Pop Golf, a new social experience combining golf with pop music in a brightly colored environment that just opened at BOXPARK Wembley in London, offers nine themed golf holes and venue-wide audio in a design by Middlesex Sound & Light that utilizes Martin Audio CDD loudspeakers and SX112 subwoofers.
From Drake’s “Hotline Bling” to retro 80’s boomboxes and suspended cassette tapes, each hole is unique and has been designed to offer the experience of stepping straight into a music video, with MSL also applying some unusual twists and immersive customer interaction. The company was introduced to the project by designer Zachary Pulman (Zachary Pulman Design Studio) with whom they worked previously on the similarly profiled Swingers, and director/project manager Darrel Olivier was soon on-site discussing requirements for the multi-zone site with owner Allan Saud of operators Mighty Adventures.
The brief was to provide audio technology that would do justice to the eclectic playlist, profiled by creative director, Kevin Mura (of Smith & Devil). The playlists were curated by Tin Drum, featuring different genres each night, while Open Ear delivered the platform for the music playout.
“The process began in September last year but became drawn out because of COVID,” Olivier explains. “However, it was a joy to work with because the client had put together a complete 30-page AV presentation pack; they knew exactly what they wanted. There was a strong emphasis on powerful sound with some quirks. For example, in the Sound Lounge experience they have used Ableton Live software run off a 32Gb iPad Pro to enable clients to interact and manipulate the sound.”
Any sound source can be sent to any zone with local volume and source select by BSS remote control panels, with Olivier adding, “The place is like a tin can with high ceilings and hard surfaces so we specified a large quantity of speakers which could be underrun to mitigate the reflections. We ‘ve used the CDD6 many times; aesthetically it is a nice box which works particularly well with the SX112.”
The operation exists on ground floor and mezzanine levels. In total MSL has deployed 22 CDD6 compact 2-way loudspeakers, with in the Ground Floor bar, a pair of CDD6 are complemented by a SX112 subwoofer concealed under the stairs. Each of the nine cgolf holes is served by its own CDD6 and color-coded with its own individual RAL color, with the Martin Audio enclosures sprayed to match.
One twist is on hole 3 where a giant set of headphones has been equipped with a pair of Martin Audio ADORN A55. “As clients walk through it, they trigger different sound effects,” Olivier notes. Up on the Mezzanine, each of the two zones is identically equipped with CDD6 in each of the four corners and an SX112 handling the low-frequency extension.
Finally, MSL has provided a full AV infrastructure, with the many media displays used exclusively for digital signage and promo, controlled by Tripleplay. Saud concludes, “The Martin Audio sound system, recommended and installed by the MSL team, has ensured we are able to deliver the unique music experience that we want for our clients. It is both powerful and versatile, making its mark in both the interactive features as well as over the nine golf holes, where the speakers blend in seamlessly.”
