Sound Division go jungle
with Giraffe
Growing family restaurant group, Giraffe, has
built its reputation on offering global food and
an eclectic mix of world music over a 15-hour
trading cycle.
Having developed a portfolio of 12 units over
seven and a half years in the Greater London area,
the company has this year moved to high-footfall,
green-field locations — first on the promenade
outside the Royal Festival Hall and now into the
regenerated Spitalfields market.
Run by partners, Andrew Jacobs, Russel and Juliette
Joffe, Giraffe had been looking to standardise
on its background music systems having been contracting
its audio on an ad hoc basis early in its history.
Drawn to The Sound Division Group via their marketing
profile, Russel contacted managing director David
Graham, which resulted in his company refurbishing
the existing equipment in newly-acquired operations
in Muswell Hill and Wimbledon, before being offered
the contract to install a full JBL system on the
South Bank.
Giraffe, Royal Festival Hall |
|
"The Giraffe concept is a global one —
and music is a very important part of the overall
experience," said David Graham. "The
quality of the sound system needs to reflect this."
In fact music assumes such high priority that
the company markets its own CD compilations (via
Putumayo World Music) as part of a vigorous merchandising
operation. It also maintains a World Music Top
Ten based around ethnic music from Brazil, Africa,
Jamaica, The Caribbean, Cuba and the Celtic countries.
The brief thus handed down to Sound Division
was to provide high clarity and deliver a seamless
mix of ever-changing music from 7.45am (when the
venues open). The company has responded by supplying
a Pioneer 25-disc multi CD player, feeding music
to four distinct zones via a Cloud Z4 mixer and
a selection of JBL Control 25AV, Control 28 and
Control 24C (ceiling speakers).
Recognising that the concept is constantly evolving,
in both the South Bank and Spitalfields (where
the latest Giraffe, opened last month) Sound Division
have provided portable DJ systems based around
Technics SL1210 turntables and Vestax PMC004 DJ
mixers). These can be stored out of sight when
not in use.
However, the glass-shell building at Spitalfields
required all Installation Manager, Elliott Patterson's
EQing skills to tame a potentially reverberant
room. Requiring a more potent music delivery during
the evening trading session, Sound Division enhanced
the specification, adding a JBL SB210 subwoofer
in the main bar and drawing on the dbx Zone Pro
640 DSP to provide a full loudspeaker management
system (with EQ, compression and routing capabilities
as well as a fire alarm interface). The sound
source and volume control can be overriden manually
via local remote control panels.
Juliette Joffe acknowledges that music is a vital
ingredient in the company's winning formula, and
is delighted with the impact of a premium sound
system on the operation, as Giraffe contemplates
a future which will see it move outside London
for the first time.
"While we are attempting to look at slightly
larger units we are happy to operate from as little
as 70-capacity up to 200 — including high
street sites," she says. "It's all about
finding the right locations."
And currently these locations include Brighton,
Bristol and Manchester as future roll-out potentials.
November
2005 |
