In the proverbial “good ol’ days,” there was simply lighting and sound, and it was only found over and around your dance floor.  Well, times have changed.

Not only does the modern club-goer expect to have the LSV experience everywhere he or she ventures in your venue, but they are also jaded by the notion that most of the best technology available is already available in their own living rooms. So now you’re challenge lies not only in showing them a good time, but showing them something they can’t see on their couch.

“When it comes to video and sound especially, the general public knows what hi-definition looks and sounds like because they all have it in their living rooms and bedrooms and even in their cars,” says Karl Kieslich, National System Design Specialist at Sound Stage Systems, of North Haven, Connecticut. “They know cutting-edge. So you can’t be less than that in your club.

“And video used to be an add-on to a club,” Kieslich continues. “It used to be ‘sound and lighting, and then video if they had some money left over.’ But now it’s definitely ‘sound, lighting and video’ and the video is very prominent. From walking into a club and seeing digital signage in the lobbies, displays throughout the club, displays behind mirrors in bathrooms, in the floors of the club—it’s everywhere. It’s become part of the norm now.”

Vincent Conigliaro, President of Salvin Sound, Lighting, and Club Design in Kingston, New York, agrees with Kieslich, acknowledging not only the new omnipresence of LSV, but also the demand for a more tactile experience in clubs, where all five senses should be engaged.

“It’s not just audio and visual anymore,” says Conigliaro. “We are seeing major venues in Vegas using aroma to enhance the ambience, and the creation of a tactile experience —with water or mist—is still a viable tool as well. So that’s four out of five senses being addressed, though I think we can safely leave taste to the bartenders for now.” And these sensory experiences are no longer relegated to the dance floor. The modern club as a whole is designed to entertain the modern patron at every turn. “A lot of the club designs we’re doing now, we find ourselves not just working on the dance floor, but on the bar lighting, the bar tops, the bar front, and sometimes the entire venue space,” says Kieslich. “And it’s all LED now. From the outside of the venue, through the front door, to the whole club, and even the restrooms, we’re seeing LED going everywhere.”

While forward-thinking keeps their respective companies on the forefront of the LSV industry, both Conigliaro and Kieslich stay rooted in the existing technology that allows for club owners to build a better bar today. And when it comes to lighting, LED still rules the roost.

“LED offers low power consumption, so the end-users energy cost is greatly reduced,” says Kieslich. “Theoretically, there is little or no lamp changing, since the average LED gets anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 hours of lamp life. Plus, you have a seemingly endless selection of colors—some 16 million color options."

When it comes to sound, the digital revolution continues. “Sound-wise, the trend remains DSP (digital signal processing),” says Kieslich. “With DSP, you can make just about any speaker sound good.”

Kieslich adds that the key to a great sound system is time alignment, a strategic placement of speakers followed by digital manipulation of each one’s frequency output, which creates the feeling that music in a club is coming from one big source, and not dozens of individual speakers. Such alignment is only possible with DSP technology. “When you walk into a room or a club, and you can almost localize where the speakers are—you can stand there and close your eyes and know that there’s one over there and one over here—that’s the sign of an improperly designed sound system,” says Kieslich. “A lot of people think equalization is the answer, and they take their graphic equalizer and make the smiley face or the disco curve. But the best way to fix it is with DSP.

“And audio is dictated by the square footage of a room. If you have 5,000 square feet, there are formulas you use to get it right. Lighting, on the other hand, is strictly budget-driven. In that same 5,000 square foot room, you scan spend $10,000 or $200,000 on lighting. There is no formula.”

Both experts agree on one thing: One of the most common mistakes owners make, when dealing with both sound and lighting, involves the quality of equipment they choose.

“You can’t design a lighting and sound system through a catalogue,” says Kieslich. “Lighting and sound is not where you want to cut corners. We tell all of our club owner clients: Every bar sells the same vodkas and the same beers, so they’re coming to your venue to experience the atmosphere you’re creating. And that is created by the sound, lighting and video and how it all works with your space.”

Click here to read the full article "How To: Stay Modern with Lighting and Sound" in the May 2010 Digital edition of Bar Business Magazine