TV Audio Setup Focuses on the Voice

Paris, France (July 15, 2026)—Audio production for the latest season of French reality singing competition The Voice – La plus belle voix, won by 19-year-old Lady O from Switzerland, used four Solid State Logic Live L550 Plus mixing consoles.

The four consoles, all linked over SSL’s Blacklight II MADI system, were supplied by professional sound, video and lighting control solutions provider Algam Enterprise. The entire broadcast was made possible by touring events and integration specialist S Group, based in Alès, France.

​Rather than collapse the production, which was broadcast on French commercial TV network TF1, onto fewer surfaces, the team distributed the workload across four L550 Plus consoles, each with a clearly defined role. At monitors, the console served the musicians and singers directly. “It is the monitor console that sends out sources—mainly everything to do with the orchestra and music—and it sets the gains for us,” Jean-Marc Aringoli explains. The other positions receive that digital feed ready to mix, which keeps the signal flow clean and consistent across the whole chain.

• ‘The Phil Collins Story’ Hits The Road

In the audio control room at Studio du Lendit in Paris, the two broadcast consoles split the workload. One primarily handled the music mix. “The other console handled the final mix, taking the stereo output from the music console, onto which all the vocals, backing vocals, additional instruments, and various other elements required for a television show were layered,” Aringoli says. Separating the music build from the final assembly gave the team room to process each stage independently and keep the all-important vocal sitting cleanly out front.

That division of labor is also what let Aringoli react instantly to the one element that matters most. Because contestants’ vocals are being judged both in the TV studio and by the viewing public, the voice must always be present and out front in the broadcast mix.

• Subscribe to Mix magazine and our daily SmartBrief newsletter for free!

“The monitor console sends out sources—mainly everything to do with the orchestra and music—and it sets the gains for us. The only thing where I have control over preamps at FOH is the vocals. That is what I need in order to react very quickly, to have control over the gains to provide the broadcast with a level that is consistent with the loudness requirements.”