Gorillaz hit new heights with DiGiCo
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Since then, the project has continued to evolve, as has the size of the production - it is now all about the real players (and guest stars) rather than just the animation, and Albarn and co. are often more than 20-strong when they hit the road. With such a big show comes great sonic responsibility, all of which is in the hands of Matt Butcher at FOH and Dave Guerin at monitors, both of whom rely on DiGiCo for everything.
“I started with Damon [Albarn] after Parklife came out, so we go back a long way,” Butcher says. “Right at the beginning of the year, for pre-production, we wanted to not compromise on any of the audio - and that’s the way to go: don’t mess around, do it right. Because I’ve known Damon for so long, I can get quite involved, so I can suggest things he should try - it’s quite good leverage, because we have a good understanding of how each other works.”
From an audio perspective, this show is huge. The FOH and monitor consoles – both DiGiCo SD7s - are maxed out, plus there is an SD11B deployed for the shout system.
“The SD11B is also there for monitoring for the playback and the keys tech,” Butcher continues. “He can monitor off the Optoloop rather than the submix of something, so he can see all the individual channels off the Optoloop. Furthermore, we have a [Waves] LV1 which the RF guy uses to monitor all his RF; that’s on a patch from the SD11 to get the channels to him.”
“We use the chat feature on the SD11 a lot, and with [RF engineer] Andy, too,” adds Dave Guerin. “And having RF on the same loop means we can all text chat during the show, which is really useful, as in the middle of the gig you can’t always hear what everyone's shouting.”
The stage is equally as packed as the mixing consoles: in addition to Albarn, who’s on guitar and grand piano, there is a drummer, a percussionist, a bassist, guitarist, two keys players, six BVs and, for the London show, five ‘hypnotic’ brass, and a five-piece string section.
“Since Demon Days, it’s got a lot bigger,” admits Butcher. “Damon has plenty of ambitious ideas about what he wants in the band, which is great, but very challenging. But it does mean we get amazing people playing, and with that, some amazing textures.”
Gorillaz will hit the road again in March, heading to South America for the next leg of their tour, playing in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil; and will play a string of major European festival dates this summer.
(Jim Evans)
