Located in Charlotte’s Music Factory entertainment district, Butter NC is an 8,300 square-foot space with lush design concepts and a sound system that envelopes up to 400 guests with electronica, hip-hop and top 40 music.
Local design and install firm Eye Dialogue chose Turbosound TCS speakers to provide the distinctly different vibes on Butter’s two levels, each with its own DJ.
Mention the name “Butter” as a night club and most people think New York, where that nightspot revolutionized the evening out by combining a high-end restaurant with an exquisite nightclub experience on the same premises.
With his North Carolina roots and a passion for entrepreneurship, Butter co-owner Scott Sartiano decided to bring his distinctive nightclub concept back home.
“I wanted something intimate and classy, yet not overdone. It has a touch of New York, South Beach and Vegas all rolled into one,” he said.
“It’s a total visual experience; they pulled out all the stops in designing this space,” says Entertainment Technology Designer Jack Kelly of Eye Dialogue Lighting & Sound in Charlotte, who designed and installed the club’s audio systems.
“But the big thing for the owners was the sound. They wanted it to feel like the sound was all around you instead of originating from one end of the room. That presented a lot of interesting problems.”
To address this “directionless” directive within a fairly limited budget and specific limitations on the number and locations of loudspeakers, Kelly settled on a combination of Turbosound TCS Series speakers to meet the club’s goals.
“Replication of audio in a club setting isn’t like a concert or trying to reproduce a CD. People expect to hear a lot of sub,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s got to be clean and distortion-free at any volume.”
“It’s a challenge. I was looking at several different manufacturers, but when I heard a demo of these speakers, especially the subs, I really liked what I heard – big sound, tons of headroom, and super clean. And they’re really not as expensive as their reputation. They just sound that way!”
Butter is divided into two seperate areas, each with a separate DJ and sound system.
The main dance club is on the bottom floor, while the upper level houses a lounge with VIP area. Clubgoers enter on the second floor, which features curving walls and 16-foot ceilings.
“It’s a difficult space. The curves help and they softened it up with fabric treatments to make it less reverberant, but the building is an old warehouse with cement floors, so there are a lot of reflective surfaces.
Basically, we have one speaker up in each corner of the lounge, aimed down and in. The subs are on the ground, inset in the walls,” said Kelly.
The four main speakers are Turbosound TCS122s, which radiate in a 60×40-degree pattern.
The two TCS-B218 subwoofers feature dual 18-inch drivers that can reproduce frequencies down to 25 Hz at volumes up to 142 dB.
