"Studios Palace" is a recording studio whose construction is currently being finalized and which has the ambition to relocate the recording of orchestral music for movies, music or video games to France.

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We are located in Moulins, in the department of Allier, about 2.5 hours south of Paris by train and 2 hours from Lyon.

You can easily understand the expensive cost of this project and to be transparent, here is a financial rundown :

- purchase of building : 150000€

- cost of construction : 100000€

- equipment financement : 110000€

All that money doesn't come from our pockets, a bank and a regional investment fund followed us since beginning.

Now, we have to manage by ourself ... with you !

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It was during a walk in the streets of Moulins that Laurence noticed the window of the former movie theater and suddenly exclaimed :

" Look ! A movie theater for sale !!! "

Laurence is the partner of Théo, without whom, none of this would have been possible.

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A qualified music composer, 3 years ago, Théo decided to leave the region of Paris and return to the region of Moulins where he grew up. They had just arrived back to their home districts, when Theo and Laurence passed by the Palace, the theater of his youth, where he remembered having watched several movies.

However, the years of cinematographic wonders are already far behind us and the Palace is now closed. Conducting a rapid investigation, Theo finds out that this theater would soon be converted into a parking lot.

Driven by memories of his youth, Theo calls the project promoter straight away :

Théo : " You cannot do this ! "

The promoter : " Euuuuhhh… I agree but … "

Théo : " To be honest, I cannot afford it but I’ll manage this and I commit myself to buy it !”

The promoter : " Ok Théo. "

Then Théo calls his friends, one after another, (including me writing to you right now) and gathers, though his contagious passion, a team of small investors, and a bank, to support the project, and returns to the promoter:

Théo : " That’s it ! I have the money. "

The promoter : " Excellent but do you realize that this theater is a ruin ?"

Théo : " yes I do !"

The promoter : " But what will you do with it ?!"

Théo : " I have my own idea. "

The idea is actually to transform the theater into a recording studio, and to gain economies of scale by building one of the largest studios in Europe, here in the center of France.

Many people will tell us that this project “ is a flight of fantasy”, or more simply, that “we’ll never succeed.” Those people could be right if Theo was dreaming on his own but a group of friends is now commited to making this a reality !

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While the fantasy machine is now launched, Théo met several people who will turn his dreams into reality

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Building a recording studio for Fred is just like playing guitar for Jimmy Page. This is just obvious !

At the origin of one of the biggest dubbing companies in the world, (Dubbing Brothers), he built the « Technicolor Studio » in St Cloud, near Paris, « Digimage studio » in Boulogne Billancourt, and the Home Atmos ShowRoom in Paris for Dolby.

He was the Technical Director of the “Dubbing Brothers” and he mixed the French versions of “Interstellar”, “The Lion King” and even “Batman - The Dark Knight", one of the most recent movies Theo watched in the Palace.

He is a recognized authority in this industry, the “guardian angel” of decibels, an expert for shaping propagation waves.

The arrival of Fred in this project is just like an alignment of planets. It created confidence among all of us and was incredibly lucky !

Now onboard, he took the initiative to call Julien who had just left his position at M Studios for a sailing adventure around the globe.

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Julien is somehow a « younger Fred ». Previously he was responsible for operations at the well known M Studios, so it goes without saying that he has a broad spectrum expertise!

During that call, Fred presented to him our crazy project of the Palace Studios in Moulins.

" Moulins ?? " Julien Says .

" Yes ! Moulins in the Allier " responds Fred.

Julien : " I’m just back from my trip and I’m currently in Moulins where I grew up ! "

Fred : " What ??? "

Julien : " Where are you? In the former Palace movie Theater ? "

Fred : " Yes we’re there ! "

Julien : " Hey... I’m not far … "

Fred : " Come here ! We will wait for you ! "

The Palace Studios had just found their very first employee and his talented associate director.

And I promise that this is exactly as it happened!!

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As electric as his own guitar, Xavier is truly a free electron and the Palace Studios would have been stupid to move forward without him.

After practicing at the prestigious American School of Modern Music of Paris (Extension of the Berklee College of Music in Boston ), Xavier was part of the creation of a recording studio in the Paris area. This first experience was finally a real opportunity and asset for driving the "Studios Palace" project.

Back in Moulins, and as he was walking by the palace, he pushed the door where construction had started and asked “Is anybody there ? “

The day after and he was drilling holes in the main wall of the future studio …

In addition to his talents of guitar player and of studio creation, Xavier is also a photographer and our community manager. Most pictures and videos that you’ll see here were taken by Xavier.

With that team, the dream was becoming more tangible.

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Let’s work now !

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At the beginning, sceptics were right to laugh about us : The walls were like ruins, and covered in carpets from the 80s, the floors had collapsed, and the cooling and heating systems did not function…

But pessimistic people always lose against the courage of a few “young souls”…

First we had to rethink the layout. 1200 sqm of free space was modelled in 3D

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Afterwards, Fred quickly switched on his mic to analyse the resonance of the future auditorium and to simulate the acoustic treatments.

A “dark science” that only a few scholars can master.

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Then each acoustic module had to be manufactured, but with what type of wood? A few kilometers away, was an abandoned factory of a famous speaker brand.

Just like renegade adventurers, the team went up there.

When they arrived on site, they faced hundreds piles of wood of all types, an ideal solution !

There is nothing better indeed than an audiophile wood for handling the acoustics of an auditorium !

Once we had the wood, we had to roll our sleeves up to build each module, one by one, by hand, which required a lot of patience and love.

The auditorium now had an acoustic structure but much was still to be done: The drum booth, the master control, the voice booth, the social areas, the offices, the venilation and all the finishing touches…

After 2 years of hard work, the first phase of construction was finally completed.

Since, we had pleasure to welcome :

- Côme Jalibert for the mix of documentary "No Farewell" ,

- Flower Coast Label team for first album of Thomas Kahn directed by Vivien Bouchet and recorded by Laurent Dupuis, coming soon !

- Giovanni Mirabassi, Philippe Entressangle and James Sindatry for a creative class directed by "Studios Palace"

- Franck Pizon for mixing of his new wildlife documentary.

- The " Lyre Avermoise" , the occasion for us to be in a real condition of a full orchestral band recording.

We also initiate some other activities like foley, quality control of multi language mix, voice over and dubbing recording and video captation on site.

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- Our families

- Delphine Pinasa

- Benoit Boulé

- Serge Morisseau

- Fabien Sourceau

- Calmin Borel

- Pierre Vinour

- Benjamin Feuillade

and me, Rodrigue ...

And also

Pascale Cuissinat, Jean Yves Vernezy, Gersande Sourceau, Isabelle Deschamps, Charlotte Devaux, Nicolas Deflandre, Nicolas Doulain, Marie-Béatrice Venturini Lenoir, Gilles Sohier, Patrick et Zacharie Rouchon, Côme Jalibert, Clémence Oger, Marine Couraud, Juliette Mathy, Julien Ortuno, Timothé Paoli, Téo Echelard, Bastien Chabrillat, Julien Reviriaud, Didier Bichet, Matthieu Desvignes, Pierre-Benoit Collier, Jean-Marc Porte, Antoine Ballenghein, Olivier, Paul et Elliot Charpentier, Christophe et Frédérique Ichac, Valérie Vétillard, Mathias Sturm, November Fades,Rafal Deck, Zdzislaw Plachta, Jean Baptiste et Coralie Dury, Simon Capony, la presse locale, Audrey Turbet et l'équipe du théâtre de Moulins, Bernadette Rondepierre, Guillaume Boutié, Pierre André Périssol ... etc

- Blackship in Paris, Post production studio and virtual reality

- UCMF, Union des compositeurs de musique de film (Union of film music composers)

- City of Moulins

- Cci Moulins – Chamber of Commerce of Moulins

- Departmental chamber though the Regional receiving mission

- ALEXA (Accounting)

- MMA (Insurance)

- Crédit Mutuel (Bank)

- Region of Auvergne Rhône Alpes

- Entreprendre network in Auvergne

- Our families...

Awards and donations :

- 2016 Prize of the innovation of the chamber of commerce

- 2017 Laureate of the Auvergne Entreprendre network

- Honour loan of the Chamber of Commerce Moulins initiative

- Donation by JPM

Les Studios Palace

The publications