 
Sound Division adds Tini Bar to top West End
portfolio
Photographs courtesy
of NIGHT Magazine
New ‘aperitivo bar’ joins Whisky Mist &
Mahiki in Piers Adam’s consortium
Sound Division Group has extended its long relationship
with top London operators Piers Adam, Guy Pelly and
Nick House with the opening of Tini Bar, a stylish,
classic Italian ‘aperitivo’ bar in Chelsea.
This provides them with a trio of uniquely conceived
top West End venues — all of which have had
their vibrant technology and mood lighting implanted
by Sound Division. First came Whisky Mist in 2006,
a reconfiguration at the former Zeta Bar in the Mayfair
Hilton — and both this, and its successor,
Mahiki in Dover Street, have become an enduring magnet
for A-list celebs.
Tini Bar (a derivative of ‘Martini’)
is the latest. As the name and concept imply, this
is open early evening for cocktails before ratcheting
up the tempo later on, when the background music
of earlier makes way for louder house music and cool
new age jazz.
With his long experience of working with the operators,
Sound Division MD David Graham knew intuitively the
best approach to take within the relatively confined
space on Walton Street. The bar already had a fully-functioning
JBL Control 1 loudspeaker system so the technology
company stripped out the six enclosures (along with
the Crest VS100 and Cloud 46/50 amplifiers and Formula
Sound AVC2 sound limiter), giving each component
a thorough overhaul before repositioning them to
meet the new design layout.
To convert this into a potent, matched system he
added two Sound Division 12” subs and a Behringer
crossover.
“We felt the bar would benefit from a crossover
to separate the bass speakers from the mid/highs — especially
as there is a DJ present,” explains David Graham.
And the DJ’s themselves will be delighted to
see that Sound Division have provided a pair of industry-standard
Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk2 CD decks and Allen & Heath
XONE:62 mixer.
This fits well within an interior created by architect
and designer Gabriel Murray (of Studio 48), who had
also worked closely with Sound Division in the development
of the successful Grille concept for John Pallagi
and Simon Wright. Murray in turn drafted in Adam
Bray, who sourced artwork and prints, and the result
is an elegant space, with a timeless and classic
feel.
Says David Graham, “Once again we have been
able to provide a cost-effective solution for the
client by reconditioning industry-standard gear that
was perfectly serviceable. We have simply increased
its functionality within the redesign by adding low-end
extension and specifying a control booth that any
DJ would be pleased to operate from.”
The trio of operators are delighted with the input
from their contracting team and Piers Adam says that
when the project came up, it had been a no brainer
to revive their successful partnership with Sound
Division. In fact he believes that of all the brands
in their estate Tini Bar has the biggest potential
for roll-out — particularly as an adjunct to
hotel bars or lobbies.
March 2009 |
