Lighting, Video Setup Helps Draw Top DJs, Friday Night Crowds for Marathon Sets
Miami is famous for its all-night clubbing scene, and since it opened in Sept. 2015, Heart has emerged as a top destination for revelers in the city’s downtown area on Friday nights (and some Thursdays and Saturdays too).
Drawing crowds with internationally-known DJs on a regular basis, the venue’s three levels — first floor/basement, second floor and third floor patio/rooftop — are lit with rigs that include ADJ and Elation Professional fixtures.
The third floor party space also now features an LED video screen made up of ADJ AV6X panels along with an ADJ M4040 Mirror Ball in the middle of hanging foliage on the climate-controlled rooftop patio.
Three Levels, 20,000 Square Feet
In all, Heart’s three-level club, each with spaces for dancing, drinking and VIP lounging, is spread across 20,000 square feet of space, making it one of the downtown area’s powerhouse nightclub destinations.
The club, specializing in all-night parties, usually opens from 11 p.m. in the evening until 11 a.m. the next morning. The nightclub’s range of high-tech and theatrical looks have enhanced performances by a DJ lineup that has included John Digweed, Dubfire, Robbie Rivera, Nic Fanciulli, Solomun and Victor Calderone. Based in part on its ability to attract top talent, Heart was lauded as “Best Dance Club” by Miami New Times in 2016.
Heart is located in the building that housed the former Nocturnal club, which opened in 2005 but closed after a tragic shooting incident took place in Sept. 2011. The club reopened briefly as Bekkoi before closing and reopening once more as Heart in late 2015.
Alex Posada of Miami-based United Audio designed, specified and installed Heart’s original audio and lighting system. Posada, who previously worked with Heart’s owner on other projects, opted for ADJ and Elation Professional fixtures. They’re used for the club’s DJ sets that can span six to eight and, on occasion, more than 12 hour stretches for the marathon techno and house sets served up by the club. (During Art Basel weekend in late 2016, multiple DJs kept the beats going for more than 40 hours, according to reports.)
Hitting the Roof
The club’s main dance space, which plays host to most of its guest DJ performances, is the patio located on the top floor. This has an outdoor feel, while still benefiting from a roof canopy and heating/cooling, which makes it well suited for Miami’s tropical climate.
The roof space above the patio is filled with hanging foliage, with makes for an intimate atmosphere on the dance floor, while its impressive lighting rig of ADJ moving head fixtures is ideal for complementing the club’s underground dance music policy.
A total of eight ADJ Vizi Beam RXONE units are used to shoot sharp beams of fast-moving light onto the dance floor, while 12 Inno Color Beam Z19s fill the space with washes of vibrant color. GOBO projections from six ADJ Inno Spot Pros and laser-like beam effects from four Elation Professional Sniper 2R fixtures complete the light show.
At the center of the rig is one of ADJ’s huge M4040 40-inch mirror balls, which hangs down through the plants and flowers to provide a focal point for the moving head’s beams. The result of this combination of fixtures is a versatile rig capable of keeping the party atmosphere going from late at night through sunrise.
When Heart’s owners decided to revamp the patio space by bringing the DJ booth and guest DJs closer to the crowd on the dance floor, they also opted to invest in an LED video screen. Having recently seen the AV6X at an Open House event hosted at ADJ’s Miami facility, United Audio’s Posada knew that the newly updated version of the popular 6mm LED video panel would be ideal for Heart.
“I’d seen that the panels were really good, really bright, perfect for what we needed,” Alex says. “They’re also at a great price, but most important is the customer service ADJ provides. The advantage is that if anything goes wrong we know that we can get it repaired very quickly. Ever since we installed the screens we’ve been receiving amazing feedback from the crowds. Thanks to the new DJ booth location and LED screen, the parties are lasting longer and the vibe is just phenomenal.”
The Second Floor
Although the rooftop patio is home to the club’s main dance space, each of its three floors has a DJ booth, dance floor, and lighting rig to match. The focal point on the second floor — which serves as the venue’s alternative musical space and usually features a DJ playing Hip Hop or EDM — is an array of 50 ADJ Pixel Tube 360s.
Hanging in five rows spread across the length of the room, the Pixel Tubes each feature 64 bright pixel-mappable tri-color LEDs which are visible from 360 degrees around the tube. Controlled using the Madrix software, the large quantity of tubes give real wow-factor to the room’s lighting. This is augmented by six of ADJ’s Inno Beam LEDs and three Inno Color Beam Z19s which add moving beam and wash effects to the Pixel Tube 360’s static pixel animations.
The Ground Floor
On the ground floor, which has an underground feel with exposed brick walls and low-ceiling beams, Alex opted for 8 of ADJ’s Inno Pocket Spot moving heads as the backbone of the lighting system. These compact fixtures, which offer independent gobo and color wheels, are surprisingly bright.
Having chosen to fix the units directly to the exposed ceiling I-beams, in pairs running the length of the space, Alex aptly summed them up by saying, “Those things are little, but powerful… and fast!” To complete the first-floor setup, Alex also installed two of ADJ’s potent Inno Color Beam Z19 LED-powered moving head wash fixtures with motorized zoom. The overall effect is minimal, but effective, fitting the space perfectly.
The combination of Heart’s underground music policy and unpretentious atmosphere with Alex’s impressive audio, video, and lighting system has ensured the club’s place at the center of Miami’s nightlife scene. Having enjoyed huge success throughout last year, the future looks bright for this forward-thinking venue.
Heart Nightclub
50 NE 11th St., Miami FL
www.heartnightclub.com
Design Team:
- Lighting/Audio Designer: Alex Posada, United Audio
- Project Subcontractor: Alan Rodriquez, A Lighting & Sound
Gear List*
- 3rd Floor Patio:
- 12 ADJ Inno Color Beam Z19
- 6 ADJ Inno Spot Pro
- 8 ADJ Vizi Beam RXONE
- 4 Elation Professional Sniper 2R
- 8 ADJ AV6X Video Panels
- 1 ADJ M4040 Mirror Ball
2nd Floor:
- 50 ADJ Pixel Tubes
- 6 ADJ Inno Beam LED
- 3 ADJ Inno Color Beam Z19
- 1st Floor/Basement:
- 8 ADJ Inno Pocket Spot
- 2 ADJ Inno Color Beam Z19
*Partial list
For a video of a light show that puts Heart’s ADJ and Elation fixtures through their paces, go to www.plsn.me/heartADJ
