Published in January - February 2022 Issue

Integrated System Design Crafts a Savvy Aural Experience

HARMAN Professional Solutions & ISD install a comprehensive Aural setup at Pass Code Hospitality newly opened restaurants

When Pass Code Hospitality opened three new bustling restaurants in Lower Parel, Mumbai, they reached out to HARMAN Professional Solutions and Integrated System Design to deploy a comprehensive Aural setup that enhanced each restaurant's theme well. Integrated System Design Crafts a Savvy Aural Experience HARMAN Professional Solutions & ISD install a comprehensive Aural setup at Pass Code Hospitality newly opened restaurants

Integrated System Design

In the post-Covid world, the preservation and resurrection of the lively restaurants and hospitality industry have been a welcome breather for all in India. This exciting but guarded phenomenon is demonstrated with the conceptualization and emergence of three new dining spaces in Mumbai that, apart from delivering a bespoke culinary experience, also promise a unique, breath-taking aural experience, all under the same roof.

Kamala Mills area in Lower Parel Mumbai has been synonymous with good food, a fun crowd, and the promise of a good time overall. The place recently got more vibrant and livelier with the launch of three new, bustling destinations; PCO—a speakeasy- themed lounge-bar, Saz Cafe - an American brasserie, and Ping's Cafe Orient - an Asian restaurant, all of which cater to their distinct clientele but are in the same vicinity. The three venues are a part of Pass Code Hospitality, run by the brother-sister duo of Rakshay and Radhika Dhariwal, who aspire and encourage discovery among connoisseurs. This novel aim goes beyond the run-of-the-mill dining experience. Pass Code Hospitality's decade-long engagement with the food industry has led them to unveil nine other restaurants across India.

Radhika shared with the media source Vogue shortly before the launch of these new spaces,

We know these brands like the back of our hand, so opening three was not any less or more difficult than launching one at a time. As long as the fundamentals are in place, we are good to go. Besides we did this before when Ping and Jamun launched together in Goa in 2020. It’s a format we like.

Rakshay, on the other hand, said that they initially had Bengaluru and Hyderabad in mind for these spaces before later settling in Mumbai. He added,

Each of these three spaces is a part of the same property incorporated with a unique design and atmosphere. This place goes beyond usual gastronomic expectations because they offer, apart from a unique dining experience, an engaging aural experience that you can immerse yourself in as you relish the offerings of their specialty chefs.

These spaces are carefully crafted, bespoke pro audio system architecture from HARMAN Professional Solutions. The individual systems feature a thoughtful blend of products from the HARMAN Professional portfolio, which includes Loudspeakers from JBL, Amplification from Crown, and System Control from BSS, that was designed and commissioned by Mumbai-based system integration leaders – Integrated System Design.

Malay Jhaverri, Director of Sales, Integrated System Design, unveiled their approach towards the designing and commissioning for all three spaces. He focused on Pass Code Hospitality’s vision for the spaces to emanate a soothing aura and energy created by superlative music ambience.

He says, “The focus was on the music being enjoyable and yet unintrusive – both visually and aurally. This would, thereby, enable connoisseurs to soak in the ambience while relishing the array of interesting cocktails and food, even while being able to engage in conversation with fellow connoisseurs.” He also added that, given the proximity of all three venues, they needed to devise and design customized systems that would appeal to the target audience and the resultant focus of each of these spaces.

For instance, one of the venues wished to appeal to buoyant music, while the others preferred a quieter ambient soundscape. Furthermore, we invested time and effort in commissioning a detailed analysis of each space to figure out the right speaker system, along with accurate speaker placement points and precise system tuning measures. This exercise was critical for us to ensure that the system at each venue offered the desired music listening experience with no spillage of sound beyond each designated restaurant.

PCO (Pass Code Only): is a dedicated cocktail-forward bar in the city. It is approximately 2357sq ft of alfresco space and is touted to be one of its kind. The essential factor to bear in mind while designing the sound system design for the space was the concept and theme of the place. The concept draws inspiration from the modern-day speakeasies of New York City, so much so that the owners promise that it will always stay true to its original form and not turn into a club as the night wears on – as most other theme-bars have in the past. This was an essential factor to bear in mind while designing the sound system design for the space.

Malay said, “The conceptual music schedule here was for a relatively upbeat jazz music playlist that would progress as the night wore on, but definitely at volume levels far lower than traditionally observed at theme bars in India. After viewing the analysis report of the space and considering the exact position of the bar area and the seating configuration. We realized that the space needed loudspeakers that were rugged enough to withstand all the elements while simultaneously offering dispersion and coverage while maintaining optimum frequency response to ensure a uniform listening experience.

Pass Code cocktail bar deployed with JBL’s Control 29AV-1 surface-mount loudspeakers and AC115s subwoofer for uniform listening experience

Malay adds, "It was cognizance that the sound had to be impactful. We deployed the Control 29AV-1 surface-mount loudspeakers from JBL’s Control Contractor Series to leverage its wide coverage range of 110° to cover more space efficiently. Its extended bandwidth and smooth frequency response make it perfect to efficiently reproduce the variety of music that the venue desires to offer. We’ve also deployed AC115s subwoofers from JBL’s Application Engineering Series to provide solid low-frequency fidelity, and this decision worked great as it eased the task of matching the frequency response of the subs with the speakers that offer a uniform sound experience.”

SAZ Café: Reminiscent of and inspired by the New Orleans’s classic cocktail, Sazerac, SAZ Café is similar to PCO in its alfresco seating. However, it

SAZ Café incorporated with JBL Control Contractor to complement the ambiance of the venue

has a smaller all-day dining kitchen & cocktail bar exuding a warm ambience that blends the charm of a New Orleans courtyard with the chic factor of a modern NYC diner.

The peaceful and relaxed vibe of the space has influenced the music experience, with the venue choice to focus on lighter genres such as soft rock and down-tempo electronic. The music is delivered through a concise loudspeaker system comprising Control 28 high-output indoor/outdoor loudspeakers from JBL’s Control Contractor Series that offers 90° x 90° coverage with 92dB SPL. According to Malay, these two key offerings from the Control 28 loudspeakers made them the perfect fit for the team to match with the Control SB2210 compact dual 10” subwoofers from JBL to provide consistent full-range fidelity while maintaining the same tonal signature in efficiently meeting the music reinforcement needs of the venue.

Pings Café Orient: Conceptualized as an intimate indoor family dining space, Pings Café Orient is, by far, the

Pings Café Orient integrated with Soundweb & Control 50 Series for High-fidelity background music

most compact space in the lot. Here, patrons can savor a variety of cocktails and oriental cuisine while soaking in the wonderful mood created by light-ambient music. It acoustics needed was designed keeping in mind the compactness of the space. The integration team thus decided to commission the space with the unobtrusive Control 50 Series subwoofer-satellite surface-mount loudspeaker system to allow for fullrange high fidelity background music. Malay explains that placement of the satellite speakers at the accurate height enabled them to achieve the desired dispersion in a manner that ensconced the entire seating area with immaculate sound.

“The decision to have the loudspeakers at all three venues powered via amplification from Crown and controlled through Soundweb London BLU-100 signal processors with BLU Link gave us the leeway to deploy a more efficient cabling scheme for each of the individual systems and maintain consistent low-latency high-quality output at each venue. Additionally, we’ve ensured easy and quick centralized control of volume levels and signal source switching of all the individual systems using a Soundweb London BLU-100 signal processor paired with a Soundweb Contrio EC-8BV Ethernet wall controller. Having these provisions in place has not just helped us keep overall system costs within the client’s desired budget but has also enabled us to design and deliver a neat and efficient system architecture for each venue that’s super-easy to use and maintain.”, _{says Malay}.

He further affirms that the simple and uncomplicated concept of maintaining the original vision of these spaces as much as was possible has, even within their nascent days, succeeded in garnering dedicated patronage. Patrons have especially complimented these spaces for the pleasing soundscape and unique music experience.

“It is great to know how well the venues have been doing, considering especially the fact that they are comparatively new launches. It is especially refreshing to have compliments come in about the quality of the sound experience, especially because the spaces were not consciously designed to be music-intensive or double up as party spaces for late evenings!”concludes Malay.