Powersoft, the Italian amplifier specialist, has provided details of its work at a state-of-the-art nightlife museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This uses the firm’s compact transducer, Mover, as part of a brand new Our House experience.
The venue, which has long served as a nightclub, continues its musical legacy with its transformation into a new digital storytelling experience, delivering a 75-minute journey with interactive exhibits, shows and performances showcasing the music genre.
Decades of dance
Visitors will discover the captivating story of electronic music, from its origins as an alternative and secretive underground scene to becoming a chart-topping cultural phenomenon.
Jeroen Jansen, Our House general manager, says: “When we came here, about two years ago, the place was very analogue: There was a sound system, strobes, smoke machine and some LEDs – that was about it.
“We wanted to rebuild the club with installations that could tell the story of over 40 years of dance music by using mixed technology. In order to revamp the venue and bring it to a completely new level, we received a lot of support from within the industry, including Powersoft.”
The renovation had to account for its evening use as Club Air, a popular nightclub in the evening, whilst converting the space into a museum during the daytime. The amps and Mover work in conjunction throughout the day, whereas at night, lower frequencies accentuate the music and the bassline on the dancefloor.
Complementing the crescendo
Powersoft’s engineers were consulted to evaluate the Mover quantity required to support the desired dancefloor structure, with the double-layered flooring having to support up to 100 people and 12 tonnes of weight.
The company’s compact linear transducer 64 Mover, powered by four Quattrocanli 4804 DSP+D amplifiers was the chosen solution, ideal for use with the double-layered dance floor.
“We came up with the idea of actively involving all technical elements that are associated with electronic music, like light, video, laser and special effects. We wanted movement from underneath people’s feet to form a completely immersive experience, created by a timecode content system,” states Jansen, who refers to the specifically designed content as “the connector of all the dots”, bringing all the tech together at musical pinpoints, like when the beat drops or the musical crescendo.”
Joshua Dutrieux of JDX Music was the creative designer of the audio system. Approached by Jansen and his entertainment firm Fourmation, he was briefed to create a unique experience for the dance museum: “I know Jansen from back in the days when we organised dance music events together,” he says. “I come from a background of house music and hardcore, so I was very keen to be a part of this project!”
Dutrieux explored the capabilities of low-end frequencies at home: “I wanted to pinpoint frequencies to get the floor rumbling. I had all these audio samples and started tweaking the volumes up and down. Eventually, the rumble made my jaw shake, and I thought, ‘Okay, let’s do this full scale on a dance floor.’”
In recent years, Mover has been utilised for a range of applications varying in scale from gaming chairs to complex immersive experiences. It is used as a sub-harmonic frequency extension to replace subwoofer requirements and therefore reduces unnecessary low-frequency noise pollution.
Business development manager for Powersoft, Mark Kocks adds: “Because of the massive force we can put on a Mover, it actually replaces four of the conventional products that have been used in the past, meaning that the product is very efficient. The sensations created are unprecedented – all the visitors I have seen here at Our House were walking away having experienced something new.”
Powersoft will be at InfoComm 2022 between 8-10 June at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the firm will be showcasing a range of products including Mover.
