The city of Liverpool has a long standing history for its vibrant nightlife. And so the opening of the refurbished Mansion nightclub was met with eager anticipation and much hype by locals and tourists alike in early Autumn 2020.
Owners Dean Jones, along with DJ’s David Whelan and Mike Di Scala (better known and DJ duo Camelphat) are familiar with making sure they match, or, more often exceed the expectations of their audiences, and so their discerning choice of sound system for the refurb was made with an enormous amount of input and plenty of consideration. “As DJs one of the favourite sound systems we perform with are Void systems, and so we wouldn’t have chosen any other brand for our own club” confirmed Mike.
Mansion is a house and tech house nightclub, with a capacity of 1,000. It has been designed as a multi-purpose venue spanning two floors with two mezzanine balconies and VIP booths, a terrace and several dancefloors. These various spaces collectively offer capacity for product launches, conferences and private parties, as well as regular club nights. The club had closed in January 2020 with a planned refurb expected to take place in time for re-launch in April 2020. Sadly the re-opening was delayed until August 2020, which was then met with even more excitement and anticipation.
“We are focussed on a VIP clientele and with so many options for our target audience in the city we had to make sure our offer was second to none” expanded Mike. “We are familiar with Void sound systems and after lengthy discussions with our installer the decision ultimately came down to only one option – Void Acoustics.”
“First off we chose Void for the quality of the sound, secondly we knew the style of loudspeakers would suit the refurbishment perfectly with the sleek futuristic styling – especially once we knew we could pick the finish to blend seamlessly with the rest of the décor” continued Mike’s DJ partner Dave.
The management team worked collaboratively with renowned Void installer SA Acoustics Design. SA Acoustics is owned by Gary Martin who has a depth knowledge of Void Acoustics having owned and installed Void systems since the mid 2000s. “We opted for Gary and his team given their vast knowledge and experience of Void systems because we wanted the very best for our clientele” explained fellow Director of Mansion, Dean Jones. “Not only are Camelphat regularly using Void systems for their sets, but I part-own another venue – XOXO Nightclub in Liverpool – which has a full Void Airten system and so I’m also well versed with the quality and dynamic audio delivery of Void systems.”
Gary explained that the system choice was entirely down to the trio of owners of Mansion. “I’ve got a longstanding relationship with Void, and the team are always a complete pleasure to work with. And the venue owners wanted Void from the get-go – no question. So it was a perfect marriage. I spoke at length with the Mansion team about which Void products to specify, how best to deploy them to match their requirements and how to overcome the building and installation challenges. And the Void team were in the background to help and support every step of the way.”
The overall sound system at Mansion includes a combination of Air Motion V2 and Airten V3 loudspeakers, combined with Stasys XV2 subwoofers and Bias Q5 amplifiers. The project had a rapid turnaround from initial brief to the commencement of the installation in the early part of 2020. “There were a couple of challenges we met along the way,” explained Gary. “There was a new roof design at the venue and so we had to produce custom-made brackets. Luckily I have a background in metal fabrication and industrial refinishing and so we manufactured these in-house”.
Another key challenge was the colour customisation of the loudspeakers, as explained by Void Sales Director, Mike Newman. “We are able to offer the majority of our product range in custom RAL colours. This is a very popular option for many of our customers, enabling them to create visually striking audio systems and providing a USP for Void systems. We offer colour customisation on all our fibreglass products alongside other customisation features as well. So the customer can really feel a personal service on our products.”
Gary continued: “We needed to reflect the architect’s design and colour palette. So I created a one-off custom formulation in our workshop in the knowledge that I’d therefore be able to provide the very specific colour finish for the Void loudspeakers. Once I had achieved as perfect a match as possible, and in order to achieve the tight timelines of this project, this custom paint work was done in-house. It was a collaboration with the venue owners and the team at Void at every step of this colour matching process.”
The trio of directors of Mansion were thrilled with the initial response from their clientele in the regrettably short time the club has been operating since it was opened. “The outcome and response we have had to the audio system could not have gone better,” said Venue Director Dean. “From the crisp quality sound which the customers are loving, to the amazing feedback from our resident and guest DJs. My co-directors Camelphat have said it’s one of the best sounding systems they’ve heard and played on, which is a huge relief on a personal basis,” he grinned. “2020 was completely stop-start and immensely challenging for us, as it has for the entire night-time economy and although we were able to open again briefly in December before this latest lockdown, we are once more closed again. We hope everything is back to normal again very soon and for our VIP clientele to walk onto a packed dancefloor with the music pumping, and be reminded of all the feelings and emotions that a vibrant nightlife brings. We cannot wait!”
