Project Team

av: DJW Projects

Suppliers

music system: Nightlife

As the amount of glamorous and trendy venues in Sydney’s Kings Cross continues to grow, the Empire Hotel is one venue that is refreshingly normal and you don’t need to impress a door bitch to get into it. Busting with all the grit Kings Cross can muster, Empire is perfect if you want a night out but don’t really feel like trying.
But even this venue needs to keep an eye on the competition and instead of spending squillions on a fancy interior designer they turned to DJW Projects to refit their audio visual creating a different atmosphere and bringing Empire up to speed with other venues in the Cross.

DJW installed an AMX integrated control system to allow for full control of hotel functionality from one central point. This includes all TV’s, set-top boxes, plasma screens, the sound system, and also Foxtel.

On the top floor is Plantation Bar which features a grungy graffiti décor and is the Empire’s foray into the world of nightclubbing hotspots. This bar is marketed as a high end dance venue with a variety of Sydney’s top promoters passing through already. DJW installed a full EAW Avalon DC4 system, driven by Powersoft amplifiers, and fill speakers throughout the floor to create consistent coherent sound throughout the venue. This superiority of equipment and coverage was essential to provide Empire with the quality of nightclub they were looking for.

The audio system is controlled using Symetrix Symnet with audio transport between floors on Cobranet allowing for music from any floor to be pumped anywhere.

Added to the lighting system were eight iMove 250s moving head.strobes blinders and a big fog machine controlled via PC running Martin LightJockey.

To complement the new nightclub the two other levels received an upgrade to allow Empire to cater for the Kings Cross bar market in a dynamic environment. The ground floor public bar received eight plasma screens all fed by Nightlife and Foxtel through a distributed system controlled from the AMX panel.

The Level One bar features iMove-250 LED moving heads and RGB LED Par Cans to create colour changing effects on the existing
stainless pressed steel feature walls. This coupled with another EAW Avalon system provides two levels of would class audio.

The Empire and its sibling hotels all have Nightlife Music Systems, each with their own distinct flavours customised to suit patronage. Every night mid-week the Empire saves on outside entertainment expenses by using content from Nightlife’s comprehensive music library to create a party vibe. On Friday and Saturday nights, they again use Nightlife to supplement the work of DJ sets. Music video content is screened on displays throughout hotel; along with digital advertising content, which helps promote specials and events.

EAW Avalon Series

In the late 1990s, EAW focused on something that had never been done before: create a full line of loudspeakers that would be ideally suited to the specific sonic goals and needs of the club market. At that same time, top nightclub sound designer John Lyons approached EAW with his ideas for loudspeakers capable of matching the captive audience on the dance floor, with output that is surrounding and encompassing, but without the “long throw” characteristics of PA loudspeakers.

The Avalon Series proved an immediate hit, installed at dozens of high-profile clubs within a year of launching. Some of EAW’s most powerful technologies are brought to bear in the Avalon Series, a fact that can now be testified to by thousands of club owners and DJs - as well as millions of dance club patrons - around the world.

Production Audio Services