In Son, those who really know how to play and sing will learn from the dramaturg there
In its eight years of existence, the nine-story glass building with a ball in the middle has built a solid reputation. Music icons such as Tony Levin, Macy Gray, Bobby McFerrin and Glen Hansard have performed. That’s why he gave a few dozen concerts here, each for twelve hundred people, new you and rap. Zdenk Novk, the dramaturg of the famous club, praises the well-equipped and acoustic drive of Sono among the best in central Europe.
The great acoustics are mainly due to the domed shape of the club?
Yes, but with special covers that cover the interior to create a studio atmosphere. Here, you really learn who can play and sing. Whatever the band puts into the speaker, there is a certain sound that doesn’t let go. And she doesn’t respond here at all either. A lot of artists are not used to the fact that the sound doesn’t break anywhere and doesn’t come back, so it’s a bit uncomfortable.
You also changed the special equipment. I just know you have a mixer…
… great NEVE, he gave the icon of our club. It is analog, compared to digital ones, it works with a certain sound. But it is so complex to control and not every sound dares to use it. Nicmn is really a pika and the sound is worth it.
Is it first equipped with what the performers value, and you and the criteria for where to perform?
Urite. When we have a request for an artist or his, the first step is to define the technique. Thanks to this, I can see that the quality is high here and I don’t have to take anything of my own. Not long ago, we also bought you a new Steinway grand piano, and artists are so excited about such equipment
The Sono complex also includes a hotel, a restaurant and an underground parking lot, which is the usual concept for foreign clubs, and it’s much better than the O2 arena in Prague. What is it due to?
Let’s make the band comfortable. Artists don’t have to leave other hotels, literally in slippers they just walk from the room to the first floor and are in the room, where you do a sound check, and then go back to the room. That’s how bassist Tony Levin once called it. Thanks to this, the artists themselves can create a common room from their hotel room and don’t just have to be in the room.
The benefits you will launch after the New Year are a foreign model for you and the clubs. Do I just register and then get priority tickets and discounts?
Currently, we have an akort newsletter that only informs what is happening when. But we want to create a club warehouse. And we want to tell people that if they visit us regularly, they will send something extra, and it is a percentage discount, or a two-week advance sale. We also know that JazzFestBrno, with whom we cooperate, will be involved.
The essence of the club is thus a separate dramaturgical theme. Has covid changed its functioning?
Dec. I remember that not long ago we discovered a performer who, although we liked the party, he was such a sweetheart, but we thought that, let’s say, a hundred people would drink to him. The administrative costs of opening the club for one evening are so great that we would create a loss. That’s why we often leave artistically outstanding concerts to other production teams, but we already cooperate with them. Energy prices are rising very much. These are the forces that I have to constantly check in the tables. Although it is general, the tests give us a kind of indication of how the concert will turn out economically.
But there is also a new unknown. After all the covid restrictions are over, we are facing big changes in the future. Some people have learned to listen to music at home, and from this habit, some have started going to culture again. So we drank a relatively high percentage of alcohol.
What’s up with the two musical fields?
Let’s develop in another way. The young generation of tinct years plus was two shy to go to Sona. Maybe it’s snobbish and expensive. But we dare to fear these myths. We opened with you hip-hopper and it was awkward right away. We are glad that we got excited about something new and that we are not just a rock and big club.
But otherwise, just to be sure, and you’re not going all in on the alternative, is that right?
Playing it safe must be a staple at work. Unfortunately, that’s how it is. We don’t want to fall into the trap of just calculating and struggling with economic barriers. During the year there is always a title for which we happily dare not to do so.
How many concerts are you going to play this year and what will you invite to next year?
Vclav Neck is drinking on Sundays, we moved a double concert to the edestin Olympic for the middle of January and we will arrive at In Kafe with a new album. In the JazzFest series, the Dave Holland Trio and Tigran Hamasyan are on the list, and David Koller from the Czechs.
What does the own Brno club Sono Centrum have in common with the largest Czech recording studio Sono Records, the same people stand behind it?
The owner Ji topl, who at the time co-owned the Sono recording studio in Nouzov near Prague, had the idea to create a music club in Brno. Although he then went his own way, the club remained under the name Sono, as did his studies. Every day we have our own technical sound and management team, we work separately. But the Obas are confused about where to send the email. (smile)
Contact the studio to explain it in terms of acoustics…
It is to take. In addition, it was led by Pavel Karlk, who had a clear idea of how the space in Brno’s Son should look and function.
Suitable for corporate events, conferences, parties, balls or workshops. Which event would you not want at your place?
Tell us a little bit that we are like a culture. (laughs) But in the meantime, when we don’t have a concert, we have to help the big juggernaut. Do it to other Brno clubs and it’s not something we should be ashamed of. And when something is controversial, there is a need for consensus, we have five people for that. For example, we rejected some artists because of extremist names.