Carrie Underwood front of house engineer Tim Holder and Enrique Iglesias front of house engineer Brad Divens deployed microphones from DPA for vocals and instruments for a series of performances at the Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, an immersive 5,000-capacity concert and entertainment venue.
“Immersive audio is really groundbreaking,” Holder states. “It provides a feeling of actually being part of the music for the first time. It’s amazing what you can get out of your mix in that environment. That’s where these great solutions from DPA come into play; the immersive system just enhances the high-definition capabilities of these mics.” For Underwood’s Vegas residency, Holder utilized a d:facto 4018VL microphone for lead vocals and the brand’s 4055 kick drum, 4099 instrument and 4011 cardioid condenser mics to outfit the drum kit.
“The d:facto is an amazing mic for Carrie’s vocal style,” continues Holder. “Sometimes, she ends up holding the mic at an arms-length, but you still get a full voice and great tone with the mic’s proximity effect. We also have the 4011s as overheads and 4099s on snare and toms, which take the SPL really nicely. There is a deep, fat tuning effect, especially on the snare. There’s also a 4099 on violin when the show transitions into a more classical act.”
Divens found the DPA mics to perform well for his first experience mixing Iglesias in immersive. He had Iglesias and two backup singers on d:facto 4018Vs, while the drum kit was outfitted with the brand’s 4099 instrument and 2011 twin diaphragm cardioid microphones. “The mics are so detailed and brought out all the little nuances in the drum kit, percussion and vocals,” he says. “I wholeheartedly believe that using DPA helped me hear things in the mix that I hadn’t before.
“With these high-fidelity sound systems, you hear the definition and clarity in new ways, so you’re going to want a microphone that doesn’t work against you,” Divens continues. “I always describe the DPA sound to be exactly as the source intended. You have to EQ a lot of other microphones because they have inherent curves or sonic characteristics that you may or may not like. With DPA, it only sounds like the instrument being played, and to me, that detail translates extremely well through the immersive system.”
Despite being the first time either engineer mixed a show with spatial audio, both Divens and Holder note that the experience was beyond their expectations. “I’m having so much fun,” Divens says. “It’s an entirely different way of mixing and enjoying a concert. It’s very creative and more musical. The immersive aspect combined with the DPA mics has turned the same show I’ve seen every night into something fresh and brand new.”
Holder adds, “There is so much you can do with this format. It almost feels like you can touch the audio, depending on how close or distant you place the mic to the source. It’s so dimensional and very cool. You can tell the audience loves it, too, even if they don’t really understand how special the setup is. During set or wardrobe changes, the different effects and transitions get a huge reaction out of the crowd. It’s quality systems like these that make us really appreciate DPA microphones.”
