With 3,200sq.ft offering a capacity of 480, and a late license inherited from the previous incumbents (Propoganda), this is prime real estate. The late night venue will eventually have cost £1.2 million to develop - a proportion of which has gone on an inspired sound, lighting and vision scheme across the two floors.
As well as offering views of the DJ practicising his craft inside, the exterior design shows off the encased foyer decor of AVR Colourchanger beams refracted from a cluster of tiny mirrorballs, with the campest of light sculptures providing an artistic backdrop. The colour-changing spots from Abstract and Martin Pro, working with the fibre optics, bring Katabatic (a metereological word meaning the downward flow of air) alive at night.
Marquee Installations’ Mark Brown was given a brief to develop two distinct environments - a high-quality midground sound upstairs and the latest London club spec in the basement that could hold its own alongside the best. To accomplish this, he was given all the freedom he needed.
RCF Monitor 5 loudspeakers, fed from a C-Burn Revolution 100 hard disk player, take care of the upstairs, while a pair of compact, flown EAW JF290Zs for the top end, and matching EAW SB330s for the sub-bass, handle the dance sound, augmented by eight RCF PA281 Vision Series for bar area infill. The audio is all driven by QSC amplification and the sound is digitally processed through BSS Audio FDS-366 Omnidrive Compact Plus modules. The DJ mixer is a Cloud CXM modular chassis, the neat flight-case fitted with a Numark dual CD unit. The DJ will monitor his Technics-generated sound through an RCF ART200 powered speaker.
But the new ethos of Marquee Installations is also one of system integration. A key element supplied by the company is a pre-programmed touch screen computer which changes the environment of all the house and effects lighting - and the architectural fibre optic lighting that Marquee has also supplied for use in the recessed areas.
The touch screen computer also handles the dancefloor lighting, which comprises Martin Pro Mini MAC profiles, further CX2 colour changers - and kitsch ropelights and mirrorball. Marquee Installations has integrated a computerised wall menu into the visual display - projected from Powerpoint via a Davis DLS 8 (800 ANSI lumens) projector. Elsewhere, RCF Monitor 4s have been sited in the top stairwell, while in the Mezzanine area, Monitor 5s provide the sound reinforcement.
Despite the competition in the area, Fullers are optimistic about their chances in Shoreditch. They have created a truly independent feel, and sense that the day customers start referring to this place as the Kat, they will know they’ve succeeded.
