Club Mission is a mischievous retreat tucked away in the corner of one of the UK’s clubbing capitals, Leeds. Mirroring rave cultures of the past, Club Mission hones in on the bare bricked boozers of the 90s and has a tight weekly schedule that sees a host of iconic DJs take the club by storm, performing to sweating crowds of students and clubbers alike.
The brand new audiovisual systems that have been installed inside have taken the club’s production to the next level, blending the kaleidoscopic minds of dancefloor fillers with the nostalgic strobing and pounding audio of archaic DIY parties.
Pete Rollinson, Director at Audioserv has worked with the team at Club Mission for over 10 years and has watched the space reinvent itself from a 1989 ravers’ residency to a well-established club. Aware of the recent succession of club closures across the UK, Director at Club Mission, Shaun Wilson, wanted to take the venue to the next level and push clubbing into a new age.
To reinvent the venue that he was already familiar with, Pete and the team at Audioserv installed a new Funktion-One Evo-7 sound system in the main dance room, which is the first system of its kind to be installed in a club in Leeds, a unique and wise addition to the Club Mission family.
In the main room of Club Mission, two loudspeaker stacks sit either side of the DJ booth, each consisting of two Evo 7EH loudspeakers, deployed for mid to high elements and two F215MK2 loudspeakers, which take care of the mid frequencies. Below the two F215MK2 bass enclosures, sit two of Funktion-One’s F124 subwoofers that create a bass sound that bewilders even the more experienced partier.
After the revamp of Club Mission, the third dance room was equipped with the original KV2 system that was previously installed inside the main room. A system that includes ES1.0 loudspeakers that are still a current and totally unchanged product, Pete moved it over, allowing it to reinvent its potential and fill a room that was more suitable for its power.
The second room, known as the tunnel, includes two Funktion-One Res 4S loudspeakers flown L-R, four Funktion-One F218’s and one KV2 EX12 active DJ monitor to create and enhance the atmosphere and scope of the nights possible in Club Mission. Pete worked with existing secondhand loudspeakers, refitting them with new Funktion-One drivers to supply yet another incredible space with the sound it deserved.
Each of the rooms in Club Mission are powered by Linea Research 44C Series amplifiers with built in DSP. Optimised for use in installation, these amplifiers combine massive power and peerless audio performance, making it an excellent match for the immersive, crowded dance caves inside Club Mission.
The club is located underneath a 12-track railway arch that, at first thought, could create a problem for any installer. However, before the re-fit started, the outer walls of the venue were rebuilt to make sure any sound leakage or disruption was not possible.
Pete explained: “For me, the main challenge was trying to run cables between arches because you can’t get between the arches. It’s not just a thick wall that you can put a drill through. Plus, it belongs to Network Rail so we couldn’t trash the structure and I don’t think anyone wants it to collapse. In the end, we ended up groundstacking the system, mainly because it was what Shaun wanted, but also it may have created problems with the structure if the system was flown.”
As well as the new Funktion-One sound system, Shaun and the team at Club Mission were looking to further expand and energise the enigmatic atmosphere of the space. Aware of the impact a new lighting and visual system can have on a modern-day clubbing compound, and taking inspiration from the many Ibiza superclubs, Shaun invested in the help of Terry Lewsey, Managing Director at Light Design (LDL), to help make his Amnesia-esque vision a reality.
Completely juxtaposing the stripped back, warehouse aesthetic of the space, Terry and Shaun wanted to achieve a production that was fit for a live touring stage, with a number of elements all contributing to an incredibly immersive environment. “Shaun wanted the peak moment, when it’s really going off inside the club, to be very much production led, and for the audience to feel as though they’ve been transported to another universe and totally immersed in a 3D environment, through everything from the lighting and video to the sound. It really does create a totally unique, raw environment that clubs with soft furnishings and a more pampered look could never achieve,” said Terry.
Inside the club’s main room, there are eight CHAUVET R2 beams and four CHAUVET R1 beams all controlled by Avolites Titan software. These sit alongside eight Elation ACL 360 Bar LED moving head blades. However, the most visually striking part comes from the 324 LT-100 one-metre 3D tubes that wash over the heads of elated ravers.
As well as the lighting, Terry also installed an array of complex visuals in the main room using a VIDLED P9 LED screen. This allowed Shaun to achieve his paradisiacal, Ibiza party right in the middle of Leeds by transporting Club Mission to its next and arguably best level.
All of the lighting and visual elements in the main room are controlled by a MADRIX software package and Terry brought in Max Middleton, a dedicated MADRIX programmer to oversee the integration of the new and old system.
Across the other two rooms in the club, Terry installed six more CHAUVET R2 beams and four more CHAUVET R1 beams, as well as 99 Showtec LED 8Bar battens that are again controlled by Avolites Titan software.
The lighting and visual elements of Club Mission did not come without challenges, especially when it came to the installation of the 324 tubes that hang over the crowd. “As Club Mission has a low ceiling, our main issue was how to avoid people jumping up and pulling the tubes out. Then, it was mainly about integrating the new and old system together. Obviously there were some issues but the team we had; myself, Max, and installers Stuart Paton and Alexander Burke, was the best for the job. We had the right skillset to rectify and solve any issues that we faced,” concluded Terry.
