Depeche Mode‘s massive tour in support of the group’s 15th studio album Memento Mori has stretched to over a year, mainly through Europe and North America. It was Europe’s longest-running European stadium tour in 2023.
Memento Mori means “remember you must die” in Latin — a fitting enough title considering that the long-running band has been reduced to a duo following last year’s death of co-founder Andy Fletcher.
The show’s impeccable production, led by Production Manager Tony Gittins, has been lauded for its exciting visuals and pristine sound.
This was the first Depeche tour for Sound Engineer Jamie Pollock who began his career in the music industry as a classical violist, progressed to writing music and eventually into mixing live sound.
“My first tour was with Radiohead, I came on board and had an opportunity to learn the L-Acoustic K1 system from some of the people that had been developing it,” said Jamie. “Getting my hands on that product early on gave me a lot of experience.”
Nine Inch Nails then took that K1 System out, so Jamie joined the tour as a system engineer before graduating to mixing them in 2017.
“I’ve always looked at a properly tuned PA system as an instrument,” continued Jamie.
When it comes to console choice, Jamie says he uses several but ultimately chooses the correct platform for the job.
“I like the Yamaha Rivage PM Series when I’m mixing production elements and music at the same time, I like to use a DiGiCo SD7 Quantum when I need a lot of flexibility on a show … they all have a different style to me,” he commented. “The reason why I chose an AVID S6L for this application is that it seems to be more suited towards just mixing music. I like what I can do with the automation and it feels comfortable coming from a studio background.”
At FOH, Jamie runs two Avid S6L 32Ds (main and backup) that gain share with two Stage 64 racks on stage for analogue inputs. On stage are also some digital MADI sources so he uses RME MADI routers on the stage end and at FOH to sync the clock and to distribute signal to both E6L-192 engines.
“I wanted to be able to switch seamlessly between the main and backup consoles in case of any failures,” he explained
Outboard equipment, PA sends and audience microphones are all patched directly into a DirectOut Prodigy.MC at FOH.
Before starting a tour, Jamie builds a spec to a workflow that he has modified over the years.
“I’m very familiar with all the equipment I use and it also gives me continuity to evolving parameters when not on the road,” he remarked. “I like having paths for instrumentation and ways that I can manage them quickly. I also think it’s important to have a good stereo buss that I can mix into and my chain for this tour has been a TUBE-TECH SMC 2B Stereo Multi-band Compressor and a Chandler Curve Bender into a Neve Master Buss Convertor. Everything has a purpose and I can adjust it all quickly.”
Vocals are Neve Shelford Chanels with Neve 5045 primary source enhancers. A Neve Master Buss Processor is used for mostly the SFE section on sequences and loops. There’s an API 2500 compressor on drums and an Empirical Labs UBK EL7 Fatso Stereo Compressor on electronic drum elements for harmonics. Jamie also uses a Dramastic Audio Obsidian compressor on keyboards for imaging and distortion. Martin’s guitars go through an Overstayer Modular channel with a GML 8900 dynamic range controller which gives him a wide range of flexibility and control.
Jamie admits he is still a big fan of having some dedicated external effect processors. He uses a Bricasti M7 for Dave Gahan to add depth to his vocals in combination with a TC Electronic System 6000 for character depending on the song.
“I’ve never used more effects with a band in a live environment in my entire life!” laughed Jamie. “It’s amazing that we’ve been able to get that type of resolution. The TC-6000 is a key piece for me, I always still like having one because it can fit into a lot of places. I do still prefer an Eventide H3000 D/SE for pitch shifting and recently started using an Eventide Eclipse for some more specialty effects.”
Jamie adds that the most challenging aspect of mixing Depeche Mode is knowing what to use when, saying that if he used everything all the time, there would be very little separation in the mix.
Knowing Jamie’s history with PA, it was no surprise to see an L-Acoustics K1 PA at the gig!
“The reason I choose L-Acoustics is the wavefront. No other system comes close to the resolution and it’s a weapon” he said. I also have a great system engineer (Terence Hulkes) who understands the demands and challenges that we face every day and also knows how to adapt and tune the PA correctly.”
The Main Hang was 16 x K1 plus 4 x K2, Side Hang was 12 x K1 plus 8 x K2 and the Rear Hang was 16 x K2. Flown Subs were 12 x KS28, Ground Subs 24 x KS28 and Ground Fill 10 x A15 / 9 x KARA II.
For microphones, Jamie is loving everything coming out of Austrian Audio saying he got into them a few years ago and has never looked back.
Jamie comments that one of the best things about this tour is working with monitor engineer Mikey Gibbard. “I’ve never been so in sync with somebody on the opposite end of the snake. Mikey truly uses the sound of the house and I use the sound of the stage and we never get in each other’s way, It’s really unified this whole experience.”
Mikey Gibbard was kept busy at his SSL 550 console (with three ML32-32 stage boxes running 96 channels in
“It’s busy up there. I treat the flown sidefills as if it were a FOH system,” adds Mickey. “I’m pretty much delivering a reference style mix to most of the band, with Dave having a slight jump with his vocal encapsulated in reverb and delay. Our drummer Christian Eigner’s drum mix is heavily processed, with lots of FXs and heavily compressed overheads, creating a ghosted type drum room sound. I also have a pair of Neve headphone amps for Christian and use d&b B6’s for the drum subs. There’s flown d&b KSL for side fills and SL ground subs.”
Mickey has an Antelope OCX HD Master Clock, clocking everything at 96k and two DiGiGrid MGBs handling the multi-tracks, a pair of Universal Audio UAD Live Racks, plus a mixture of onboard features from the SSL for plug-ins.
He details: “The snapshots are triggered from the desk to the UAD, synced via iConnectivity mioXL MIDI interface. I use a mix of UA1176SE and SPL transient designers on the drums, as well as a pair of Chandlers on the front and rear overheads. I’m using sub harmonics on the kick, generated from the SSL and I have an Oxide tape machine for some saturation on the snares and bass, an APi 2500 on the guitar buss, an LA-2A on my comped vocals, and a Manley VoxBox on Dave’s vocal with Korg SDD-3000 for his delay. For Reverb, its EMTs 250s and the Lexicon 224.”
Mickey has four stereo FX sends coming from FOH in order to obtain a “very specific processed sound” on certain tracks. All Dynamic EQ comes from the SSL, as well as some buss compression that utilizes the desk’s onboard G-Series plug-in.
Monitor and RF Tech, Alex Hore, oversees the 12-ways of IEMs and six handhelds. The Shure PSM1000s cover the band and crew, plus Mikey has 16 d&b audiotechnik M2 wedges on stage.
(Monitor information courtesy of Britania Row Productions)
Whilst rumours continually pop up regarding Depeche bringing this tour to Australia, there are no confirmed dates. If it were to happen, it would be the band’s first Australian tour in 30 years, with their last shows on this side of the world taking place as part of 1994’s ‘Exotic’ tour.
