Top 5Seen using
Shure
SM7“a Chord PolySix playing super basic chords, and Ella's vocal on an SM7, just doing some melody.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Lorde. Every item links to its public source.
23 items · Last checked What gear does Lorde use?
On Tape Notes, Jim-E Stack played an early Virgin demo with Lorde's vocal on a Shure SM7 over Korg Polysix chords, and named a Moog Rogue, a Minimoog and a Roland CR-8000 drum machine in the finished track. On the Melodrama tour she sang into a DPA d:facto 4018VL. She has named Graceland, Abbey Road and Arcade Fire's The Suburbs among records she loves.
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02
Top 5Seen using
Korg
Polysix“it was basically just that and PolySix and MiniMoog making up mostly the harmonic info.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
03
Top 5Seen using
Moog
Rogue“It was just a Moog Rogue sub bass, super simple.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
04
Top 5Seen using
05
Top 5Seen using
Roland
CR-8000 CompuRhythm“we recorded a drum machine, it's the CR-8000, and then it's basically all just like processed and chopped drum machine”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
What gear Lorde uses: a sourced gear guide
Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.
Virgin sessions
Seen using
Shure
SM7“a Chord PolySix playing super basic chords, and Ella's vocal on an SM7, just doing some melody.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
Seen using
Korg
Polysix“it was basically just that and PolySix and MiniMoog making up mostly the harmonic info.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
Seen using
Moog
Rogue“It was just a Moog Rogue sub bass, super simple.”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
Seen using
Seen using
Roland
CR-8000 CompuRhythm“we recorded a drum machine, it's the CR-8000, and then it's basically all just like processed and chopped drum machine”
Seen in Tape Notes: TN:158 Lorde & Jim-E Stack (Virgin), July 2025
Live vocal chain
Seen using
“That foundation starts with a DPA d:facto 4018LV handheld microphone”
Seen in Mix: Creating Lorde's Live Vocal Chain, July 2018
Seen using
Waves
Renaissance DeEsser“the chain starts with the Waves Renaissance DeEsser, going to the Waves C6 Multiband Compressor”
Seen in Mix: Creating Lorde's Live Vocal Chain, July 2018
Seen using
Seen in Mix: Creating Lorde's Live Vocal Chain, July 2018
Seen using
“The Aphex Aural Exciter in conjunction with the C6 totally makes up for any potential dullness”
Seen in Mix: Creating Lorde's Live Vocal Chain, July 2018
Seen using
“the Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates for a short reverb to reinforce the tonality of her voice”
Seen in Mix: Creating Lorde's Live Vocal Chain, July 2018
Records she loves
Has said they love
Has said they love
The Beatles
Abbey RoadSaid in triple j: Lorde on her playful, fun third album Solar Power, July 2021
Buy
Has said they love
George Harrison
All Things Must PassSaid in triple j: Lorde on her playful, fun third album Solar Power, July 2021
Has said they love
Lou Reed
Transformer“I'd never felt anything like that before”
Said in triple j: Lorde on her playful, fun third album Solar Power, July 2021
Has said they love
Arcade Fire
The Suburbs“I just think that record is really beautiful and nostalgic and so well-written.”
Said in Rookie: Super Heroine, An Interview With Lorde (Tavi Gevinson, archived), January 2014
Has said they love
Arcade Fire
Reflektor“There's a song called "Afterlife" on the new Arcade Fire record... it makes me incredibly happy”
Said in Rookie: Super Heroine, An Interview With Lorde (Tavi Gevinson, archived), January 2014
Has said they love
Beyoncé
BEYONCÉ“it also just feels like the album that I have wanted to hear from Beyoncé for such a long time”
Said in Rookie: Super Heroine, An Interview With Lorde (Tavi Gevinson, archived), January 2014
Has said they love
Primal Scream
Loaded
Has said they love
Dijon
Baby“I've been loving [alt-R&B singer/songwriter] Dijon's [2025] album so much.”
Said in GRAMMY.com: Lorde On The Catharsis Of Virgin, October 2025
Books she loves
Has said they love
Jenny Odell
How to Do Nothing“what that book did for me, which was to retrain my attention.”
Said in The Guardian: Lorde, I'm only just scratching the surface of my powers, June 2021
Also at
Has said they love
Wells Tower
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned“when I read it at the age of 13 it was the best collection I had ever read.”
Said in Rookie: Super Heroine, An Interview With Lorde (Tavi Gevinson, archived), January 2014
Also at
Has said they love
Joan Didion
Slouching Towards BethlehemSaid in The Guardian: Lorde, I'm not a climate activist. I'm a pop star, June 2021
Also at
Has said they love
Said in NME: Lorde, The Chosen One Returns, June 2017
Also at
Questions
About Lorde's gear.
What microphone does Lorde use?
On the Melodrama tour her engineer Philip Harvey told Mix in 2018 that her vocal starts with a DPA d:facto handheld. On Tape Notes in 2025, Jim-E Stack played an early Virgin demo with her vocal recorded on a Shure SM7.
What synths are on Lorde's Virgin?
Jim-E Stack told Tape Notes the harmonic parts were mostly a Korg Polysix and a Minimoog, with a Moog Rogue for sub bass, and that they recorded and chopped a Roland CR-8000 drum machine for the drums.
What is on Lorde's live vocal chain?
Mix reported in 2018 that Philip Harvey runs her DPA mic through the Waves Renaissance DeEsser, C6 Multiband Compressor and Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter, with Abbey Road Reverb Plates for a short reverb.
What records inspired Lorde's Melodrama and Solar Power?
NME reports Paul Simon's Graceland was a great inspiration for Melodrama. For Solar Power she called Primal Scream's "Loaded" the original blueprint of the title track, and in 2021 named Abbey Road as the album she had spent the most time with lately.
What books inspired Lorde?
She told The Guardian that Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing got her offline before Solar Power, told Rookie that Wells Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned was the best collection she had read, and drew on Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains for Melodrama.
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Named in this guide
L
Lorde
About this guide · Last checked
Lorde is the New Zealand songwriter behind Pure Heroine, Melodrama, Solar Power and Virgin. This guide covers the mic and synths heard on the Virgin sessions with Jim-E Stack, her live vocal chain from the Melodrama tour, and the records and books she has named in interviews.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Lorde didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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