ELEVATE!

If you jump from your seat when a bomb explodes on the cinema screen, this is not the place for you. But if you like butt-kicking music and shake a leg, you will get addicted to it. Elevate, definitely the best sounding nightclub in this part of the world, doesn't defy Newtonian physics, but will do a thing or two to your bod, because the music here goes into you and not just comes at you. Three levels of sonic heaven, situated five floors above the ground, and yes you have to take the elevator.

What makes this place get such puffy lines from a newspaper as blatantly trashing everything as TODAY? Well, we love that Bodysonic Buttkicker (yes, it's called that) dance floor. What on earth is a bodysonic dancefloor? Well, it's dancefloor made of really capable low-frequency speakers. The floor has 46 bass transducers capable of delivering 1,000 watts each, and each with its own power amp. So all the deep, low sound is connected to your body and every throbbing bass riff travels from your ankles, through spine, to your inner ear. It rocks.

"The wooden floor is totally isolated from the building. Had it been attached to the eight-storey mall, the whole building would've shaken," says Dave Parry, the man who set up the system and continues to be here to oversee its operation. Alternate layers of rubber and neoprene do that separation.

Parry, who sound-designed London's hip superclub Fabric, is obviously a bass-freak. The corporate head of Most Technical has put Martin Audio's WSX monster sub bass units (each with an 18-inch drive on a 7ft S-shaped folded horn) just below the DJ's high ground. Eight of them, just like Fabric. In fact Elevate came into being after Wave Cinema's Monty Chadha experienced the throbbing bass at Fabric and wanted to bring that experience to Delhi. Well, Noida is Delhi.

A hell of a shaking for the poor DJ's equipment? Not at all. The WSX monsters are directed towards the dancefloor, so that the playing DJ gets as little vibration as possible. But in a room with 120,000 watts of music, any vibration is enough to trouble the DJ console. Parry has found a cheap solution for that: the whole equipment set-up is separated from the console table by tennis balls between them.
"The tennis balls have vacuum inside them which prevents the vibrations travelling up. Otherwise the vibrations are such that it would have been impossible for DJ to play here," says Parry.

The DJ has a couple of monitors, the reference-standard Martin Audio Blackline F12s, on both sides, and Parry has designed it in a way that cancels out all noise in the DJ's own little kingdom.

There are nearly a hundred speakers in all sizes filling the three levels of the club and that's a nightmare for a sound man like Parry. When you move from one place to the other, you should get the same level and quality of sound, your position should not affect the sound you hear. So at least Martin Audio W8C compact enclosures hang in a quad array around the dancefloor. And the set up is repeated at all levels. This man sure loves Martin Audio. "It's necessary to have match speakers so that the sound they deliver stays one" in its tonal balance.

Already planning to shuttle around the world on Linkin Park's world tour, Dave is busy training an apprentice who can handle 'tough-but-easy-looking' sound system and lighting in his absence.

And he's simplified it all. All the speakers, their amps, crossovers are controlled by a Soundweb programme designed by Parry. He has also designed touch button controls and the DJ doesn't have to worry about that.

He does worry about the DJs. The best DJs from India play here and Elevate has been getting the best from West too. He is worried about the lot that plays MP3s. "MP3 format has the lowest bandwidth," he explains and its compression weaknesses, though not discernible on lesser systems, get exposed on a system designed to reproduce every note, low or high.

And like all audiophiles, this man still loves the analogue day fidelity. But in today's digital era, he has found the middle path, the best of the both worlds. He has digital amps but added analogue valves filters to them.

It'll be criminal to add it all and estimate the cost of the system. It's very, very expensive proposition. "And the experience is worth more than that," an Elevate fan in our office jumps in.

"Such exorbitant amount of investment in a nightclub in Noida is madness," says an analyst on conditions of anonymity. "Perhaps, such a club in Mumbai would have been justified. I don't know what is their revenue model?"

Elevate is only open on Fridays and Saturdays. On Friday, they play international. Saturdays, it's the popular music and that includes Bollywood remixes. "Every nightclub has to play commercial music. It is the only revenue generator," says Parry.

We recommend a Friday!

Cover charge: Rs 500 per head (reimbursed against drinks)
Timings: 10:00 pm - 4:00 am
Club capacity: Over 1800 people
ELEVATE
The Centrestage Mall
L-1 Sector 18
Noida
Tel: (From Delhi) 95-120 - 2513904