64 Knightsbridge

64 Knightbridge

A discreetly hidden speaker system for a new multi-floored members club in Knightsbridge run by Wilderness Reserve.

Zonal Technology

A digital signal process (DSP) limiter isn’t just the perfect solution to limit noise breakout, but it also provides a platform to ZONE your venue and give you back control.

Imagine creating little hot spots of sound dedicated to your clientele and the specific area they are using, or having the ability to switch at a moment’s notice from a chilled day time office vibe over to a Friday night party vibe.

The Project

Following on from working with Wilderness Reserve’s Sibton Park and the newly commissioned Chapel Barn, our most recent collaboration was with their sister city brand, Pavilion Club.

Known as a high end members club providing secluded meeting rooms, hushed collaborative working spaces and lively DJ sets across the city, Direct Acoustics were commissioned as the audio supplier for their multi-floored venue, Knightsbridge Pavillion.

A landmark Grade II Listed former bank was chosen to become home to London’s most luxury offices, designed to make business a pleasure with private meeting rooms, hot desks and soundproof booths over three floors, combined with cocktail bars, restaurant, a library and an impressive roof terrace overlooking Hyde Park.

The challenge

Direct Acoustics challenge was to not just to zone all three floors, enabling separate audio inputs and varying volume levels throughout, but also dedicated hot spots of audio within specific meeting rooms with TV and conferencing capabilities.

The audio system had to be designed so that music was present but it did not draw the eye, with discreet speakers concealed wherever possible, whilst also maintaining a very high quality of sound. The frequency response of each speaker had to be full-range at a low level whilst also having the capacity to switch over to a night time setting providing the ability to produce high level music that DJ’s enjoy performing with.

Speakers were concealed in wall and ceiling cavities, furniture and even outdoor weatherproof speakers used within the roof terrace floor pots. Where speakers couldn’t be hidden, Custom RAL finishes and a sublimation process was applied to match that of the facade they were positioned on.

 

Results

Day-to-day operation with the system interfaces was refined with the Pavilion team during a commissioning process, to ensure usability was as simple as it could be, allowing for natural staff turnover.

Versatility, adaptability and control were the key elements to the success of this installation – all provided by a single Digital Process Limiter.

Whether you are looking to limit your audio output from disturbing your neighbours, want to distribute sound throughout an entire venue, or simply just need to add a level of control to your existing speaker system, your options are endless with our DSP set ups.

No matter the project, get in touch for some independent advice.

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Chapel Barn

modern bedroom with mezzanine staircase up to bath

Chapel Barn

The Wilderness Reserve is set in 5,000 acres of Suffolk countryside, amongst rolling hills, vast blue skies and umpteen lakes, featuring a plethora of quaint countryside cottages, barn conversions and luxurious farmhouses. Perfect for getting away from it all. City dwellers seeking weekend respite cycle leisurely around the estate on pashley bicycles, sip champagne whilst they row a boat across the ornamental lake or play tennis on one of the many courts, all set to the backdrop of quintessential English countryside.

Direct Acoustics had the pleasure of first working with Wilderness Reserve back in 2017 on Sibton Park. The Orangery, a desirable event space, attached to Sibton Manor needed some attention and we had a charming time installing our most advanced technologies, including an invisible audio system to solve noise problems from larger functions and weddings. 

Fast forward to this year, the year of the staycation, Direct Acoustics were back at Wilderness Reserve putting the final touches on Chapel Barn – the estate’s newest addition to the family. A Suffolk Long Barn, all thatched roofs and oak beams, converted to offer laid-back luxury and generous event spaces for weddings and celebrations, it has been kitted out with a steam room, home cinema, gym, sauna, pool and hot tub (because nothing says luxury quite like a hot tub) to accompany it’s 18 bedrooms. And it’s gorgeous.

Our brief was to provide high quality audio within the venue’s two event spaces, limited not to cause nuisance and be fully controllable for management no matter their location: on the estate or the further afield London offices. As with the rest of the estate, Chapel Barn is picture-perfect, and so it’s no wonder that, in addition to these requirements, there was the added touch that not a single speaker could be seen.

The Barn

The barn consisted of a Martin Audio CDD10 front of house PA and supporting MA CDD6’s trailing down the length of the listed barn. We adopted K-Array KU26 subs to flood the venue with subtle low level bass and due to their slimline design, installed them into the barn’s wall cavity. Tucked away and discreet to not ruin the aesthetic.

Games Room

Downstairs lies the games room, complete with swimming pool and gym. Here the audio experience was focused around the 80 inch TV and our 7.1 Surround Sound offering. This consisted of the impressive and ultra compact Outline Vegas 24 installed within the viewing wall, Audica Micropoints providing back projection and 8 Martin Audio CDD5 speakers suspended over the sofa within the curved ornate ceiling. When the TV is turned off and the party comes downstairs, the venue relies on this system working in conjunction with a portable twin Martin Audio XD12 set up.

group of people in large sitting room on big grey sofa watching television

Control

Every installation we undertake ensures control takes priority and disturbance at nearby residential dwellings is a non issue. Both speaker systems are linked back to the server room where a range of Powersoft Install Amplifiers and Symetrix Prism Process Limiters manipulate every frequency and volume level emitted through each individual speaker, a feature key to the venue achieving their licensing permission. Connectivity is achieved throughout Chapel Barn via Atterotech unD6IO-BT Dante™ Bluetooth Audio Interface’s.

Bronze Grilles

We like to think the team can tackle most challenges thrown at them and when Chapel Barn discussed the option of each speaker having an intricate and ornate grill cut into aged bronze, we just had to give it a go. 

Our design, whilst focusing on its visual impact, ensured the pattern maintained >33% open area for acoustic transparency. To enable service access and ease of installation, a 12.5mm x 25mm bronze angle frame was brazed together using silver soldier and supporting brackets, installed to flush fix the laser cut plate.

Following their success, our team later fabricated identical grilles for the gym and long barn air conditioning vents, as well as 3m water drainage grilles around the floor of the swimming pool.

indoor swimming pool with pineapple inflatable and plants in background

Licensing

With the help of Direct Acoustics and Peter Rodgers of Sustainable Acoustics, Chapel Barn were granted a full 365 day license to permit Regulated Entertainment within the venue.

A range of methods were employed including underlying acoustic surveys, feasibility studies and real world subjective assessments. This all proved pivotal evidence as Peter Rodgers of Sustainable Acoustics was used as an expert witness during the licensing hearing.

And so this delightful estate now has an additional event space, ideal for weddings and group gatherings, without having to worry about the noise. Time to book in for a weekend retreat we think!

Want to know more? Give us a call, we love having a chat

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interior wooden beamed sitting room and dining with large fireplace

Riverford Organic Farms

riverford organic farmers carrot logo

Riverford, Wash Barn Farm

Our client was Riverford Organic Farmers. They’ve got a big warehouse in Devon which smells of strawberries! It’s where they box up their organic meat and vegetables into the 47,000 boxes they dispatch to homes across the country every week.

Introduction

The manager of the facility wanted to provide a sound system for the staff at Wash Barn so that they could listen to whatever music they wanted to while they were at work. There were ten areas across the factory – from a bright white sauce packing room full of people in lab coats pouring herbs and spices into vials, to refrigerated chambers where organic steaks are wrapped up, roots packing (spuds, carrots and kohlrabi), the green room (green vegetables), offices (even vegetables need administrators!), and the recycling area – each of which should have its own zoned speaker system.

Challenge

red puzzle piece illustration

10 zones across a vast and complexly laid out production center each needed independent source selection and centralised control. Due to their production schedule all work had to be done during the night.

Solution

lightbulb illustration

We installed an array of speakers, each specifically selected for it’s zones limitations. The technical team developed a unique distribution and control system integrated with their network that allowed authorised individuals to take control from any workstation

Results

green graph illustration

92 speakers, over 3km of cable and 11 Raspberry Pi’s created a single distributed system that gave employees some much wanted music and managers much needed control.

Plan

Due to the very varied environmental and architectural conditions of the different areas within the warehouse, a diverse range of speaker types and installation solutions were required, from directional pendant speakers, to waterproof sealed speaker cabinets, to ceiling cans. In addition to the plug-and-play pleasure that workers at the facility could enjoy through the sound system (via both wired and wireless inputs), managers can also deploy the system for health and safety or emergency announcements.

instruction guide control panel for Wash Barn PA Control

The team worked across two weeks at night, installing the kilometers of cable needed and fixing speakers according to our plan. 

The technical team followed them, developing a site file that integrated with the 10 Raspberry Pi’s the clients team had provisioned to stream the audio to each zone. Finally, we built a remote control system that gave the managers the ability to control source, volume and emergency overrides from any workstation. 

Results

The effectiveness of the zoning of the speakers means that Chopin’s piano concertos can be tinkling away in one space, while in the adjacent area Metallica can blast out without a power chord clashing with a dainty G minor. It gave the employees a break from just listening to machinery hammer away all day while ensuring that management could maintain control in the case of an emergency or a much better song to play.  Oh, and if it’s your birthday then you got to chose what music played that day, neat.

Want to know more? Give us a call, we love having a chat

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