Raye is an artist with huge global appeal and a long list of awards to prove it, including the recent 2026 Mercury Prize for her second album, This Music May Contain Hope. Matthias Simmons is her front-of-house engineer and Joe Standen is monitor engineer. With such a wide fan base, the tour includes a variety of venues across the world. Simmons uses a Quantum326 and Standen switches between a Quantum7, Q338 or Q225 depending on the size of the show, all supplied by Solotech.
Equally at ease in a vast stadium or intimate jazz club, Raye’s performances captivate, whatever the venue. For the engineers, the constant variety of performance style requires consoles that are flexible, reliable and have a lightning-quick workflow. Having the power of the DiGiCo Quantum Series at their fingertips gives them all the features they need and, as Simmons begins, enables him to react instinctively, staying in flow with the artists, whatever the show.
With two 17-inch, high-brightness screens and two sets of fader banks on the surface, the Quantum326 is the perfect mix of footprint-versus-power for the endless variety that Raye delivers. Generally, the touring equipment stays the same, quarantined between shows so that they can tour reliably with less warehouse-prep time required by the engineers.
Standen joined Raye’s team as monitor engineer in 2023. For him, DiGiCo provides the consistency he needs in ever-changing performance environments. He is using two SD-Racks, shared with Simmons at FOH, an SD-MiNi Rack for monitor-outboard and a D-Rack for FOH outboard. The FOH and monitor consoles are linked via an Optocore loop. Being able to scale this setup is key because, in addition to the core band of drums, bass guitar and keys, there can be backing vocals, percussion and, for the arena shows, string and brass sections, plus guest vocalists.
Having a fully integrated digital ecosystem quickly presents all the inputs in a joined-up way that improves workflow and the signal clarity. As Simmons adds, this is the ultimate time-saver and keeps the sound as pure as it should be.
With such a wide variety of venues, show formats, numbers of technical crew and artists performing alongside Raye, reducing variables for the audio mix is key to getting the most out of their systems. For Standen, the combination of support from the DiGiCo team and Solotech is the finishing touch to the technical excellence provided by his equipment.
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