In celebration of her fourth album, Virgin, Lorde hit the road with a steadfast crew, into bigger venues, after an intimate tour for Solar Power. Discussing the jump back into arenas, TPi caught up with FOH Engineer, Philip J Harvey, to delve into everything ULTRASOUND WORLD TOUR.
“This is my 12th year with Lorde; I have worked with her throughout her discography – approaching the ULTRASOUND WORLD TOUR with Virgin was particularly interesting and challenging,” Harvey began. “While the show features a majority of songs from Virgin, there are also numerous hits from her back catalogue interspersed throughout, and they have been reconfigured to fit within the driven style of Ultrasound.”
Harvey’s desk of choice was a Solid State Logic L550 Plus, which controlled an L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive system with L2 for the United States leg of the tour and a K1 and K2 system for the UK and Europe run, which was supplied by Clair Global. “The sound of the console is why I choose SSL,” he said. “Between the fidelity of their SuperAnalogue preamps and internal DSP processing, I just haven’t found an equal. I always ask ‘What sounds best?’ And for me, the combination of the SSL and L-Acoustics is where the magic is!”
L-Acoustics has always been the first preference for Lorde’s production, with the singer’s Melodrama tour acting as the L-ISA system’s international debut deployed on an arena scale in 2018.
“L-Acoustics approached us in late 2017 and thought that Lorde would be perfect to debut it,” he explained. “As a sound mixer and engineer, I loved the idea of utilising the cutting edge of sound technology on our tour. Their inventive approach, knowledge and support is why I use them.”
The FOH Engineer worked with the producer of Virgin, and support act for a select few dates, Jim-E Stack, to reproduce effects from the recorded album live. “We wanted to bring the instruments to the forefront so that the Ultrasound would feel more like a live show performed instead of tracked,” Harvey elaborated, going on to tell TPi that he was able to use some of the same plug-ins in his rig that Lorde and Jim-E Stack utilised in the studio when making the album. “With Jim-E and musical director, Chris Hartz, crafting the Virgin songs as well as reimagining songs from the earlier albums to fit into Ultrasound’s live, pumping, driven style was really exciting.”
Describing the mix for this tour as a “little more raw”, Harvey ran through his setup: “I run a customised FOH rack, which I created and experimented with during COVID-19 to keep my head in music production while the industry was at a standstill,” he explained. “My FOH recording/effects rig for this tour features an M1 Mac Mini at it’s heart with a Metric Halo ULN-8 mkIV and a 2882+DSP fitted with MADI Cards as my I/Os.”
Harvey also employs software-based plugin host, Gig Performer 5, which allows him to use plugins natively. “The best thing about this set up is that I can use any plugin that I desire, which allows me to use the same kit the studio team utilised while producing the album. For example, the song David features a tremolo effect that really blossoms powerfully at the end; Jim-E Stack let me know which plugin he used and the settings and it worked amazingly well for the live performance,” he explained.
The song in mention, David, sees Lorde walk through the crowd from the A stage to a B stage at FOH, which took extra diligence to ensure the audience wasn’t caught on the DPA Microphones’ d:facto 4018VL through the PA.
“David is so powerful, and vulnerable and she loves being surrounded by her fans, so it really is a special moment,” he said. “The audience gets very emotional and I have to time it just right when I’m muting the microphone so we can have her interact without the crowd roaring through the PA and ensure the song is intimately sung in its entirety.”
The engineer had one goal in mind for his mix: “I wanted it so that the audience can’t help themselves but move their body and dance because of how big, driving and powerful the tide of sound feels,” he explained.
“I wanted to create a massive flow of energy for the audience through the sonic landscape, and getting that reciprocal energy from the crowd when they start to lose it is my favourite part of the job.”
While the ULTRASOUND WORLD TOUR is still ongoing, Harvey found time to reflect on his longevity within the camp: “The best thing about working with Lorde is the camp as a whole, which has a down to earth family vibe – and that definitely comes from the top down. We have also been able to play some of the best venues worldwide, as well as some of the largest and it has been an amazing opportunity and a dream to be involved with such a creative and passionate team.”
Words: Alicia Pollitt
