‘When Dolby introduced Dolby Atmos to the club world, it was looking for a flagship venue to showcase it,’ says Ministry of Sound Production Manager, Chris Thoms. ‘We were approached both as a business and a music company – but more importantly we already had a six-point system set up, and The Box is an acoustically treated space, so it was a perfect fit.

Ministry of Sound (MoS) runs Martin Audio sound systems exclusively throughout its London venue, and extended its long partnership with the British manufacturer by installing 16 of the company’s new CDD15 (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) installation speakers in the ceiling of its premier dance room, The Box. The additional channels enable the nightclub to use Dolby Atmos to move anywhere around a room, even overhead. The additional speakers are driven by two Powersoft 12K4 power amplifiers.

‘We told Dolby we wanted to maintain consistency with Martin Audio, so I contacted [Martin Audio R&D Director] Jason Baird. We discussed various options and he recommended the CDD15 because of its coverage and power output – and the fact that it could compete with the SPL level of our existing stacks and give us enough punch.’

Thoms explains the sound panning principle: ‘With our current dance stack configuration you have always been able to get an LR stereo pan wherever you are standing in the club. With Dolby Atmos, content is free from channel restrictions, allowing artists to pan individual audio objects anywhere across a room, including overhead, while maintaining the original stereo bed.’

The installation proved challenging due to an already congested ceiling. ‘It’s very tight because we have all the H&V and lot of fixtures up there. In that respect the mounting options on the CDD were useful – half the speakers are on yokes and a few are on steel suspensions. They are set at a uniform distance of 2.3m apart in a grid because they have to be close together to provide the best coverage for spatial elements.’

A series of Dolby Atmos enabled events began with Hospital Records using 22 loudspeaker channels.  Incorporating synchronised lighting cues, generated from music mixed in Dolby Atmos, Ministry of Sound will immerse visitors in unprecedented soundscapes delivered through the new CDD speakers and the existing ring of six bespoke Martin Audio ground stacks, positioned around the dance floor.

Artists from the label have been working with Dolby to master their music in Dolby Atmos: ‘We are delighted to have the new Martin Audio speakers installed,’ states Thoms. ‘They have become perfectly integrated into the existing sound system infrastructure to support a Dolby Atmos performance.’

‘The sound system in The Box is the best in any nightclub anywhere in the world,’ claims Ministry of Sound CEO, Lohan Presencer. ‘But we wanted to raise the bar even higher. Dolby Atmos allows our patrons to experience the future of dance music, creating multidimensional soundscapes the likes of which have never been heard before in a nightclub environment.’