Albert's Schloss Soho — Bespoke full-production sound & lighting installation

Following commissioning, Albert’s Schloss Soho has an integrated AV system designed to support both daytime hospitality and live evening entertainment. The completed installation brings the venue’s audio, lighting and control functions into one coordinated operational system, giving the team a practical workflow for moving between different trading periods and performance requirements. The result is a venue-wide AV platform configured and tested for day-to-day use, with the flexibility to support dining, background entertainment and live performances.

Venue: Albert’s Schloss Soho. The venue required a single integrated system capable of supporting live music and DJ performance, reliable background and bar audio, and show‑quality theatrical and effects lighting. The system had to accommodate high‑SPL front‑of‑house (FOH) events while still delivering low‑level, intelligible audio in hospitality zones. Safe rigging, accessible service routes and the ability to reconfigure quickly between event types were explicitly within Pro Technical’s scope. Pro Technical’s deliverables included a technical site survey, system design, procurement coordination, full installation, commissioning and staff handover.

Site constraints included restricted ceiling height for effects lighting and acoustic restraints due to location of cinema and hotel above. Acoustic factors such as reflective surfaces around the stage area and hospitality spaces were recorded during the survey and informed loudspeaker placement. Those constraints directly influenced selection of mounting methods, cable pathways and the installation programme.

Pro Technical split the overall architecture into two primary domains: a production FOH PA and desk for live performance and a distributed background audio network for hospitality zones. A centralised DSP with matrix routing was specified to allow rapid distribution of sources between main PA, bar zones and ancillary rooms. Loudspeaker aiming and delay charts were produced to manage SPL distribution and reduce spill into non‑audio zones; these charts used the acoustic notes recorded during the site survey. Lighting was designed around a dedicated control rack with DMX distribution, a professional production lighting desk for engineers and simplified FOH panels for venue staff to recall scenes and adjust day‑to‑day levels without exposing critical parameters.

Procurement followed a compatibility‑first workflow: shortlisted items were checked for front‑end interface compatibility (DSP I/O, amplifier channel counts and network audio protocols), lead times were tracked and deliveries consolidated. Pro Technical referenced manufacturer experience where available (for example Martin Audio deployments on other Albert’s Schloss projects) when resolving integration points between loudspeakers, amplification and processing. Lighting fixture choices referenced established suppliers for performance fixtures such as Chauvet. All device addressing and network assignments were planned before rack prefabrication to reduce on‑site configuration time.

The system architecture implemented the two-domain model with the following evidenced elements: a production FOH PA connected to central DSP and amplifiers; a distributed bar and back‑of‑house audio network fed from the same DSP via matrixed outputs; a lighting control rack with DMX distribution. Pro Technical produced loudspeaker aiming and delay charts and implemented a tiered UI for control. The project documentation includes wiring diagrams, rack elevations and IP addressing for the networked audio and lighting devices. Specific manufacturers used included Chauvet (performance lighting), Powersoft, BSS and Martin Audio for amplification, processing and speakers.

Installation was executed in discrete stages to respect access windows during construction phase. Pro Technical prefabricated control racks off‑site with pre‑configured network settings and labelling. On‑site works followed a schedule of structured cable pulls, rigging and loudspeaker mounting, temporary load testing and final connections to the built control rack. All cables and panels were labelled in accordance with the as‑installed technical pack produced for handover.

Commissioning used a defined checklist covering mechanical safety, electrical verification, DSP configuration, delay/alignment and loudness mapping for each zone, and DMX addressing and patch verification. Objective measurements (SPL sweeps and level mapping) were recorded and retained alongside subjective live music sessions with the venue team to confirm intelligibility and tonal balance.

Pro Technical provided an as‑installed technical pack at handover containing wiring diagrams, rack elevations, IP addressing and network topology, DSP presets and lighting show files, and a full asset inventory. Staff training included hands‑on sessions for FOH operation and a technical briefing for retained engineering staff covering microphone gain staging and fault identification. Pro Technical recommended annual preventative checks addressing connector integrity, firmware updates and verification of network backups, and presented remote access options and service agreement pathways for long‑term support.