Lemon said: "In 2004 with Eros, we used basically the same PA, but ran it in analogue. This year, to make the most of the digital desk's features, I convinced Agorà to run the whole system as digitally as possible, as staying in the digital domain obviously gives you more separation and edge, which is the whole idea behind using the desk."
Regarding the choice of an all-digital chain from desks to amp racks, Lemon, who used the same idea on the 2005 tour by the recently reunited Mötley Crüe, added: "It really steps the system up considerably. From the point of view of sound, the high end has much better separation and much more definition - it simply sounds much better. I noticed this even more at the indoor sport arena gigs, where there was a lot of reverb floating around and this set-up ensured everything was really a lot more accurate."
Lemon's spec included a DiGiCo D-TuBe, the world's first integrated digital tube mic preamp. "I got one of the first sets of D-TuBes to try out - after which I bought one for myself. It's great when you really want to saturate the input without digital distortion, so you can run things like bass drums, snare drums, bass and guitars a lot harder and consequently fatten them up.
"You can change the sound of the guitars by running them a lot harder on the input side, even into heavy distortion, then you can turn down the digital trim on your input and still have normal gain - it really rounds them out and, with ultra-dynamic things like snare drums, holds it all together really well and makes a great deal of difference. With Ramazzotti's eight-piece band, as well as with the mics at the guitar speakers, I ran direct line inputs from the guitars, which went through the D-TuBe and, by running them a lot harder and fiddling with the delay on the digital side, they became channels with a really different tone but still blended well with the original mic timbre - it's a great piece of gear."
Monitor engineer Stevan Martinovic added: "Jon asked to have the master section in the centre of the console, so I modified two of the six D5s we have at Agorà. The D5 is such a flexible desk that I had no problems at all handling the monitor set-up on the Ramazzotti tour, which consisted of a mixture of IEM and speaker systems. As well as four wedges out front, two behind and five speaker systems plus a sub woofer either side on side-fill chores, Eros also used an IEM system for songs with click tracks. The band was all on IEM - a combination of wireless and hard-wired systems, with a small mixer for the drummer, who fine-tuned his own sound. The D5 enabled all these systems to be interfaced and mixed precisely."
After the tour, regarding the reluctance of some colleagues to switch over to digital, Lemon opined: "Ultimately, some people prefer to stay safe, using what they're familiar with, whereas others like experimenting. When analogue users ask my opinion, I tell them the D5's going to sound like their favourite board and is the same to operate - if you use a computer you can use one of these - it's not rocket science at all!
"I'm a die-hard D5 fan and, although I've tried out other brands - as soon as somebody launches a new one, I always try it out - I've still to find another digital console that sounds as nice and is as well laid out as the D5. And the company is so good at taking feedback from engineers - they really work with you."
(Lee Baldock)
