To add to the overall look, Ken Kimura, managing director of DPA's APAC office, suggested using different colour grids for the microphones.
"We make grids in a variety of finishes and for these concerts we fitted Patti Austin's d:facto™ with a gold coloured grid and used a nickel finish on Janis Siegel and Elisa Chan's microphones," Kimura says. "Obviously, changing the colour makes no difference to the sound quality, but it does bring a little extra theatre to the staging, which the ladies really appreciated."
DPA microphones were also used for the backing band. The piano was amplified with a matched stereo pair of
d:dicate™ 4011A Cardioid Recording Microphones and
d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones, while
d:dicate™ 2011C Twin Diaphragm Cardioid Microphones were used for the snare, hi-hat and kick drum;
d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones were used for the toms and a pair of d:dicate™ 4011A microphones were used for overheads. The double bass was also amplified by DPA because the bass player insists on using a d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphone for all his live performances.
"The concerts were an enormous success and the sound was crystal clear," John Lin adds. "All three ladies gave fantastic performances, particularly Patti Austin whose stage presence and voice were absolutely amazing and a perfect match for the d:facto Vocal Microphone. Using DPA for the Jazz World Live Series makes absolute sense because we can guarantee exceptional audio quality, and this in turn allows us to deliver a truly memorable experience for our audiences."