
The depths to which superclubs will go to tailor sound for your ears is quite remarkable. “You can't find me in Fabric for a reason,” admits Bhardwaj, “because I'm moving around every dancefloor and DJ booth, listening, changing things along with my other engineers. We're totally wireless. I carry around a digital tablet enabling me to change audio settings from wherever I stand. The tablet is an extension of our Soundweb units, allowing us to wirelessly control each individual room.”
Systems like the BSS Audio Soundweb (www.bssaudio.com) epitomize digital technology that has revolutionized the music industry. “In the old days we'd have 300 crossovers, loads of EQs, compressors, limiters and so on,” Bhardwaj reminisces. “Soundweb does all of that digitally. The audio goes in and is converted, and then you can build your own files and presets. Using Soundweb, I can tweak every single speaker in Fabric, down to individual drivers.”
Soundweb is a networked system of digital signal processors, and it isn't limited to being managed by a single controller. “I've had it working on my phone — it's a digital interface — that's how deep we can go with Soundweb,” Bhardwaj reveals. “They use this technology in the Millennium Dome [a stadium in London], as well.”
Even though the Fabric setup is complex, it can be outlined quite simply. “The way our club works,” Bhardwaj says as he rubs his palms together, “is that in booth one, we have a big front-of-house mixing desk, complemented by an Allen & Heath Xone:92 and valve rotary Xone:V6 mixer. All three of those run independently, so we can have them on at the same time. The idea is that a DJ can move between the latter pair seamlessly. All mixers are wired into the Soundweb and then distributed out to the Martin Audio amps. Each of our three rooms has its own amp stack. In terms of wattage, they run roughly at around 110/115 dBA [about the same as a packed football stadium]. We were the first venue to put concert speakers in a club: the Martin Audio Line Arrays.”
After playing around with Fabric's setup, I can confirm that it's wonderfully intuitive and can be cranked freakishly loud. “But it's not about loudness,” Bhardwaj says. “It's about clarity. Our system is so powerful that you never have to overdrive it, and it always sounds clean.”
DJ Yoda, an audio-visual scratch DJ of such high caliber that Pioneer sends Japanese technicians to his house to watch him perform and base future products around his skills, expressed his thoughts on Fabric. “I was born in London,” Yoda says. “I grew up here, and Fabric is like home.” He says the large performer lineups are an advantage. “When I get booked to play elsewhere, it's usually just me, but Fabric represents a good chance to check out all the new DJs, styles and music. The sound system is amazing and so is the vibe; other clubs haven't really reached its level.”
THIS IS THE END
Rooted in a central London back alley, The End is the global epicenter of house, techno and breakbeat. Its co-owner, Mr. C, had UK and U.S. Dance Hot 100 No. 1 hits with his band The Shamen during the halcyon days of rave music. Like Fabric, The End coddled many performers before they became household names. Daft Punk performed its first live act at The End, and Fatboy Slim was a resident there when he hit pole position in the UK charts.
The End's sound and lighting system come across as quite brilliant even when compared to the world's best. “We've been in the scene a long time,” says Cyclon, The End's chief sound engineer, “but we're still moving forward. Our sound system, which is called Thunder Ridge, has been through several incarnations, and we chose it because of its power. The most recent model was released in 2000, and we were the first people to get it. Its developers actually wanted to downsize it during a recent upgrade, but I said, ‘No chance; I want more.’ We are billed as the flagship example of what this technology can do. I helped install and build Thunder Ridge from day one and maintained it until now. I haven't blown anything up yet!”
Here's how the entire sound system in The End stacks up. “The controllers — the brains of the system — are BSS Omnidrive Compact Plusses,” Cyclon reveals. “All the processing occurs there. The computer program that I use to run it is BSS Soundbench, which operates “five-way:” sub bass, bass, low mids, high mids and super highs. From the speakers we go into the amplifiers — the KA series by PSL. There are no other technical bits apart from the BSS' brickwall limiters, which are just for protection so we don't blow anything up.”
The End's sound system expands and contracts analogous to the creative personnel that use it. “When I've got bands in, we use special compressors and limiters for their gear, and DBX compression and C Audio graphic equalizers for their monitors,” Cyclon explains. “Most of the time I use a Mackie VLZ 24-channel desk, but sometimes, if it's a really important band, or if they're insistent, I will get in a Midas Venice. It's well made and expensive,” says Cyclon. [Laughs.] “The compressor/limiters I like are the [DBX] 266XLs,” he continues. “I use them across kicks and snares to compress and tighten up the overall sound, and on bass guitars because their players sometimes strum really hard. [The 266XLs] just keep everything stable.”
Cyclon proudly states that The End sound system almost never succumbs to technical problems. “It's such a big system, I never have to drive it too hard,” he says. “Occasionally, I've had an amp go down, but I haven't blown up one driver. All the cables go under the floor. They're very thick, so they conduct well and eliminate the chance for error. When the place was built, the cables were all running under the paneling from the amp rooms to the speakers.”
Once a resident at Twilo in New York and Space in Ibiza, where he earned the nickname “King of Space,” British-born house DJ and producer Steve Lawler decided to move into a residency for “Viva Harlem Nights” at The End, which says a lot about the quality and reputation of the venue. “House music belongs where it was born: in a warehouse. That's why The End and Fabric are special,” Lawler says. “The End — it's four fucking black walls, a couple of arches; the bar is as far away from the dancefloor as possible, so you're not getting that stagnant lighting in the room. And it has a focused, fat sound system that's effectively too big for the club. But the great thing about that is you can get really good volume without distorting any frequencies. One of the significant things about The End is that you can EQ your own night; it sounds exactly how I liked it when I did my first soundcheck there. The speakers have a really good midrange; they're clear throughout the whole frequency spectrum but still have that fatness. With other sound systems, even the best in the world, you can lose bottom-end warmth when clarity is enhanced, or vice versa. I just love The End's because it's all in there: The hats cut through, midrange is clear and the bass is really punchy.”
POWERING DOWN
London is a rich city, but you may not think so. Even with all that taxpayer money floating around, trains don't come when they're supposed to — nor do the police when you're getting mugged in Brixton. However, as we've seen here, somebody somewhere is flaunting that credit right, in ways that benefit nightclubbers everywhere. All hail the power of London.
See www.fabriclondon.com and www.endclub.com for listings, mix CD and club information. Visit www.djyoda.com for information on DJ Yoda's upcoming sets featuring new VJ technology and www.djstevelawler.com for news on Lawler's debut artist album in 2008.
CUT FROM THE FINEST CLOTH
FABRIC'S CLUB GEAR
Sound system
Martin Audio Wavefront W8 Line Array
DJ booths
Allen & Heath Xone:92, Xone:V6 mixers
(4) Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 CD players
Soundcraft Series 5 40-channel mixing desk (live sound only)
(4) Technics SL-1200MK5 turntables
Monitors
JBL MPX series amps
(5) JBL SR-X series active wedges
(8) Martin Audio LE400 biamped wedges
Consoles
Soundcraft SM12 32-channel desk
Spirit 324 Live 16-channel strip digital desk
Yamaha LS9-32 digital desk
Compressors, dynamics, effects
Behringer Multigate Pro XR4400
BSS Audio FCS-960 Dual Channel/Mode Graphic EQ
DBX 160SL stereo compressor/limiter
Empirical Labs EL7 Fatso processor
TC Electronic D-Two digital delay, EQ Station, M3000 Studio Reverb Processor
Yamaha Pro R3 digital reverb and multi-effects
Yamaha SPX 990 multi-effects
Mics
AKG CK 93, D 112, SE300 B
(4) Sennheiser E504 drum mics, (2) Sennheiser E906, (3) Sennheiser E935
Shure Beta 91, (2) KSM27, (6) Shure SM57, (6) SM58
(3) UHF radio mics with Sennheiser 935 capsules
Lighting
(18) 1K PAR cans
Coemar CF7 HE, (4) Coemar iSpot 575
High End Systems (2) Dataflash AF1000, (9) Technobeams
(3) Martin Professional Mac 600
THE WEEKEND STOPS HERE
THE END'S GEAR
Sound system
Thunder Ridge
DJ booths (2)
Allen & Heath Xone:464 mixer
ISDN lines for live Webcasting/conferences
(2) Pioneer CDJ-1000 CD players
Pioneer CDJ-1000MK2 CD player
(4) Technics SL-1210MK2 turntables
Vestax PMC-500 mixer
Console
Mackie SR 24-4 VLZ
Mics
AKG D 112, (4) D 114
(2) Joemeek condenser microphones
Shure Beta 57A, (2) SM57, (3) SM58
Lighting
Anytronics (2) Megastar Strobes, (2) 6-channel, 10-amp Dimmer Racks
Avolites Pearl 2000 lighting desk
(2) Jem TechnoFog smoke machines
Kodak Carousel Slide projector
Optikinetics (2) DMX Club Strobeflowers, Goboshow Projector, (10) Solar 250 Projectors
High End Systems (4) Studio Color 250, (6) Studio Spot 250
(10) PAR 64 Cans
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