DIGICO AND XTA GET IN THE MOOD IN MONTE CARLO
Outside of Paris, it is unusual to find a club-style live music venue in France. Moods, however, is one such place. It boasts an intimate atmosphere that lends itself very nicely to the task and an audio system, including a DiGiCo D1 Live and XTA DP448 digital signal processing, that is second to none.
Located in the exclusive surroundings of Monte Carlo – although not technically France, one can stretch a point - Moods is a multi-layered venue which, despite having acoustics that were carefully taken in to consideration during its construction, has proved challenging to provide full audio coverage for. Its plethora of nooks and crannies, whilst adding very nicely to the overall atmosphere, are not particularly audio friendly.
Philippe Barguirdjian of French sales and rental company Arpège Son Lumiere carried out the specification and installation of the system.
“We specified the D1 because it is a great sounding console, because the space it has to fit into is very tight so the small footprint of the D1 is good and because of the price,” says Barguirdjian.
Another factor in Barguirdjian’s console decision was that the engineers at Monaco SBM (Société des Bains de Mer) were already familiar with DiGiCo consoles.
“During the summer, an SD7 and a D5 were used at Monaco Sporting Club,” he explains. “We needed a console with the capabilities of the SD7 there because there is a resident show that runs for the whole summer and that uses around 60/70 inputs.”
This in itself is not excessive, but in addition, three or four times a week, the Sporting Club hosts additional shows. Sometimes acts brought in their own desks, sometimes not, in which case the second band also had to be mixed on the SD7, necessitating a large amount of available inputs.
“Also, the change over time between acts is extremely short,” continues Barguirdjian. “There is a mobile stage beneath and behind the main stage, as well as another stage and both can be brought in. Sometimes there is less than a minute change over time between acts. To bring in another console under those circumstances would be technically dangerous, so we used the first 60 inputs for the Sporting’s resident band and then the visiting artists, such as Diana Ross, Santana, Alicia Keys, Chicago, Alanis Morrissette, Eric Clapton, could have the rest of the inputs as necessary.
“And,” smiles Barguirdijian, “the engineers at the Sporting really wanted to work with the SD7!”
Returning to Moods, the main PA comprises an L’Acoustics DV-Dosc system, with KIVA cabinets to cover the aforementioned nooks and crannies, the main driver for which is an XTA DP448.
“We chose the DP448 because we know XTA by heart,” recalls Barguirdjian. “It’s also a great sounding device and it’s fully patchable regarding inputs and outputs, so it’s very easy to switch from mono to stereo. In addition, it has a general graphic EQ on the inputs which is very useful when we have visiting engineers who want a graphic EQ that is external to the console.
“XTA’s AudioCore software is very easy to use on a remote tablet, so you can EQ from anywhere in the venue. In Moods particularly, because of all the corners we have to check, the wireless tablet makes it very easy to EQ without having to go back to the desk!”
“The acoustics at Moods bar are good because the place was designed to give the best result,” adds Philippe Dagau, resident engineer at the club. “However, its still not easy to mix there because the FOH booth is upstairs on a raised platform looking down onto the stage, so we don’t have the same sound at the desk as we do in the room.
“Nevertheless, the D1 is very easy to use with great ergonomics. Visiting engineers are usually very happy to work with the desk and they love the sound of the system.”
Pictures 1 and 3: Philippe Dagua at the D1
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