When Bill Alford, owner of Showtec Productions, first took over the company in 2011, he wanted to compete with the bigger production companies, so he began to update his equipment.
As part of this upgrade, he knew that DPA Microphones would provide the perfect audio support. Alford successfully won the bid for the 35-year-old B.B. King Homecoming Festival, where he was tasked with supplying the gear for the stage sound.
At the B.B. King Homecoming Festival, Alford used two d:facto 4018VL linear vocal microphones to capture the dynamic vocals of the lead singers. Some of the acts that used DPA at the festival included the B.B. King Museum All-Stars, Jake And The Pearl Street Jumpers, Steve Azar & The Kings Men, and Teeny Tucker.
“I was really surprised with how loud you could turn the microphones up without feedback,” says Alford. “The clarity of the d:facto 4018VL was a big selling point for me. I like how you can turn the gain up more than most other microphones, while still getting a clear sound. It is such a relief to know that DPA can take both extreme power and elegance from a vocalist and handle the sounds with ease.”
“Some performers do not have good microphone etiquette, they don’t know how to hold the mic and want to cover the bottom part of the head with their hand, or when they hit a high note they don’t back off the microphone,” continues Alford. “DPA has done a good job concerning these problems that other microphones continue to face. When using DPA, my front of house and monitor engineers don’t have to worry about the small things, and that is fantastic.”
Showtec Productions also received microphones on loan from DPA to test out on instruments at the B.B. King Homecoming Festival. The kit included a d:vote 4099D instrument microphone for drums, d:dicate 2011C twin diaphragm cardioid microphones for the kick drums and as overheads, and a few d:vote 4099S instrument microphones for saxophones.
“The instrument microphones are night and day compared to the ones we previously used on a regular basis,” explains Alford. “The sound is phenomenal. My front of house engineer couldn’t stop talking about them. When your front of house engineer is that excited about a product, you want to do whatever you can to try to keep those microphones around. The d:vote 4099Ds are just awesome. They give the drums a boost and make them sound like nothing you have ever heard.”
Alford hopes to purchase d:vote 4099Ds sometime in the near future. In the meantime, the d:facto 4018VL will be center stage this fall at the Delta Blues & Heritage Festival and Frogfest, a festival that celebrates Kermit the Frog and Mississippi native Jim Henson.
