Using this as an excuse to try out the new HP laptop! Sitting in the living room, listening to DJ Sketchbag's December mix that he just posted (chk it: [[ LINK REMOVED ]]
-- sounds pretty good too!)

I ended up taking a couple friends to CiRCA on a rest weekend (after hitting MOD club the night before--DJ VIBE??!!! W00T W00T!!!!). Rest weekend. What's a rest weekend these days--I used to take two weekends off to rest up! Man, turning 30, my stamina is better than ever.

ok, back to the point at hand... the secret to CiRCA's sound.

I headed to CiRCA last Saturday with Mr. Fisher and some friends (their first time to CiRCA). The usual crazy line up at the door... again, entering through John St. I'll have to find out if the back indoor-queue line is going to be used again--seems like they used it for the first two weekends, then the fire-marshall called foul, and they haven't been able to use it since. Too bad--that rear entrance was AWESOME.

Getting into CiRCA and heading right up to the Skyy Vodka Cinema lounge to greet DJ Neno & Addy, I totally and randomly scored a STAFF PASS! An evil look crossed my face. My eyes glowed, and i bared my fangs, exposing gnarled and diseased gums. (ok, not really, but i'm trying to paint a picture of being completely possessed by infinite alchemy power!!!!!)


ha-ha!! The stolen staff pass!!!!! (I'm so gonna get nailed for this later...don't get mad at me, CiRCA security!!)

With staff pass in hand, I departed from my friends and headed out to see what damage I could do. Most people would use such power to head immediately to sacred, off-territory VIP areas, laden with sultry women and powerful men waiting to grant any opportunity to those who came along in happenstance. However, Not I, Jedi. What does Ni-Cd do with his secretly acquired staff-pass? He heads right to the DJ booth on the main floor to check out the technology & speaker setup. *cough* sound-obsessed geek *cough* I pass by the bouncer to the main DJ deck, now located right above the dance floor (AWESOME!), and walk up to the booth.

Craig Pettigrew is at the decks, winding up a nice vocal house track to its climax--i bounce around like a kid in a candy store and ten bucks to blow. As the track reaches its climax I see Craig reach over with his left hand and spin a circle on this red touch pad...little squares appeared and faded away following his touch, all ascending in a grand crescendo until sound exploded with the climax and the crowd exploded. Thrilled over what just happened, I waved at Craig between mixes and asked him what the heck that thing was... "It's a Kaoss pad!" he yelled over the beats to me with a smile. Later, I hit up DJ Addy via email and asked him for more details on this slik piece of equipment. Check this thing out... the KORGG KAOS PAD





Ok, so we have DJs spinning using CDJs, soon to be DVDJs, Multiple laptops with unprecedented storage capabilities & abilities via software (MAC with Ableton Live 7.0 for playback) and cool digital FX equipment like the KORGG KAOS pad. Couple all of that with the best sound I've heard in a club that size in t.dot, and wow--this place is an audio-phile techno-phile's dream!

Looking around, i figured one of the main secrets to CiRCA's sound was that there were speakers EVERYWHERE. But in discussions with Johnny Action, referring back to our EXTENSIVE audio background (heh), we realized that simply having speakers everywhere doesn't make a place sound good. Echo, vibrations, tone dampeners, on and on--are all things that plague a big club. Cozo's sound is quite good..but apparently the sound system is shoe-string. The saving grace? low ceilings and a well enclosed club. Sound bounces around nicely. In a big open mall-food-court-like club like CiRCA, no such grace is afforded. So how is the sound so good?

1. Intelligently placed speakers. They haven't simply stuck speakers "everywhere"...they've found where to strategically place speakers so sound fills the areas nicely.

2. High-end speakers. Check out the sound in the bathroom bar. It sounds GREAT. Then look around for the speakers--be shocked when you discover the little ceiling-mounted speakers belting out that nice crisp sound. 'heard but not seen'. Great job. Tiles seem to only help the acoustics. You gotta figure that if the club has spent that much moola and time (two years in construction, fighting with the city for a liquor license, etc etc), they're not gonna skimp out on the sound system. See all the amps under the DJ booth on the main floor? The heat pouring off of those babies. Whoa. Almost as hot as the chicks dancing in front of them. w00t!

3. Main room sound absorption. If you have a look at the main room, there's lots of materials and surfaces covered in porous and/or sound repellant materials. This ensures sound doesn't echo too much and the sound stays crisp and clear in the main room. The ceilings are coated with a sound-preserving material to sound proof the club and allow the sound to remain un-echoed (is that a word?) and so on.

I'm hoping to find out more behind the actual sound-engineering and thus, the real core to 'the secret of circa's sound'...but for now, you'll have to take my uneducated and starry-eyed observations.

btw, NO i don't work for CiRCA nor do i promote for them, etc etc. As with any other club that has a piece of my heart (a la Footwork! or zone (heart attack?)), I just have to spread the joy of my experiences (like anyone cares)

Another two cents, from Ni-Cd! See you out there peeps!

-=Ni-Cd=-

quote:

Originally posted by Ni-Cd ha-ha!! The stolen staff pass!!!!! (I'm so gonna get nailed for this later...don't get mad at me, CiRCA security!!)

I love how you post the evidence Sheldon...lol

___________________

If you can give me dimensions of the walls & what they're made of, I can calculate the reverb times in the club.

I haven't been there yet, but I doubt they spent the time or money top bring in an acoustician to tune the place perfectly... but they did consult somebody.

I'm glad to hear they did a better job than the previous management of that venue, whom did not touch the acoustics of the space... which is a concrete/tin can.

___________________

'-.SgtFoo.-'
My SoundCloud

quote:

Originally posted by SgtFoo If you can give me dimensions of the walls & what they're made of, I can calculate the reverb times in the club.

LoL, coooL man. Thanks for offering, but I'm good. awesome to see that there's a science behind the madness!!

CiRCA definitely had someone chk the sound out. Everyone that has been around the place has commented on the sound, and how well it is handled. It just sounds....good! Not FANTASTIC like SONIC or STEREO, and not ear bleeding like a top 40 club...but good/great, on the level with Footwork or This Is London. Very tastefully handled and caters to the music lovers. *happy sigh*

quote:

Originally posted by magikb I love how you post the evidence Sheldon...lol

HAHAHA +1

quote:

Originally posted by TheVrk HAHAHA +1

Ni-Cd & SgtFoo, what do you guys do? I'm an audio nerd myself...

Foo, I noticed your 'Protools Pro', what platform are you running?

___________________
If you can't be good, be careful.

"Hey look, I can make a heart-shape with my hands!!!" So Fucking what? Stop it. You're a douche.

When life gives you lemons, squirt the juice in the eyes of your enemies.

quote:

Originally posted by magikb I love how you post the evidence Sheldon...lol

Yah baby! Otherwise peeps might think I'm posin'. (is that right lingo? hahaha). For real though, what fun it was masquerading!

Dr. Das - sorry if i misrepresented, i have no audio-tech experience...i just know when i have to wear my ear plugs, and when I don't, know what i mean?

quote:

Originally posted by Ni-Cd

That sound liek an awesome advanture

___________________
Join my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LetThemHaveCake

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. DAS Ni-Cd & SgtFoo, what do you guys do? I'm an audio nerd myself... Foo, I noticed your 'Protools Pro', what platform are you running?

Unfortunately, Since version 7, I haven't been able to run Pro-Tools on my PC, but I've got an MBox.. and once I upgrade I'll be back on track (pun intended)

I kinda round out into the vast field of audio engineering and such.

___________________

'-.SgtFoo.-'
My SoundCloud

This is a great review of the sound. Would love to hear your opinions on Sound Academy, Guvernment and maybe even Stereo, Montreal!

I'm all into this shit. I can't help being at a club and thinking about acoustics, reflection/absorbtion, constructive/destructive interference, geometery, etc when I'm at a club . I like the beats and the peeps, but the science occurs to me every so often. Thanks for the detailed review. before all I had to go on was my friends telling me there's tacky, freaky, cracked out displays and stuff all around the place, which is why I haven't been yet. but I'm now very much looking forward to my first trip to circa!

___________________
:: Don't Die. Dying is Bad. ::

tl/fwi

___________________
It's not rape if she can't say no!