Currently touring in the US to promote her second album, Halcyon, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ellie Goulding is using the a wireless version of DPA’s d:facto vocal mic for all of her concerts. Her choice follows a trial at the recent Chime for Change concert, staged in London.
The introduction to the new mic came through FOH engineer Oz Bagnall and monitor engineer James Neale. Dave Kay at Adlib Audio recommended it as a replacement for the hardwired mic used on Goulding’s previous European tour. DPA’s UK distributor Sound Network was able to arrange a demo prior to Chime for Change, and Bagnall and Neale were impressed….
‘During Ellie’s European tour we struggled with level and ambient spill on her vocal, so we used a mic that was discontinued several years ago and was only available as a hardwired version,’ Bagnall says. ‘From that point, our search was on to find a modern microphone with similar rejection but hopefully with better quality sound. We tried out a lot of different microphones before demoing the DPA d:facto Vocal Microphone. Apart from sounding amazing, it was the only microphone that was able to deliver what we wanted in terms of rejection, plus it allowed us to go back to a wireless system which gives Ellie much more scope to move on stage.’
‘During the first [Chime for Change] soundcheck, Ellie did find the change in tonality a little disconcerting, but we persuaded her to use it for the show and in the end she was very happy with the result,’ Bagnall adds. ‘At FOH, the microphone was a huge success as I had all the level I needed and much improved audio quality and clarity. I especially like its flat response and virtually no low end proximity effect.’
Having demoed the mic with a Shure wireless system, Bagnall is now using it with his existing Sennheiser system: ‘At Chime for Change, our slot in the concert programme put us on the side stage so that the main stage could be reset for Beyoncé. This meant that Ellie was in front of and in between the SL main and side PA hangs, which from a sound quality perspective is not an ideal position. However, thanks to the DPA d:facto Vocal Microphone, the sound we got in the stadium was great. I was pleased that we were able to take delivery of the wireless version of the d:facto before Chime for Change – and very grateful for the help Sound Network and Adlib Audio gave us.’
