The Kooks began their journey in Brighton in 2004. After achieving almost immediate recognition, over the past 20 years they have built a reputation for excellence, with strong album sales and millions of monthly streams.
Their next European tour starts in February 2026 and will run straight into the festival season.
Accompanying the band are front of house engineer Russ Miller and Ralph Smart at the monitor position, both using DiGiCo Quantum 326 consoles supplied by rental company Adlib.
Miller joined the crew in 2021, with Smart following in May 2022. As Miller explains, the band already had a clear audio setup in place and, thanks to DiGiCo’s clarity, there was no reason to change consoles.
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The Kooks is the first band I’ve worked with where the console has been a permanent fixture. When we joined in 2021, we inherited a setup from another team of engineers who were already fully embedded in the DiGiCo ecosystem. We decided to keep that approach to maintain consistency. We were very happy with the SD12 96 consoles we were using, but with the arrival of the Quantum range and the reduced availability of the SD12s, we made the switch. We started with the Quantum 225 and later moved up to the Quantum 326, benefiting from its larger control surface, recalls Miller.
No one knows the music better than those who composed it, so when making decisions that affect sound quality, Miller believes it is essential that the artists are fully satisfied. For him, this approach is key to his work, especially with The Kooks.
“I’ve been mixing for quite some time now, but when you first start out as an engineer, you can think: ‘I’m the technician, I have the knowledge.’ The reality is that those musicians are on stage because they have excellent ears. They know exactly how they want their songs to sound and can hear the most subtle changes. That’s why it’s vital to maintain consistency at both ends of the system”.
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It is not only sonic quality that keeps musicians and engineers returning to DiGiCo: the control surface is also essential. The intuitive and customizable interface of the Quantum 326 allows Miller to keep his focus where it needs to be: on the band.
Mixing is like a dance, almost a performance; in a way, you’re acting almost as much as the band itself. Working with the same console all the time allows you to master that dynamic. I’m sure that regardless of the model being used, any engineer tries to keep everything organized in the same way — not only sonically, but also physically: the kick drum on a specific fader, the vocal always on the next one…
At the monitor position, Ralph Smart highlights the capabilities of the Quantum 326, such as its expanded matrix and increased processing power. For him, consistency is also a key factor. “Having a setup we can replicate in any territory through local suppliers has been fundamental. Last year we made the leap to Quantum and I haven’t looked back. The additional matrices and macros on the Q326 have given me really useful routing options that weren’t possible with the SD range”.
Smart also points to tools such as the Mustard Source Expander, useful in larger venues, as well as his experiments with tube emulations and Mustard compressors built into the console.
The combination of performance and support is one of DiGiCo’s hallmarks, and its commercial partners are no exception. Liverpool-based Adlib has been operating for more than 40 years, supplying the full range of DiGiCo consoles and accessories, as well as technicians and engineers, several of whom have joined The Kooks on tour.
“Adlib has a kindness that comes from the top down. Everyone there shares that attitude. I love working with them for that reason, and the gear is always top-notch too”, concludes Miller. “David Grimes was the systems tech on the tour, he’s amazing. Emma, our stage tech, is incredible too, and PA techs Sam and Jamie are outstanding professionals. It’s fantastic to have more experienced ears on the road”.
Support on this tour has been excellent. Dave Jones and the Adlib team have been incredible; the kit was perfectly prepared and the crew has been outstanding. DiGiCo support has always been second to none. A couple of years ago, at a festival in Europe, our console got soaked during a stage evacuation and we almost had to cancel. While we were discussing it, a DiGiCo representative appeared with a brand-new Q338. Show saved! They always come through for us, concludes Smart.
