Sound Division jazzes up East End at Bistrotheque
Ex-House Of Jazz designer, Pablo Flack, has hung up his needle and thread in favour of the bar and restaurant business. He and partners Hazel Robinson and David Waddington have recently opened the acclaimed Bistrotheque in the heart of London's East End. Appropriately set over two floors of an old clothing factory, Bistrotheque offers two dining rooms along with a bar, The Napoleon, and an entertainment area downstairs known as The Playroom which serves up a variety of entertainment from live bands to DJs to (wait for it) Tranny Lip Synching. Entertainment systems specialists, The Sound Division Group, were called in to design, specify and install the PA and lighting system for The Playroom.
Sound Division's David Graham explained that the brief was to provide a powerful but compact multi-purpose foreground sound system that was capable of handling live bands and other stage acts as well as a DJ. To that end, Sound Division specified a Crown-driven Turbosound system based on a pair of Turbosound TXD-121 mid/hi cabinets supplemented by a Turbosound TXD-115 15" sub as the stage system, complete with a DBX Drive
Rack processer. The DJ system is equipped with a pair of Technics SL1210 turntables, Ortofon cartridges, a Denon DND4000F twin CD player, a Pioneer DJM500 professional DJ mixer and a Phonic MU1202 compact PA mixer for PA system control. A Shure SM58 hand held microphone for announcements completes the system.Sound Division also designed and installed the lighting system, which is both simple and effective. Based on the classic Par Can 56 lights, the rig also includes sophisticated dimming, scene control and blackout system from Anytronics. David Graham is pleased with the results. "What we've provided is a truly versatile sound and lighting system that lends itself easily to any live situation, yet operates just as happily as a powerful DJ club system when the occasion requires. The combination of sound and lighting is both versatile and easy to operate, making it easy to vary the ambience accordingly."
September 2005