The largest structure built by the Nazis outside of Germany during the Second World War, submarine base in Lorient has since seen Bay 5 and 6 converted into a centre of contemporary music. After many years of post-war occupancy by the French Navy, which eventually abandoned the base in 1997, a €5m investment from the city of Lorient was approved in 2017 for the repurposing.
Rechristened l’Hydrophone, it houses five rehearsal studios and two master control rooms for recording and broadcast, as well as offices, dressing rooms and catering facilities. However, the jewel in the reinforced concrete crown is the 500-capacity concert hall, equipped with a d&b audiotechnik V-Series line array system.
There is also a second, more intimate concert hall known as Le Club; designed to be a less intimidating space in which young and emerging talent can perform. It is equipped to the same world- class standards with two d&b Vi10Ps per side, four Vi-GSubs and four M6 stage monitors. The equipment for both rooms was supplied by the d&b regional distributor, Eurolive, and installed by local rental company and integrator, Galloud Sonorisation.
For Hydrophone manager Mathias Alonso the sound brief was straightforward: he wanted a high-quality, compact system capable of handling all types of contemporary music, from rock to folk and everything in between.
‘At the time, we were using Q-Series which sounded far better than anything else I had used up to that point,’ he says. ‘When the rental company – Eurolive, actually – upgraded to V-Series, I was even more impressed. The amount of power generated by such a small system combined with the clarity and definition of the sound put everything else in the shade.’
Having reviewed a variety of options, Alonso decided that his choices came down to two brands. He contacted d&b’s Thomas Ebran to discuss the possibilities, and quickly decided on a d&b solution using the V-Series.
‘V-Series offers the perfect power-to-size ratio for Hydrophone with plenty of headroom whilst remaining compact and visually discreet. Power output, directivity and coverage are tremendous. The competing solution was so much bigger and more cumbersome to achieve the same power output, it ended up being a very easy choice.’
On Alonso’s wish list, although not incorporated into the initial spec due to budget constraints, was d&b’s ArrayProcessing technology. ‘The difference made by applying the ArrayProcessing algorithms is nothing short of stunning,’ admitted Alonso. ‘Even working with what is already an excellent system that is optimally set up and tuned, when you hear it again with ArrayProcessing, it’s like night and day. If you have the budget to do it, because it means effectively doubling your amp count, it’s worth every cent.
‘It really is the most amazing tool,’ Alonso addds. ‘The sound is completely natural and transparent, and you can hear every detail of every instrument without straining your ears. The reactions so far have been 100 per cent positive. Indeed, the results surpassed even our own expectations, so yes, we’re delighted. A big thanks to all at d&b. Dealing with d&b and its partners [Eurolive and Galloud Sonorisation] has been a pleasure, and I know we can count on them for future support.’
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