Mosaic Nightclub Feature in Mondo Magazine
Photos by Patrick Binder
A staple of the Kansas City clubbing scene, Mosaic receives a long-awaited technological upgrade to bring it up-to-date and stand out among nightclubs in the American Midwest.
Situated on the second floor of Kansas City Live! within the Power & Light District, Mosaic recently re-opened having undergone an extension and a complete interior renovation. The new club now boasts a sound system featuring 1 SOUND loudspeakers and Powersoft amplification, atmospheric LED lighting with a wide selection of CHAUVET Professional theatrical lighting units, and a hi-res LED wall supplied and installed by The LED Studio.
Taking charge of the project from the production perspective was Jason Bradley, Director of Production at Kansas City Live!. “We gave the club a full remodel, even changing the routing in and out of the room, and we leaned heavily into the production to make it into something that you wouldn’t normally see in the Midwest,” said Bradley.
The Kansas City Power & Light District is a dining, shopping and entertainment district in Downtown Kansas City developed by The Cordish Companies, and opened in 2008. During the early years of The Cordish Companies’ development of entertainment districts and facilities in Baltimore and further afield, they met Peter Bonavota, owner of Definitive Pro Sound in New Jersey. As a long-time connection, Bonavota was approached to specify the new sound system for Mosaic, and he had no hesitation in choosing 1 SOUND. “I immediately looked to 1 SOUND because of the compact design, incredible output, aesthetics and that amazing clarity, with the punch right where it needs to be for electronic music,” said Bonavota.
“The design and technology of all the 1 SOUND speakers is impressive, and the shape and size of the room called for a point source box – and the pattern control, coverage and range of the 1 SOUND Contour CT212 rival and line array in a single box. Not only that, the look of these speakers also blows away line arrays.”
“I REALLY WANTED TO
DO SOMETHING THAT I
PERSONALLY HADN’T SEEN
IN A CLUB.”
The system is centred around two Contour CT212 loudspeakers paired with SUB2112 subwoofers to form a 5-way system that is both articulate and clean, and impressive at high volumes. Two CT212s are flown as the main left and right loudspeakers using CT212 Fly Bars, with two SUB2112 subwoofers mounted in the ceiling to deliver deep, room-filling bass across the dance floor.
For monitoring in the DJ booth, two Contour CT28 loudspeakers are paired with two SUB215 subwoofers and installed using 1 SOUND accessories for clean, integrated mounting, while supplemental fill coverage for the crowd – particularly in areas exposed to the club’s open-air layout – comes from eight marine-grade Cannon C8m loudspeakers installed using C-Clamps and L-Brackets for flexible aiming.
Two Powersoft Unica 12K drive the flown CT212 loudspeakers and Sub2212 subwoofers, while a single Powersoft Unica 9k drives the monitors. Two Powersoft Quattrocanali with DSP + Dante power the Cannon C8m loudspeakers. For Bonavota, what made the project so enjoyable was the collaborations – both with Bradley and 1 SOUND’s founder Lou Mannarino, with the loudspeaker manufacturer’s HQ also located in New Jersey.
“I’m fully hands on with the project from the design, drawings, DSP, network and video programming to supervising onsite installation and commissioning,” said Bonavota. “Jason’s team is great to work with, and we’ve worked together on projects since 2016, and Lou and his team at 1 SOUND are exceptional to work with. I often demo speakers in his shop, which is about 40 minutes from my shop, and they will do whatever they can to help us out in any way that they can.”
When it came to tuning the system, Bonavota was delighted to work with Lou on site. “The proprietary tunings for the Powersoft amps are a very good starting point, and final commissioning with 1 SOUND Auralis software with Lou really brought it all together,” he said. “Having the designer of these products onsite with you at the final stage is a real advantage, and great selling point.”
While Bradley had no prior experience of 1 SOUND, he was thrilled by the outcome. “I was a little sceptical at first, but after I was introduced to the product, and to Lou, I was super impressed with it. I like the boutique style of the loudspeakers and the attention to detail, and having taken Peter’s word for it on the sound quality, I was blown away when it was first installed in the room, smiling from ear to ear.”
“For the relatively few loudspeakers and subs that we have in the room, it sounds so clean at high volume. It’s a great system for the space and I’m hoping to work with Lou more on future projects, because he’s great to work with and I’m super happy with the results here.”
To elevate the visual experience at Mosaic, Bradley allocated more of his available budget into the production technology, to bring the venue in line with establishments found in renowned clubbing destinations like Las Vegas and Ibiza. “I have past experience of working in concert and festival production, and I took the lead on the overall design of this space, and then collaborated with some really great people to make it work from a technical level,” said Bradley.
Taking inspiration from LED halos found in stadia and arenas, using Vectorworks Bradley designed the centrepiece octagonally shaped structure in the ceiling, and inside the shape placed nine circular kinetic rings, each with a moving head inside. The octagonal shape was hand built, with groves routed in the base specifically for LED tape to be mounted flush to it.
For all the venue’s LED lighting elements, Bradley enlisted Denverbased company Electronic Sales and Production (ESP), with Jason Goetz leading the project. “I had never designed anything with kinetic lighting before,” said Bradley. “I really wanted to do something that I personally hadn’t seen in a club.”
In addition, ESP installed the kinetic rings, which have three winches and can be moved in different ways, and extra LED tape was wrapped around the bottle rack behind the bar, to tie in with the main features above the dance floor. Inside each of the kinetic rings is a CHAUVET Professional Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWash, and on the exterior of the octagon shape are 12 CHAUVET Professional Maverick Force S Profiles.
Meanwhile, behind the DJ booth is a symmetrical design of CHAUVET Professional fixtures, including Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWash, Color STRIKE M, and COLOrado PXL Curve 12. “These fixtures are all independently controlled and can move in a variety of patterns, and I feel like the PXL Curve 12 is the star of the wall, among all that great eye-candy,” said Bradley, who was assisted in the design by David Hauss of Hauss Collective.
“David is production designer for the Lost Lands festival, and his expertise lies in making multiple different technologies work together, because I’m not a lighting programmer, by trade,” continued Bradley. “He was the glue who brought it all together. I sent my design off to him, and he took the scope of the ideas and figured out how to make everything controllable from the venue’s MA Lighting GrandMA3. It was also David who recommended ESP to us for the LED and kinetic elements – that was his connection – and he introduced us.”
“There are 64 universes of the neon LED running through Madrix software, and with Madrix also running the video content, it intuitively maps it, and we can run programmes through the neon and LED rings, and it runs smoothly to create some really impressive looks.”
Commenting on the choice of CHAUVET fixtures, Bradley stated: “We use CHAUVET Professional fixtures across our properties, and I was an early adopter of them. They’ve made big strides in terms of product development and functionality, and it comes at a really great price point.”
At the outset of the project, Bradley had the vision of panelling the entire wall behind the DJ booth with high definition LED, but quickly reigned it back to allow for extra lighting fixtures. “Once I scaled the LED wall design back it opened the path for the lighting effects to be placed symmetrically either side, so it was the correct move for the benefit of the club,” said Bradley. The screen behind the booth was supplied by The LED Studio, another long-time collaborator with The Cordish Companies. “The installation was excellent and the team was super accommodating,” said Bradley.
Zach Molin, Director of Project Delivery at The LED Studio, outlined the project: “Having supplied LED products to venues owned by The Cordish Companies for a number of years we know to keep it consistent with the type of product that we use across their venues,” he said. “That way their regional technicians and head of technicians are familiar with what they are working with, and this also means that certain components can be shared with venues, if necessary, and it often makes servicing easier.
“For Mosaic, we used the EDGE Pro 43” 1.5mm pixel pitch with a GOB (glue on board) finish. This was important, because it is a nightclub environment and drinks may get spilled on it. The added protection helps it stand up against any kind of physical wear and tear, as it is situated right behind the DJ booth in a high traffic area. “The screen installed at Mosaic was built to order because the screen was to be hung from an I-beam, rather than wall mounted. With our factory capabilities we were able to produce custom bracketry and metal work, and so we were able to create a custom hanging mount, all done in house.”
After months of hard work, the finished club is one of the finest in the city, and the final word on the venue’s overhaul belongs to Bradley: “These projects are often crazy to work through because there are so many different trades working together – and often on top of each other – but what sets it apart is that they’re all willing to go that extra mile and get the job done.”
