Page 268 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

Protec Help Elrow Deliver Opening Night to Remember at SOHO Beach Club
Photo: Dubai Night
Protec, SOHO Beach Club opened its doors on February 23 in conjunction with the renowned Barcelona and more recently, Ibiza brand “elrow” to a sold-out Dubai crowd. Featuring top world-class DJ “Luciano” performing a special birthday set, the scene was set to be an absolute banger of a night. Protec were happy to provide a full audio and lighting install as well as an SMD ground support for the opening event. Renowned for their colourful, over the top decor and special effects, as expected they had confetti canons working overtime, firing 6 times over the course of the night leaving the 5,000 revellers wading through heavy showers
of colourful confetti and streamers along with a sea of whacky inflatables!
The new Meydan super-club boasts a club area 50m deep and 30m wide, with a large dance floor surrounded by raised VIP Decks as well as a pool area.
Dan Dignan, Protec’s senior audio engineer, described how he maximized the potential of the space. “This was handled by 16 L-Acoustic’s K2 Loudspeakers, flown left and right in hangs of eight on Protec’s Ground Support in an asymmetric 90° throw to contain the sound within the venue. It covered the entire area with
a smooth and consistent coverage front to back and was supported by a pair of Arc Wide to fill the front of the dance floor, hung high in the centre of the ground support. Eight SB28 Subwoofers took care of the low end delivering a strong Sub to the house and techno style music that elrow is famous for. A large raised bridge overlooking the dance floor was covered effectively by 8 L-Acoustic 5xt loudspeakers. Although small and discreet, they did a great job of filling the top end clarity to the deck. The front of house system took care of the rest, but was trimmed to shoot below to not affect the other venues in close proximity.”
SOHO Beach Club’s brand new pool area to the rear of the venue opened in the afternoon to entertain sun-seeking early arrivals. Protec’s L-Acoustics Syva system was placed to the left and right of the area and was supported by a pair of L-Acoustic X8’s hung from the bridge to fill in the front of the pool. The slick appearance of the Syva, fitted in well with the high end Dubai vibe of the venue.
When asked about any challenges that were overcome Dignan explained,
“The two large VIP Decks left and right of the pool were a challenge. They both linked to the adjacent clubs “Soho Garden” and “Drai’s.” We were asked to effectively cover the area but minimize spill into the other venues. For this, Protec hung its L-Acoustics Kara Loudspeakers on 9m towers and trimmed them in such a way as to reduce sound at a chosen crossover point between the other venues. This proved to be effective as all three clubs operated simultaneously with minimum disturbance between them.”
The system was controlled by a Digico SD11, with a D-rack at the stage end to distribute signal effectively over the venue. An Avalon SP747 tube compressor was inserted over the master to control the sound while adding the famous character the unit is renowned for. A total of 15 L-Acoustics LA8’s and 3 L-Acoustics LA4X amplified controllers were used to power the speakers, all talking to an L-Acoustics network manager to control the EQ and time alignment. Communications were taken care of by Protec’s Freespeak ii, allowing the 10 crew on comms to wirelessly communicate effectively over the entire venue. Production requested
42 radios and Protec supplied their extensive range of DP2400’s to cater for this.