DiGiCo D5 Powers Audio Extravaganza On Janet Jackson 2008 Mega Tour at Hands of Longtime Live Sound Wrangler Jon Lemon

Jon Lemon.

Photo: courtesy of DiGiCo.

Audio Product Stories Published: 13 January 2009
Janet Jackson, the iconic pop force of nature, has nothing new to promote on her current ‘Rock Witchu’ tour… nothing that is, except a brimming body of work spanning her 25-year, musical- and genre-bending career. Jackson’s show features over 3-dozen songs showcased throughout the course of the 2-1/2 hour evening—replete with singers, dancers and a live band against a spectacular video backdrop. So, although it may appear that Ms. Jackson is resting on her laurels, as one of the top ten best-selling music artists in the history of contemporary music, she’s got a lot of accomplishments to lean on.

Front and center at the audio helm of ‘Rock Witchu’ is long-time live sound wrangler, Jon Lemon. Jon knows a thing or two about the DiGiCo D5, being one of the very first engineers to get his hands on a prototype back in 2002—and worked with the DiGiCo engineers to tweak the console specs to accommodate the needs of his colleagues. Since then, he’s toured using the D5 with bands and artists from Beck and Bryan Ferry to Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd.

“Sonically, the D5 is the best thing out there, but I have not tried the SD7 yet,” he says. “And on this show, I knew I needed something dependable because I have over 100 snapshots in the console,” Lemon says. “I admit, I don’t do many pop tours, but I was chosen by her. She had heard some stuff I’d done and said, ‘I want that guy’. She didn't want a pop sound on this tour; she wanted it loud and with more of a rock sound.”

Lemon was able to pre-program and dial in the majority of the snapshots in his laptop in the week leading up to the final show rehearsals. “If I’ve got all the information, I’ll do it all on a laptop in an afternoon and then send it to the sound company and they can patch it all up. I always use all the basic stuff on the console, compressors, gates on drums… but then I like having a rack of some additional valve outboard equipment and EQs, and they can line check it all so when the console arrives, it’s basically ready to go.”

That preparation was essential for this tour, and made the ever-changing nightly challenges and complexities of the show, both on- and off-stage, manageable. “There are over 45 songs and multiple medleys, with things changing rapidly between the band and Pro Tools, and costume and headset changes,” Lemon sums. “With the D5, I can cut down on my external inserts because I can just swap all of that around within the snapshots. It just makes more sense, really… The rest of the challenge is getting through the long days!”

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