IBIZA, Spain — For a seasonal send-off dubbed the Space Closing Fiesta, the Space Ibiza nightclub welcomed more than 30 DJs and thousands of guests on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014, who bid farewell to the iconic venue for another year. The musical beat was once again heard via a Funktion-One sound system.
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It was a fitting end to a very successful season, which saw Funktion-One complete its takeover of the venue, and helped it celebrate its 25th birthday with an additional outdoor stage at three special events — the Opening Fiesta, Closing Fiesta and 25th Anniversary Party.
At the beginning of the summer, while preparing the venue for the Space Opening Fiesta in May, Funktion-One, the Space technical team and Project Audio Ibiza made the annual upgrades and adjustments to its sound systems. This included a completely new speaker system for Sunset Terrace, meaning all six rooms of Pepe Roselló’s globally revered venue in Playa d’en Bossa are now installed with Funktion-One sound.
The loudspeaker manufacturer’s relationship with Space began in 2002, when, at the recommendation of We Love…’s Darren Hughes, the collaboration began with the installation of a Funktion-One sound system in the Terrace. Within a few years, five of the six rooms had followed suit.
The latest additions and upgrades started life in February this year, when Funktion-One founder, Tony Andrews, travelled to the White Isle and met with Space’s technical team. The venue’s objectives centred on replacing the Sunset Terrace system and reducing spill from El Salon and Premier Etage. While these became Andrews’ priorities, he also had some new technology that he was eager to apply – in the ultimate testing ground. Subsequently, the most celebrated clubbing environment in the world has been further bolstered with audio improvements throughout.
“We’ve been working with Space for the last 12 years and I’ve been going out for the opening for the last four — generally overseeing things,” says Andrews. “Every year we go out there, we always manage to make improvements. We have a very good relationship with Pepe. We share an ethos, which is we want the crowd to have the best time possible. That’s actually what got him on to Funktion-One. When he heard it for the first time, he knew straightaway that he wanted that sound in his club. He’s tried lots of other things but he settled on us – that was a long time ago and the relationship has gone from strength to strength.”
The work has seen the previous Sunset Terrace system superseded by a new Funktion-One set-up, comprising two DS210 loudspeakers, two horn-loaded F215 bass enclosures and two BR221 bass reflex units, with peripheral areas covered by five Resolution 1.5 wide-dispersion loudspeakers.
New configurations for El Salon and Premier Etage have been designed using Funktion-One F101 compact speakers, arranged in grids, together with BR Range bass enclosures. The F101s create multiple stereo zones that offer evenly distributed sound across the spaces. This answers the need for a reduction in overall sound levels, while also producing a more immersive aural environment.
Elsewhere, Andrews has applied recent technological advancements to the existing loudspeaker systems. In the Main Discoteca, the Resolution 3 SHs have been upgraded, which raises the overall performance level. The same technique has been applied to the Resolution 2s on the Covered Terrace.
For Andrews, the opportunities presented by such a healthy manufacturer-client relationship means that both parties benefit. “For me, having all these different rooms and different challenges and being personally involved has allowed me to experiment. I’m trusted. I do what I think is necessary and every time I do what I want, it works, so these days it’s not even a question. Through it, I’ve learned quite a lot, which I’ve applied to other projects.
“It’s somewhere we can try out new things, and we do, and Space gets some of the newest ideas first. In that respect and for many other reasons, it is a very important venue for us.”
Gonzalo Menendez from Space’s technical team comments: “Since the beginning, the sound at Space was and is one of the most important aspects for the club. This implies an endless search for perfection. For the club’s special year we started working in conjunction with Tony Andrews of Funktion-One to make numerous changes to the club’s sound system, such as a new concept for the Sunset Terrace and the Outdoor Area.
“The changes resulted in very good clear sound distribution in the various dance floors without any loss of power, including in the external terraces where we need to precisely control the sound pressure very carefully to avoid sound pollution outside the club. The new sound design allows for the perfect level of music inside the club and the external terraces, with less than 65dB of pollution outside during the hours we have to avoid sound contamination.
“It’s an excellent experience working with Tony and his team every year to design and setup our sound systems. Tony knows our needs and he is very good at hearing and solving intricate problems, even if that entails finding a new product to reach perfect sound quality.”
