The Garden Resort in Tisno, Croatia is known all over the world thanks to its festival packed summers. Gaggles of electronic music aficionados flock from every corner of Europe and further afield to the land of the thousand islands, pulled by the sunny dancefloors and their chosen flavour of repetitive beats. Whether it’s the Dutch Dekmental followers, SunceBeat’s UK contingent or Defected’s global crew, the dance destination has been the setting for countless favourite memories in front of its Funktion-One sound systems.

As the 2021 season draws to a close, having delivered five of the usual seven festivals in the face of the unrelenting pandemic, Production Director Miro Grgic is happy with how the season has gone. The sound engineer turned production specialist and festival director met Funktion-One founder Tony Andrews a decade before before.

“I love physics. When I met Tony, he was talking pure physics – the principals of how soundwaves work. Ever since I learned this stuff, the more line arrays I see, the more I’m convinced they’re not interested in making speakers more effective, they’re just making speakers for various solutions that are required and driven by demand. For me, Funktion-One outshines because there’s the science to back it and I believe they still have the most efficient loudspeakers, with a personality behind it. Tony really gives a shit. He has put his heart and soul into it, with integrity, and that transfers to people like myself and others around the world.”

Miro began his love affair with Funktion-One when he visited New York’s esteemed Cielo. The nightclub which will live long in the memories of so many left a lasting impression.

“Cielo was by far the best sounding nightclub in the world and I don’t think another club will sound as good because not only did Tony install the sound system there, the acoustics were done to a T. I remember being there, I think it was about 114 decibels and it sounded so nice; so clear, so soft. Everything was so well positioned, I remember clearly thinking that I was tripping but I was on water. That’s the first time I experienced Funktion-One and I was only 20. That’s how I began being a Funktion-One head.”

Following a move to Tisno in 2012, The Garden Resort has been established as three onsite stages – Beach Stage, Olive Grove and Main Stage. Events at The Garden also use Barbarella’s Discothèque, which is a short taxi or boat ride away. They all feature Funktion-One sound systems – mostly Resolution 4 with F218 bass and Resolution 1 or Resolution 2 for DJ monitoring. Then there are the boat parties.

Most festivals hosted by The Garden Resort also charter three daily boat parties for around 200 people per trip. While the capacity may be small, the DJ names are as big as they come and the compact Funktion-One F88 sound system ensures the boat party crew get the same audio dynamic as the other venues. Miro says: “That’s a very important detail. We have consensus across our team that we couldn’t do that boat party without those speakers. We’ve considered options but we never wanted to try anything else because we know it just won’t work as well. It’s such a small, dense area that anything else would either be too much or it just wouldn’t be right. Funktion-One sound is part of the experience.”

This year saw SunceBeat, Outlook Festival, Defected, Dimensions Festival and Dekmantel Selectors go ahead as usual, with Love International back on board for an action packed 2022 summer season. Until then, Miro heads home to the Philippines to prepare his annual Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival in April.

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