For the 31-year-old singer, music was salvation and healing in one. She spent a year in the hospital after a serious cycling accident in 2003. Initially, she was unable to play piano as a result of head and spinal injuries. Her voice suddenly came to the forefront and she began singing lessons and music therapy. Slowly, she sang her way back to normal life and onto the world’s stages. During her first concert appearances after the accident, she required the help of electric stimulators to help manage the pain. Today, she seldom needs the treatment on stage anymore. It’s only in her voice where the pain and suffering resonates. It's what makes her songs richer in nuance.

They are nuances that the audience ought to be able to hear in the greatest fidelity possible. To make sure they do, Gardot and her team have put their trust in the latest Sennheiser technology, the wired digital mics from the Neumann Solution D range, the MKH-8000 series and the Digital 9000 wireless system from Sennheiser. In an immense show of faith, musicians and Gardot swapped out the microphones in the middle of the tour. Gardot tested the new wireless microphone for the first time in Paris. “The clarity is amazingly different,” she recalls. With seven musicians – drums, bass and saxophone – it is difficult to achieve a refined sound on stage. But this microphone can easily handle such challenging conditions. “I could feel the proximity as if I were in the studio,” she says. “It was almost like having a studio microphone but during a live set.” The technology is able to capture the natural sound of her voice and the instruments that surround her. “For me as a vocalist, I love this microphone because it’s a perfect mirror” for me, she says. At Gardot’s recent concerts, this authenticity and faith in the technology is palpable.

Before each tour, François sits down with Gardot and his technician team to consider what new technological developments are available that could be useful this time. “When I come up with a crazy idea, my guys have usually already had it before me,” Gardot says. They decided to use digital mics for instruments for the first time and the wireless Digital 9000 system for Melody’s voice. The singer had used a wireless mic before, because freedom of movement on stage comes first and foremost for Gardot. She loves going out on stage with a wireless microphone. “When there’s a cord and I’m moving around a bit, there’s a danger I might slip and fall,” she says. And if she did, it might result in a lengthy interruption of her tour. Still, neither Gardot nor her technicians had been happy with the wireless mic technology they used before this. “We always had this 'tss-tss-tss' sound, which is particularly bad for a singer with a really soft voice like Melody,” François says. Gardot could also hear the sounds, and they bothered her.

Innovative Technology for an "Ultimate Sound Experience"

That interference disappeared once they began using the Digital 9000 system. François is thrilled. “The microphone is incredibly easy to use – it’s light and the frequency settings can be adjusted quickly.” The rest of the team shares his sentiment, including Mathieu, who operates the mixing console, and Devin, the keyboard player. They’re both big fans of the Digital 9000 system and the digital mics.