Authors and Literary Celebrities Find Their Festival Voice With DPA
Clarity, ease of use and the ability to match the colour of the microphone to different skin tones were all good reasons why Toby Chevis, Director of UK live events company Patch Productions, chose DPA’s 6066 Subminiature Headset Microphones to amplify speakers at the prestigious Cheltenham Literature Festival.
During the 10 day event, the company used a total of 40 6066 Headsets across eight venues, including Cheltenham’s Montpelier Gardens and Town Hall sites. Among the famous participants who happily wore DPA were Andrew Lloyd Webber, Louis Theroux, Rob Drydon and Graham Norton.
“The festival was keen to be as inclusive as possible this year, so being able to offer a microphone with varying colours option, but the same audio quality, was fantastic,” Toby Chevis explains. “I’ve been a big fan of DPA Headset Microphones for eight years now and Patch Productions owns a number of 4000 Series Headsets, but for this event we bought additional microphones.”
Based in Cirencester, Patch Productions prides itself on consistently delivering high quality technical productions covering festivals, corporate events and theatres. Although this was the first time the company had tackled the prestigious Cheltenham Literature Festival, it has previously worked on the town’s Science and Music Festivals and won this contract on the basis of the excellent services it provided at both of those events.
The Cheltenham Literature Festival was broadcast on Sky Arts, which took a mixed feed straight from Patch Productions’ desk. Audio quality was very important as it was imperative that the audience could hear every word spoken by the authors on stage.
“We did have some issues to overcome because most of the venues were temporary marquees, so we had to contend with wind and rain noise, as well as large audiences who inevitably created background noise,” Chevis explains. “However, the DPA 6066 Headsets were brilliant and delivered exceptional audio quality, despite their tiny size. We had plenty of level to play with and it was very easy to reproduce a natural sounding voice with these mics because they’re so controlled throughout the frequency range.”
Chevis adds that being able to fit them quickly and easily was also an advantage, as the turnover on stage was quite fast. Participants found them light and comfortable to wear, which added to their appeal.
“I personally think the new 6066 Subminiature Headset Microphone is unbeatable and I was delighted with the results we achieved,” he says. “We are all looking forward to continuing to use DPA and our large stock will certainly be out and about in The Cotswolds and surrounding areas over the Christmas Panto season.”
ABOUT DPA MICROPHONES:
DPA Microphones is the leading Danish Professional Audio manufacturer of high-quality condenser microphone solutions for professional applications. DPA’s ultimate goal is to always provide its customers with the absolute finest possible microphone solutions for all its markets, which include live sound, installation, recording, theatre and broadcast. When it comes to the design process, DPA takes no shortcuts. Nor does the company compromise on its manufacturing process, which is done at the DPA factory in Denmark. As a result, DPA’s products are globally praised for their exceptional clarity and transparency, unparalleled specifications, supreme reliability and, above all, pure, uncoloured and undistorted sound.
For more information, please visit www.dpamicrophones.com