Trilogy: a club suspended in an envelope of sound
Hyperbole surrounds news of every new club opening like confetti, yet uniquely for the Trilogy Club in Mumbai even the Oxford Dictionary of Superlatives has proved inadequate. “To isolate the sound of the club from the VIP suites of this prestigious hotel we employed the acoustic constructs of the orchestral concert hall, literally a box within a box structure.” The fact that audio consultant Milind Raorane of Soundframe consulting could even recommend such a course of action confirms the total commitment of owners (and sisters) Neha and Minal Gundecha to, in their words, “an aspiration to create a space with the most premium experience of nightlife.”
The two storey Trilogy is located within the Hotel Sea Princess, Juhu, Mumbai, sandwiched between the 24/7 coffee shop below, and the hotel’s most expensive ocean facing VIP suites above, “So the imperative for sound isolation was absolute,” confirmed Raorane. “But we also had to provide that ‘premium experience’ of sound within. Working in combination with Digital Advantage, the d&b audiotechnik distributor for India, we devised a complete acoustics and audio design, presenting the owners with acoustic prediction data and 3D sound mapping. We had also worked on similar projects in terms of sound requirements and knew that the d&b philosophy of loudspeaker systems with brains, would deliver the desired prestige sound.” Neha Gundecha commented “Mr Milind and Digital Advantage were helpful, prompt and responsible for the entire sound installation at Trilogy. Mr Milind’s suggestions were extremely valuable for the sound isolation and acoustics of the installation.”
The fully floated ceiling, floor and walls are further enhanced by an air-lock entry lobby, double doors and vacuum sealed double glazed windows, “The ceiling has also been extensively treated with cellulose spray for internal reverberation control. The suite’s directly above the club have a noise floor of 50-55dB (flat) /1/3rd octave, the internal Rt60 (spectral for 1/3rd octave) reads between 0.8 and 0.6 secs.
Music is relayed throughout both floors of the club, Digital Advantage installing a distributed system of mostly d&b E-Series loudspeakers, supplied to Raorane’s design. “The dance floor area is totally enveloped with high energy sound; a quad configuration, an inward facing four corner array of E12 loudspeakers each with a pair of B4-SUBs and an E12-SUB. The B4 subwoofers are so aligned as to significantly reduce the amount of low end energy on the rear walls; it’s a zero fatigue environment.” All other areas, the six hundred square foot mezzanine between floors, and the one thousand five hundred square foot lower lounge are covered using a variety of E8, E3 and E0 loudspeakers, the lower floor again employing a quad design based on E3 and E12-SUB combinations. “The house DJ has been carefully trained and fully understands the relationship between the d&b system and his input to it. He is really enjoying the system.”
The Gundecha sisters appointed Mr Henry Tham as their working partner and club operator; Mr Tham has an extensive track record establishing clubs and bars, notably the Olive, Mandarin, and Rouge the Cafe establishments. Since opening the Trilogy has received the Best Nightclub award from two TV stations; NDTV Good Times (a prime lifestyle channel for India) and from CNN-IBN; as well as a recommendation in the Times of India good food guide.
