News

Sound Division in West End aperitivo bar

UK - Sound Division Group has extended its long relationship with London operators Piers Adam, Guy Pelly and Nick House with the opening of Tini Bar, a classic Italian 'aperitivo' bar in Chelsea.

This provides them with a trio of West End venues - all of which have had their technology and mood lighting implanted by Sound Division. First came Whisky Mist in 2006, a reconfiguration at the former Zeta Bar in the Mayfair Hilton - and both this, and its successor, Mahiki in Dover Street continue to thrive.

Tini Bar (a derivation of 'Martini') is the latest. As the name and concept imply, this is open early evening for cocktails before ratcheting up the tempo later on, when the background music of earlier makes way for louder house music and cool new age jazz.

With his long experience of working with the operators, Sound Division MD David Graham knew the best approach to take within the relatively confined space on Walton Street. The bar already had a fully-functioning JBL Control 1 loudspeaker system so the technology company stripped out the six enclosures (along with the Crest VS100 and Cloud 46/50 amplifiers and Formula Sound AVC2 sound limiter), giving each component a thorough overhaul before repositioning them to meet the new design layout.

To convert this into a potent, matched system he added two Sound Division 12" subs and a Behringer crossover.

"We felt the bar would benefit from a crossover to separate the bass speakers from the mid/highs - especially as there is a DJ present," explains David Graham. And Sound Divison has also provided a pair of Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk2 CD decks and Allen & Heath XONE:62 mixer.

This fits well within an interior created by architect and designer Gabriel Murray (of Studio 48), who had also worked closely with Sound Division in the development of the successful Grille concept for John Pallagi and Simon Wright. Murray in turn drafted in Adam Bray, who sourced artwork and prints, and the result is an elegant space, with a timeless and classic feel.

David Graham comments: "Once again we have been able to provide a cost-effective solution for the client by reconditioning industry-standard gear that was perfectly serviceable. We have simply increased its functionality within the redesign by adding low-end extension and specifying a control booth that any DJ would be pleased to operate from."

(Jim Evans)

(2 July 2009)