Voted Montreal's #1 club by its fans in DJ Mag, Circus offers 3 rooms hosting world class electronic music events from thursday to sunday. Powered by Funktion-One sound.


CIRCUS AFTERHOURS:
PUTTING MONTREAL ON THE NIGHTLIFE MAP

In the Canadian club scene, sound quality can often be forfeited in favour of convenience or cost savings – seemingly an afterthought to architecture and design. There are, however, some who simply refuse to compromise.

Over the last several years, Montreal's Circus Afterhours has climbed the ranks of elitism in the nightclub scene – first in its home city and now on a global scale. In recent years, the club has welcomed high-profile patrons and top DJs including international names like Tiësto, Benny Benassi, and Felix Da Housecat, and homegrown talent in resident DJs Franco Fabi, King Louis, and Domenic Pandolfo.

For 2011, it was ranked number 21 on DJ Mag's Top 100 Clubs, rising from the 79th position in 2009 and number 60 in 2010 – and this was before administration decided to completely revamp its décor and sound, lighting, and video technology in hopes of further increasing its international profile.

Setting a huge priority on its patrons' aural experience, the club set out on a search for a system that would deliver as lavish and intense an experience as that for which Circus has become so well-known.


No Sideshow
While also upgrading its décor and lighting to compete on a level with the international club elite, it was made clear by administration from the offset that the sound system would be a priority above all else. While the administration, taking advice from Technical Director Louis L'Ecuyer, did indeed research and enter discussions with several potential suppliers, the decision was made relatively early on that the reinforcement system would primarily comprise FUNKTION-ONE speakers.

Though the brand's profile is still budding here in Canada, Circus' administrators were familiar with the company and its global reputation, with the company providing the pumping sounds for clubs including Armani Club in Dubai, Lisbon's LUX, Cielo in Chicago, Marquee in Las Vegas, and several highly-regarded others.

Circus Afterhours' technical and management team met with Eric Lasnier of Audio Distributors International (ADI), the exclusive distributor of FUNKTION-ONE products in Canada. The meeting was a success and plans were put in motion to incorporate a significant package into the club's main dance room. Plans were drawn up to maximize the system's impact, though they would require significant modifications to the room's physical layout. One wall and one of the club's three bars in the main room were removed, as were performer platforms that would potentially obstruct sound.

Certain construction materials were implemented to eliminate reflections and maximize sound absorption while the reconfigured room allowed for optimum speaker positioning and coverage. The system selected for Circus was a FUNKTION-ONE Dance Stack system, arranged in a four-corner, crossed-stereo configuration. L'Ecuyer reports that the DS boxes, because of their custom-designed matched components, boast a naturally flat-voiced enclosure, meaning minimal processing would be needed.

The Dance Stack system is modular and can thus be configured in a number of different formats. For Circus' system, the format chosen was 4-way active, incorporating 11 components per stack: two 1" high-frequency compression drivers and two 10" high-mid speakers in a single DS210; a single DS15 low-mid cabinet with a 15" horn-loaded midrange cone; and three F218mk2 bass/sub-bass cabinets, each boasting dual 18" woofers.

For the DJ monitor set-up, almost as vital as the house system's performance considering the calibre of entertainers coming through Circus on a regular basis, a pair of FUNKTION-ONE 3-way Resolution 2 boxes were chosen.

Not sparing any expense on a single aspect of the rig – for the main or DJ monitoring set-up – the club ensured that all amplification, crossovers, and cabling would keep signal quality at a premium. The team selected UK-made MC2 amplifiers and XTA loudspeaker management systems to run the rig, also coming through ADI.

Having outlined a system they believed capable of producing the desired clarity and body-pumping SPLs with little listening fatigue, a few months later, the system was delivered and the real work began.


The Main Act
Lasnier took on the role of Special Projects Manager for the project, heading the installation alongside L'Ecuyer. The first task was to run the wiring that would link the four speaker stacks to the custom-built amp racks in the next room. Once wiring was completed, custom junction boxes were installed at each end of the cables to allow for quick disconnection of the stacks for cleaning and maintenance, as L'Ecuyer had requested they be hardwired to avoid vandalism or, potentially, theft.

Following wiring, the amplifier and processing rack – a custom ceiling-mounted rack installed in an isolated area to limit exposure to humidity, heat, and tampering by the public – was assembled, visible from the VIP guest DJ room. The rack is four rack spaces wide by 12 high and holds all nine amplifiers and three management systems for the main system as well as several other matrixing components allowing the main room signal to be fed to any other zone in the club.

The DJ monitors were hung in the booth on pre-installed ceiling anchors at the ideal angle for booth coverage without obstructing the view of the crowd.

For the main system, each Dance Stack is set-up from the ground up on-the-spot from the individual components. First is the plinth (a riser attachment for simple mobility using a pallet jack), then all three F218mk2 low-frequency cabinets on their sides are positioned onto that and secured by rear metal joiner plates. Next comes the DS15 low-mid box with integral pre-installed mounting hardware. Last comes the DS210 – the critical step. Mounting and angling brackets are attached, a stage riser is positioned in front of the stack, and three workers lift the speaker into position while two others are waiting on ladders on each side, ready to secure the bolts once the piece is in place. The process is repeated an additional three times to build the remaining stacks.

Next comes the task of positioning each newly-erected stack. The original plans are pulled out and referenced, each stack being precisely positioned for optimal coverage of the room with minimal interference and refractions. Each stack is hardwired and the cables are routed up to the custom ceiling boxes, fitted with the proper connectors, and then plugged in.

Lasnier, L'Ecuyer, and the team are then ready to power up the new rig for a test run. With the juice switched on and the amplifiers set to minimal output, a polarity check is performed and reveals no faults. Now for the music test...

All volumes are set to zero, all amplifiers are set to max level, and a track is tuned up on the CD player at minimal level. Everyone in the room makes their way over to the centre of the action for a sampling of the system's sound.

With everything seemingly in order, the volume knob on the output source is slowly turned clockwise while each present pair of ears listens carefully for any sign of a potential problems in the sound, amplifier panels, or controllers. Everything is green and "begging for more power."

The team gradually raises the volume to a more appropriate SPL level for this type of venue (and even past safe levels for a brief period to test for problems). Following the topped-out test, the electronics are re-checked to guarantee proper operation down the road. Even with the room SPL at remarkable volume (beyond what would typically be heard even in a club like Circus), the amplifiers aren't breaking a sweat and the system is sounding sweet.

While some systems are often given a complete RTA tuning at this point, the team at Circus is able to forgo the process. As L'Ecuyer explains, one of the draws to the FUNKTION-ONE boxes is that they're designed to be flat out of the box and, because of this, no correction or tuning was deemed necessary. A set of RTA measurements was still performed to ensure the room's natural acoustics didn't negatively affect the frequency response of the system.

Both Lasnier and L'Ecuyer notice a few minor oddities in the high-mids; however, relying on previous experience, the two attribute the inconsistencies to the reflections of the high-mids on the club's bare wooden floor. Later tests in a full room reveal that the assumption was a safe one, as the densely-packed dancing bodies eliminate the inconsistencies.

In the following days, with the club's other technological and aesthetic upgrades complete, Circus Afterhours hosted an event to officially present the new club and sound system to the media and public. The public was indeed impressed, as was the local nightlife press, relaying that to readers and building up excitement surrounding the club for a string of packed nights (or, more accurately, mornings) that's still going strong.


Grand Finale
Even a brief scan of local and international nightlife forums reveals some of the excitement surrounding the new sound experience in Montreal's hottest after-hours establishment.

Posts on the TranceAddict.com forum from locals include snippets like: "I'm having a hard time thinking of a club where I've heard a cleaner sound," "It's like being in a professional studio," and "That bass punches you right in the chest."

While Circus Afterhours has been a well-known and respected establishment on both the local and international after-hours scenes, the club's administration and collaborators make it clear that they feel they've optimized their offerings for the world's best-known DJs and common club-goers alike. Says club GM and house DJ Franco Fabi: "With the acquisition of this high-end sound system with a power of 76,000 watts, a new lighting system, but also through the best local and international DJs and a quality team, we're putting Montreal on the nightlife map" – and in a towering way.


- Andrew King
Editor of Professional Sound Magazine


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