Global pop superstar Dua Lipa kicked off her 80+ date Radical Optimism Tour in November 2024 in Asia. The tour visited Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the UK, including two shows at Wembley Stadium that saw over 160,000 tickets selling-out in a matter of minutes. The tour is currently making its way across North America and will conclude in December 2025 in South America. Between her wide-reaching appeal and epic touring schedule, a rock-solid console is essential. Front-of-house engineer Will Nicholson and monitor engineer Alex Cerutti are both utilizing DiGiCo Quantum852 desks, supplied by Britannia Row, a Clair Global brand.
At front of house, Nicholson has four SD-Racks loaded with 32-bit cards, plus an Orange Box with Dante and HMA cards. He relies on the Fourier Audio transform.engine for his plugin needs, appreciating the latest integration with his console.
“DiGiCo has always stood out for me because of the consoles’ functionality, robustness, and honest approach to sonics,” he says. “I’ve made use of the transform.suite to access some of my favorite plugins, including the UAD Distressor, 1176, and Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. The transform.engine is very solid, and the automation makes it incredibly versatile. It’s now my only plugin engine, which has made time alignment so much quicker. Having access to a massive variety of plugins has been of real benefit to my mix and I can test and deploy techniques that were limited before.”
For Cerutti, the large surface layout of the Quantum852 has allowed him to customize his view and keep his workflow as efficient as possible.
“The Quantum852 is a huge step forward. I’ve been using DiGiCo consoles on and off since the D1 and D5 days and really appreciate not having to create socket files!” he explains. “I’ve used SD7s and SD8s, and keep coming back to DiGiCo consoles because I don’t have to change my setup or mix for the console. They are as configurable as I need them to be.”
The Quantum852 is highly versatile and the engineers are both making use of the expanded touchscreen capabilities. For Cerutti, moving the layer select buttons to a touchscreen makes navigation of multiple channels much easier. He appreciates the improved access to channel meters and the added diagnostic visibility, too.
For Nicholson, the spacious layout of the Quantum852 and increased options for scale and resolution of the metering has helped him refine his display. It is features like these, as well as the spacious layout, that also keep him coming back to DiGiCo.
“I really like the big screens and loads of Macro options, and responsive faders mean the tactile experience is a bit more natural,” he expands. “Having multiple metering options is extremely valuable making lots of information available to me. The diagnostic meter on the bridge is a small but excellent tool. I really like Mustard processing and I’m also using the MSE expander on a handful of channels, which has been handy. It’s a quality addition and, thanks to the V20 upgrades, Macros have got even more capable.”
Communication between engineers is key, especially during the performance, and Cerutti has created a channel Macro that he is using as a talk button, allowing him to be more efficient with his rotary controls. For wider communication, the integration with their Riedel comms system has improved workflow and management of the whole comms system.
Nicholson is using a similar system, enabling fast desk state changes that quickly flip between pre-show and show states for fail-safe communication. This also comes in handy for spare microphone channels, so EQ and processing can be quickly applied if a spare is required. When a large amount of information requires processing at speed, having a smooth and reliable workflow is invaluable. Snapshots and Macros are all part of making the console work for the engineers, and DiGiCo’s flexible FPGA-powered processing ensures it can always keep up. As the pair conclude, it is a system that is working well for them and delivering the best results for their artist.
“There are two significant benefits to using two Quantum852,” Nicholson notes. “One is harmonic; we have a shared sonic space. Secondly, it’s a big help for problem solving. If you’re scratching your head trying to solve an issue, having that shared language and setup doubles your chances of success. I make extensive use of the group functionality on the Quantum852 for my mix setup. We have quite a few inputs, returns, and groups, and I really appreciate how I can quickly flip between banks to see the relevant input processing and associated routing.”
“The amount of information I have to hand and the speed at which I can access it makes everything easier,” Cerutti concludes. “We both agree that the support is excellent, too. Whether you’re mixing a support band or a stadium artist, both Brit Row and DiGiCo are exemplary.”
High-resolution photos and Word .doc are available here.
Photo Captions
Main photo: Will Nicholson at the FOH position
About Dua Lipa
Three-time GRAMMY and seven-time BRIT Award-winning global pop powerhouse Dua Lipa continues to be one of pop music’s leading forces. She has amassed over 48 billion streams worldwide and holds the record for being the first female artist to have two albums with over 14 billion streams each on Spotify. Her third album, Radical Optimism, went No. 1 in 12 countries, including the UK where it became the biggest album debut from a UK female artist in 2024 and garnered the highest week one sales from a UK female artist since 2021.
Her certified platinum and GRAMMY Award-winning sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, spawned multiple worldwide hit singles, and her eponymous debut album is certified platinum, spawned six platinum tracks, and made her the first female artist in BRIT Awards history to pick up five nominations in a single year. The Radical Optimism Tour follows Dua's electric set headlining Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, as well as her Emmy-nominated concert special ‘An Evening With Dua Lipa’.
Dua has found superstar status on stage and off, thanks to her many passions outside of music, including Service95, a global style, culture and society editorial platform that now comprises a weekly newsletter, the Service95 Book Club and podcast, as well as the Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast.
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