A little damp but not entirely drowned, DPA’s sweet shotgun mic stood the test of a Welsh downpour, and floated Alistair McGhee's boat in many ways
'When you first take the 4017 out of its box the thing that strikes you immediately is the weight – it weighs almost nothing. While this is irrelevant in a studio mic, for boom swingers around the world this is a boon. The principle of leverage means that dangling a weight on a long pole for hours every day is not fun and anyone who has been afflicted by the shakes after gripping a boom for the sixth take of a long scene will appreciate that a few ounces saved at the business end is worth shelling out pounds for in the purchase. And as you lift the 4017 from the foam surround, marveling at its lightness, the second thing you'll notice is that the mic is beautifully made and finished. Almost in contradiction to its weight it feels like a work of art – I confess I was overtaken by the paradox at first – but there it is: a professionally finished microphone that weighs 71 grams.'
'The 4017 is sweet and by getting closer in you can enjoy that sweetness, but there's the rub: in the 'wide and tight' world of modern TV production it's very hard to get close. At the other end of the scale, on set sometimes any tightish hypercardioid is too tight and a more forgiving cardioid helps the hard pressed boom ops in fast moving scenes. The DPA 4017 is not easily summed up – it has some beguiling sonic and engineering qualities – but you need you try it in your rig to make sure it floats your boat. This is definitely a case of getting one on demo and having a go.'
By Alistair McGhee
Review of DPA 4017 Shotgun, Audio Media April 2008, audiomedia.com