Overview

 

Established 11 years ago, Silence! is a major Parisian sound engineering provider specializing in sound reinforcement and recording of musical programs for television. With credits ranging from “Victoires de la Musique” to “Musicale de Canal +” and “l’Album de la Semaine,” as well as Michel Drucker’s programs and “La Nouvelle Star,” Silence! has gained an excellent reputation among broadcasters and production companies.

The original team, consisting of sound engineers Gilles Hugo and Daniel Dollé (a.k.a. “Shitty”), has tended to favor Yamaha products: the company’s equipment based at Saint-Denis includes numerous PM1D, PM5D, M7CL, DM2000 and 02R96 consoles, as well as three PM5000s and several DME units.

Web site:

www.silence.fr 

Owned by:

Silent! 

Installed Products

Mixers:

DM2000

Details

DM2000: An Ideal Choice for Mobiles

In 2001 Silence purchased Slade, another leasing and sound engineering company, thus acquiring a mobile sound trailer based on a 48-track Dolby Surround compatible SSL 8000HG. Using the Sound Mobile, Silence can now supply sound to the vision control room as well as multi-track recording live broadcasts for sound engineering on the TV set. This is an indisputable advantage for broadcasting clients. Because of the upsurge of new musical programs such as Star Academy and La Nouvelle Star, the mobile studio has been running non-stop.

As time went on the design of the mobile system became dated: the analogue console did not provide the recall functions that are such a valuable feature of digital consoles, and despite the addition of a Sony DMX-R100 and/or an M7CL for premix, the limits of the SSL console’s inputs and outputs were often reached. Some programs use more than 140 inputs, so 48-track recording is no longer enough! Also, the size of the trailer made it impossible to access some sites. At the same time there was increasing demand from Silence! customers, which meant that Gilles and Shitty often had to lease the Voyageur [mobile studio owned by Dispatch] or the mobile unit of De Preference. In 2004, the decision was made: Silence needed another mobile studio!

Various options were considered, until Gilles Hugo found that the former Voyageur III, the thirty-year-old former SFP mobile studio, was for sale. It was empty, but its acoustic insulation was perfect and the internal space was large for a 19-tonne unit. So the deal was done.

The Perfect Price/Quality Ratio, Plus Expandability

The two “main” DM2000s

According to project manager for L’Autre!, Benoît Bertheau: “The specifications were quite simple: it had to do everything!” he explained. “The truck was clean, but we reconstructed the interior, all the audio wiring, the false ceiling, and most of the cabin. The rear part remained intact. We modeled the internal layout on our big mobile studio. For audio monitoring I was happy to install Genelec 1038 speakers in the spaces provided. Afterwards we added Genelec 1030 and Avantone units.”

And, in regards to the console Giles Hugo states: “To begin with we wanted to give our clients a free choice, instead of specifying anything for them. We installed two DM2000s, then three of them, in series – the solo and buses are linked. Why these consoles? The quality/price ratio is good, we are already familiar with them since we have several of them among our sound engineering equipment, and their connection and expansion facilities based on MY cards were exactly right for the planned application. The potential is there, and there’s a good level of support from the manufacturer. We also provided the mobile studio with nine AD8HR pre-amps with AES-EBU connections to the DM2000s, and installed TDIF output cards for the DA-98s or X-48s that record the programs. This gives us outstanding audio quality, and since our sound engineers are already familiar with the DM2000, everything has worked out fine.”

No More Complaints about Digital

Benoît Bertheau agrees: “To begin with, some sound engineers who preferred the analogue option were rather unenthusiastic. After a few sessions there were no complaints about working in digital. Everyone has their own way of mixing. For example, one of our engineers prefers not to look at the parameter values on screen and works “by ear,” as with an analogue system. He finds the DM2000 processing completely satisfactory. Even with groups like Archive or Muse, with a very marked analogue style, L’Autre! provides something very different from the standard digital sound. DM2000s are suitable for every task.”

The System

The third DM2000, with Silence sound engineers Fabien Chanier and Guy Lacoste (seen from behind) at the controls

In the “simple” configuration, with two consoles placed side by side, L’Autre! – i.e. “The Other” Mobile – already handles 96 inputs on 48 tracks. Adding the third console at the back at right angles to the other two, in a position originally planned for a Protools operator, brings the number of inputs to 144. This is generally enough for ordinary operations (even though Benoît has already had to record programs on 160 tracks in Protools, with the premix, stems, and recording mode). This goes a long way beyond the resources of the big Silence! studio. Benoît explained the distribution of the signals among the consoles: “The first layer, 1 to 24, handles the analogue inputs. Even with AD8HR units we have to use the pre-amps in the console when we need to process more than 96 inputs. The second layer, 25 to 48, handles the AES/EBU digital inputs from the AD8HR units. The third layer handles the effects returns, etc.” Of course, L'Autre! includes some effects and processing peripherals such as a T.C. Electronic System 6000, a Lexicon PCM70, a PreSonus ADL 600, SSL analogue stereo compressors, a Finalizer, etc. Dynamic processing at the channel level is carried out in the consoles themselves, avoiding the need for peripheral racks.

After a year of work, L’Autre! went into operation at the start of the 2006 season. It has operated practically continuously ever since, somewhat eclipsing the first Mobile. Benoît Bertheau is already considering some improvements such as supplementary CAT5 and fiber wiring, a Trinnov Audio monitoring calibration system, and expansion towards 5.1 mixing to meet growing customer demand.

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