Lorde's Touring Team Relies on DPA, Wisycom Products As Lorde continues her latest global touring and festival cycle, spanning arenas, amphitheaters and intimate venues across multiple continents, the production behind her live shows leans heavily on premium audio solutions from DPA Microphones and Wisycom. At the core of this effort are front-of-house mix engineer Philip J. Harvey and monitor engineer Kevin Glendinning. For the Ultrasound World Tour, which concludes October 10 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, the undertaking presented a unique set of challenges. From variable RF environments to evolving production formats, Harvey and Glendinning built a streamlined, yet powerful, audio ecosystem designed to adapt seamlessly while maintaining pristine sound quality. For Harvey, who has worked with Lorde for over a decade, the foundation of the shows' sound begins with the vocal chain. "We've been using the DPA d:facto 4018VL capsule since the 'Melodrama' tour," he explains. "To me, it's the most natural-sounding microphone out there. Whether it's a whisper or a full-on scream, the d:facto captures everything with incredible detail and consistency." The current tour takes a more minimalistic approach to live instrumentation, relying heavily on synths and direct inputs rather than traditional backline setups. As a result, the microphone count is intentionally sparse, but critical. "We're essentially working with just four microphones on stage -- Ella's [Lorde's] main vocal and three backing vocal mics," Harvey says. "Everything else is direct. That makes the quality of those microphones even more important." One of the defining characteristics of DPA's vocal mics, according to Harvey, is the off-axis response. "Even when there's bleed from other elements, it still sounds natural," he notes. "That's a huge advantage compared to other mics where off-axis coloration can become a problem. What you hear is what you get, and that makes mixing so much easier." A longtime advocate of Wisycom, Glendinning has deployed a fully integrated RF setup across the entire production. "All our in-ear monitoring runs through Wisycom MPR50 belt-packs, MTK transmitters, MFL optical link and a CSI16T combiner," he explains. "We've outfitted everyone, from the band to crew members, with the same system. Consistency is key." Glendinning first encountered Wisycom more than a decade ago and was immediately struck by its performance. "The noise floor was lower than anything I'd used before, and the audio quality was incredibly natural," he recalls. "It's the closest thing to a cable mix you can get in a wireless environment." Beyond sound quality, durability and reliability are essential in a touring environment. "These belt-packs get dropped, sweated on, you name it," Glendinning says. "But they just keep going. You can't compromise on build quality when you're handing gear to artists every night." The system's flexibility also proved invaluable because the tour moves between vastly different venue types and geographic regions. Thanks to Wisycom's wideband capabilities, frequency coordination is simplified across international markets. "We don't have to swap out gear for different regions," Glendinning explains. "We just adjust frequencies and keep moving. That's a huge advantage when you're traveling globally." A particularly complex element of the show involves maintaining RF coverage as Lorde moves throughout the venue, including a segment where she performs from the front of house position. To accommodate this, the team implemented a fiber-linked RF distribution system. "We run a Wisycom MFL RF over fiber to extend coverage out into the audience area," Glendinning says. "It was all part of the system design, and it's been flawless." Collaboration has played a significant role in the success of the setup. Glendinning credits RF specialist Stacey Handley with designing the system architecture, while both engineers emphasize the importance of strong relationships with manufacturers. "Being able to pick up the phone and get support or custom solutions, quickly, makes a huge difference," Glendinning notes. "At the end of the day, everything I do is shaped by what comes through that belt-pack," Glendinning says. "If the transmission isn't right, none of the upstream work matters. With Wisycom, I know the final result will sound exactly how it should." Harvey adds, "When you start with a microphone that sounds this good, everything else falls into place. It gives you confidence, and that translates directly to the audience experience." 
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