At the heart of the system, and by special request of Cabrel's long-time FoH engineer, Ludovic Lanen, was an Sy80 digital mixing console from InnovaSON. Lanen first came across InnovaSON at the "Jazz a Vienne" festival during the summer. Intrigued by the concept and capabilities of InnovaSON consoles, he opted for an Sy48 for Cabrel's mini-tour of cultural centres in his native region of South-west France. Lanen was so taken by the Sy48 that he made a special request to try out an Sy80 for the 'SOS Musiciens de Nouvelle Orleans' benefit, even though there was already a digital console in permanent residence. "It wasn't a difficult decision," said InnovaSON's Hervé De Caro. "In the first place, a personal request from someone like Ludovic Lanen is difficult to ignore, and secondly it was for a very good cause, so we were pleased to help out."
Lanen spent two days in rehearsal running through the show and getting to know the Sy80. "We needed everything to be as accessible as possible, because the changeovers between artists were both fast and frequent," explained De Caro. "I optimized the configuration according to Ludo's requests, making particular use of the Xfad function, and then stood aside to see how he handled it. Over the course of the two days, he hardly asked me a single question, which I took as a huge compliment, particularly from someone as perfectionist as Ludo. He won't tolerate mediocrity in any shape or form, so I was pleased to see that he found the console intuitive, easy to use, and transparent."
Lanen agreed, he said: "It's fabulous to mix on, and the audio quality is superb, both in a live environment and for recording live. The beauty is that it can all be done in the digital domain from the same control surface and still leave you with enough resources to handle your show and deal with the unexpected should it arise. InnovaSON has developed an excellent product with these consoles."
SOS Musicians de la Nouvelle Orleans was recorded and broadcast live on French national television network, France 2.
(Chris Henry)
