Transcript
ROAD TESTED
DPA REFERENCE STANDARD MICROPHONES
DPA D:FINE HEADWORN CONDENSER MICROPHONES
DPA has always been a name to go to when you need a specialised microphone that many other companies do not produce. Now, with their new d:fine range of single sided headset condenser microphones, DPA gives users a very high quality microphone that is not only simple to set up, but is also comfortable and very discreet. WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT The d:fine headset microphones come packaged in a handy carry case to protect them in transit, making them the ‘go anywhere’ headset microphone that stage presenters, theatre actors and aerobics instructors are going to love. Even lead singers in just about any band, or guitarists and drummers who do not want to be chained to a microphone stand are going to love this microphone. CARDIOID WORKOUT It sits comfortably around the ear, so much so that you barely even realise you are wearing it after a few minutes. Better still, being available in black or flesh colours, and being so slim in design, you can hardly see it when worn either. The lead running from the microphone has a handy clip that is adjustable down the length so you can firmly secure it to your clothing and ensure it stays out of the way as it runs down to your choice of belt back wireless transmitter. The d:fine range is available in two microphone options; either omni-directional or in a cardioid pickup pattern. The omni-directional model is the simplest and easiest to use. It really doesn’t matter how it is placed or how it sits around you face, you get a great response no matter what you do. This makes it ideal for users who just what to put the microphone on and get the job done, without worrying about microphone
placement or setup. The second option, the cardioid microphone, offers the user a far superior side and rear rejection. This means you can cut out unwanted stage noise from other instruments or reduce the risk of feedback from fold back speakers. The cardioid model does require a little more attention when being placed on the head to ensure that its pickup pattern encompasses the sound source, but the results are well worth the effort. You can really hear a reduced noise level with this model and can afford to run it at lower gain settings as the signal is much higher and clearer. EXPRESS YOURSELF The adjustable headpiece sets comfortably behind the ear, out of sight of your audience, but allows you to adjust the arm forward or backwards to position the miniature capsule to sit as close to your mouth as is necessary. Gone are the days of wearing large bulky headset microphones that really have no place but in an old Madonna film clip. DPA not only gives you a high quality condenser microphone that sounds too good for its size, but also one that is discreet and extremely comfortable. With both options available in either black, beige, brown or lime and with a range of accessories including wind shields and adaptors to suit just about any transmitter, the DPA d:fine range is really the microphone to choose if you want the best. By Rob Gee Price: RRP $749 (omni-directional), $799 (cardioid) Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
With more and more musicians turning to in ear monitoring on stages these days, there are a lot of systems out there that let themselves down with poor quality ear buds that really do not suit the intended purpose. That is why I see more people turning to Shure ear buds for a better fit, a more discreet placement and the sound quality that you want when you’re on stage. The SE215 sound isolating earphones from Shure give the user just that and offer the adjustability that is needed to suit each and every artist who wants to use them.
CLEVER FIT The SE215 earphones have a removable cable that comes off at the buds for easy replacement if damaged, this split cable has wire inserts at the end where it connects to the buds to allow you to form fit the cable over your ear and run them down your back. The buds themselves then sit within the ear, with the sleeves inserted for a tight fit. This not only gives you a secure fitting that is unlikely to fall out with usual stage use, but also ensures the ear buds go almost unnoticed, sitting snugly within the ear and having the cable run discretely down your back. The units come packaged with a handy carry pouch, two ear buds, the cable and a selection of
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EXPAND YOUR MIND Two microphones that I got to test this month were the DPA 2006A, a long omni-directional twin diaphragm microphone and the DPA 2011C, a compact cardioid twin diaphragm microphone. Both have been redesigned from previous DPA models that have proven themselves in the past and both a part of a range that offers modular expansion with the ability to switch capsules. 2006A The 2006A is an omni-directional microphone that benefits from DPA’s twin diaphragm design to give you a response that is almost totally linear across a very wide bandwidth. When you want to capture every subtle nuance of a piano’s performance or get every detail from an acoustic guitar, you really can’t go past this microphone. It delivers a rich capture of your sound and doesn’t allow for you to make any mistakes. They will be heard! The omni-directional pickup pattern of this microphone allows you to not only capture the original transient of the note, but also the decay as the sound travels past the capsules, giving you a more natural response and a clarity that is just pristine.
2011C The 2011C is a smaller, compact microphone that has a cardioid pickup pattern. It is more of a workhorse than the 2006A and can be used in a wider range of applications. Being able to withstand much higher sound pressure levels, the 2011C is ideal for close up microphone placement to get the sharp snap from your instrument. It offers better side and rear rejection with its cardioid pickup, giving you a direct sound that stands out in the mix without much need for EQ compensation. I only wish I had a pair of these to try out in a stereo setup so I could hear how the responded. My guess is that you are not going to be disappointed with either one or two of these microphones in use. The real beauty of these reference microphones from DPA, aside from their pristine audio capture is the fact that you can mix and match the preamps and capsules for varies units. So, with a few of these in your microphone arsenal, you have a wide range of applications that can be dealt with by simply changing the configurations around. The twin diaphragm design is something that really needs to be heard. There are few engineers out there that would turn their noses up to these microphones and there are a number of home recording setups that would be greatly improved by the simple addition of a DPA reference standard microphone... or two, or three. By Rob Gee Price: RRP $1199 (2006A), $999 (2011C) Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
VHT SPECIAL 6 ULTRA
Distributor : Amber Technology
SHURE SE215 SOUND ISOLATING EARPHONES
DIRECT SOUND The SE215 earphones are designed to not only be comfortable and clear, but to also isolate your ears from the noise of a loud stage, so you can have control over what your hear when performing. With a selection of soft rubber and foam sleeves for the buds in different sizes, you can be assured that they fit snugly within the ear to ensure that unwanted external sound does not get in and interfere with your monitoring signal. The various sleeves offer different amounts of sound isolation as well as a different fit, with up to 37dB of sound isolation available, this makes the SE215 a great option for when you really need a defined sound in your monitor send that is not interrupted by stage noise.
When looking to get a true and accurate representation of an instrument in a recording, it is often the colouration of the microphone that lets the overall sound down. This is why most engineers have all sorts of microphones for different applications and will often use more than one microphone to try and capture an instrument’s true sound. DPA have strived to bring you a range of microphones that offer a true reference of you instruments characteristics in your recording and not simply a representation of the microphone’s attributes.
foam and rubber sleeves. They are available in black or clear, giving you an even more discrete look when you don’t want your in ear monitoring system to stand out on stage. But looks and feel are not just all they offer. These earphones sound amazing. You get a tough low end when they are seated properly within the ear and the high frequency response is sharp and precise without being ear piercing. These make a great in ear monitoring bud for the price, but can also be used for personal listening to MP3 players too. Just because they are designed to work on stage, doesn’t mean their use is strictly limited to that. If you go around with earphones plugged in half the day, then why not treat yourself to a pair that is not only sleek and comfortable to wear, but a pair of earphones that will allow you to hear your music the way you want to, with full bass and top end clarity.
The VHT Special 6 is a very fine little amp indeed. It’s a 6 watt, boutique-style hand wired amp rocking a single 12AX7 preamp tube and a 6V6 in the output stage. Control options are pretty limited: just a single tone pot, a volume control with a gain boost, and a low/ high power switch. One of VHT’s goals with that amp is to make something simple to serve as a platform for modders to work their magic on its minimal circuit. And it worked. If you go online you’ll find all sorts of mods for the Special 6. Different speakers, upgraded caps, bright switches, gain mods… it’s a tinkerer’s dream. But y’know who else wanted to tinker with the Special 6? VHT. MODS AND ROCKERS Think of the VHT Special 6 Ultra as a factory-modded Special 6. It shares a lot in common with the Special 6: it has the same volume and tone controls, the same foot switchable boost, the same low/high power switch, and a similar intentionally mod-friendly eyelet board. But there’s also a new eleven-position Depth control for fine-tuning the low frequencies, an additional preamp gain stage, a variable Watts control, and a tube-driven effect loop and a three-position Texture switch inspired by vintage studio EQs like the legendary Pultec EQP-1A. In fact, in the manual VHT describes it as “like a buildin post-production Pultec mastering EQ.” And there’s a new line out which is in parallel with the effects loop send and return jacks. Use it to send a tube-buffered low impedance unbalanced signal to mixing consoles or other amps, or use it to connect to another Special 6 Ultra by connecting it to the second amp’s effects return jack. ULTRAMAN There’s still a 6V6 power tube, but now there are two 12AX7s instead of one. It’s still a six watt amp, with a 12” VHT ChromeBack speaker at 16 ohms in the open-back cabinet. There are two extension speaker jacks with selectable 4, 8 and 16 ohm modes if you need more volume or would like to experiment with different speakers before you swap out the stock one. And interestingly there are Clean and Ultra inputs, and no amp-mounted channel switch. If you wish to flip between channels you’ll need the [included] foot switch.
combination with the Texture switch. The middle position of the switch offers clear highs and thinned-out mids, while the left and right positions seem to make the tone progressively darker and more mellow. Using the Ultra mode, which kicks in the extra gain stage, you can get some pretty damn distorted sounds, great for punk and classic rock but also with plenty of heft for stoner metal if you crank the Depth control all the way up. The Watts control is a great way of comparing the amp’s preamp and power amp distortions, and it’s interesting to find the point at which the power amp grind starts to overwhelm the preamp fuzz. The Depth control is relatively subtle compared to the Texture switch and Watts control, but it all adds up to a huge amount of tone-shaping potential. Some players will love what the Special 6 Ultra offers right out of the box, without any mods. Others will probably think “Woo hoo! Even more stuff to mod!” And although I’m sure that ingenious tweakers will be able to conjure something even cooler from the Special 6 Ultra’s guts, most players will be more than happy with the amp exactly as it is right out of the box. It was hard giving this one back! By Peter Hodgson
By Rob Gee Price: RRP $125 Distributor: Jands Phone: (02) 9582 0909 Website: www.jands.com.au
JANUARY 2012
SUBTLE TEXTURE By the way, the manual is great. It gives you a complete circuit diagram as well as charts which map the parameters of the various controls. First up, the clean sounds are quite nice indeed, with plenty of authentic boutique feel, especially once you start experimenting with the Watts control in
Price: RRP $519 Distributor: Dynamic Music Phone: (02) 9939 1299 Website: www.dynamicmusic.com.au
