B 018 opts for dampb
Published: MEA
LEBANON: The B 018, Beirut’s most famous, successful and enduring nightclub, has installed a new d&b audiotechnik sound system to cope with the new interior of the 17-year old subterranean club. The system was supplied by local distributor Seebeck Audio.
The club was founded by musician and DJ Naji Gebran in 1994 on the site of a former refugee camp that had been bulldozed in 1976. ‘I don’t like to do or be the same as everyone else,’ said Mr Gebran, ‘so I had the club designed and built on a piece of land I bought.’ The history of the architectural design by Bernard Khoury is a story in itself, and is quite unique, not least the fact that B 018 is a totally subterranean venue with a retractable steel roof. ‘I like to do things that don’t exist,’ he explained. ‘Secondly the music is also critical to success. When I opened the club people in Lebanon only listened to disco and easy listening,’ said Mr Gebran. ‘Now they’ve learned what is good and meaningful; all these years later we are still the leader, that’s why we invest so much in the audio system.’
Youssef Aoun founder of Seebeck explained the rationale behind B 018’s new system. ‘We first put a d&b system in here in 2005; it worked really well but Mr Gebran is not a man to relax, he listens to the young people and is always refreshing the music, bring in new DJs, and of course every so often he changes the décor. The most recent changes exposed the clubs concrete walls; previously they’d been covered by heavy drapes.’
Mr Aoun and the team at Seebeck set about changing the installation to correct the direct to diffuse ratio, to suit the new environment. ‘The wider Q7 gave the precise pattern control required,’ said Mr Aoun. ‘Positioning them away from the walls, effectively surrounding the dance area made for the perfect solution. That and using Q-Subs in CSA mode kept most of the energy off the walls and especially off the roof, when it’s closed that is.’
‘The quality of the sound is beautiful,’ added Mr Gebran. ‘With electronic music people always want it louder. Open till seven in the morning, we are very much an ‘afters club’; people come here in the early hours when they have tired of the newer clubs. They like what they hear. The secret is not to do or be like everyone else.’