DPA helps Joel Compass Perfect His Mic Technique
Since switching to DPAs d:facto Vocal Microphone the up and coming R&B artist has changed the way he holds his microphone and developed a more consistent sound.
Emerging UK artist Joel Compass has become the latest in a long line of singers to join the DPA Microphones fan club.
Compass, a 21 year old from South London who is rapidly making a name for himself as an up and coming R&B star, was switched on to DPAs award-winning d:facto Vocal Microphone by his tour manager Mark Portlock and his engineer Liam Halpin.
DPA microphones are renowned for their audio quality and very low noise floor, so I initially considered the d:facto Vocal Microphone for another artist I am working with who has a particularly quiet voice, Portlock says. However, once Liam and I demo-ed it we realised it would also work really well for Joels voice, which has a great dynamic range. We introduced him to the microphone and he absolutely loved it. He is now using d:facto for all his live vocal performances.
Liam Halpin adds that DPAs d:facto Vocal Microphone has made his life as an engineer much easier because he can use it with any professional wireless microphone system.
DPAs UK distributor Sound Network supplied us with an adapter that gives us seamless integration with all of the professional wireless systems we usually encounter, Halpin says. I am a big fan of Shures wireless system but that doesnt preclude me from using other brands of microphone. There is a correct microphone for every situation and in Joels case, when it comes to live vocals, its the DPA d:facto. With this microphone all I need is an adapter, a capsule and a grill and I can walk into any venue and use any wireless system - I don't have to take in my own. That saves us having to rent in a wireless system and allows us to use the right microphone for the artist and the performance space.
Joel Compass has been making waves in the UK after getting an early buzz from media outlets such as MTV and Digital Spy. As well as performing his own material, Compass also writes for other artists and is making a name for himself as a producer - indeed his ballad, Run, was written with Rihanna in mind. His latest single Forgive Me is currently climbing the UK Top 50 and he has been making high profile appearances at the MTV Brand New awards, at Londons Red Bull Studios and live support shows with Rudimental and US star J Cole. He is also working on projects with established artists and his own debut album Science. A busy summer including live shows at Glastonbury and Wireless and secret garden festivals awaits.
Mark Portlock and Liam Halpin believe that introducing Compass to the d:facto has had a number of hidden benefits, not least helping him redefine his microphone technique.
DPAs d:facto Vocal Microphone seems to work best when artists use In Ear Monitors, because thats when they can really hear the difference it makes to their voice, Halpin says. With Joel, we started out using wedges but this was a real pain because he would sing right off the mic, often with his hands covering parts of the grill. Eventually, when we switched to d:facto, we persuaded him to move to IEMs, which he now has in both ear. The change this made to his mic technique was dramatic. Suddenly he could hear his own voice properly and he got right on the microphone because he was enjoying the improved sound so much. Its made a huge difference to his performance and to the consistency of his sound - in fact I would go so far as to say that this microphone has done more than anything else to get his live performance to where it is now.
DPAs d;facto Vocal Microphone now features on the equipment rider for every gig that Joel Compass does and as a result Portlock and Halpins favoured rental company, Encore, has invested in its own stock. The microphone is also proving popular with the studio and broadcast engineers the team have encountered during the filming of some of Joel Compass gigs.
Its really funny how their faces light up when you tell them your artist is using a DPA microphone, Halpin laughs. Studio and broadcast engineers are usually pretty disdainful about live mics but with this one they are more than happy. They know all about the audio quality of DPA so the d:facto gives us credibility.
Portlock adds that the d:facto Vocal Microphone also gives Joel Compass credibility, especially among other artists who recognise that it is a significant investment. He gives DPAs UK distributor Sound Network much of the credit for making it possible to move Compass onto a d:facto - and for supporting the team while they made the switch.
The d:facto is not cheap and there is no way we would have committed a developing artist to such an expensive microphone if we hadnt had fantastic distributor support, he says. The fact that Sound Network was able to lend us the d:facto Vocal Microphone in various forms so that we could try them all out - with cable bodies, adapters, different coloured grills etc - made a huge amount of difference. It gave us the confidence to go with the microphone and it also inspired our rental company to buy stock of its own so we now have access to mics that we can rent through them.
To see Joel Compass in action at Transmitter Live using DPAs d:facto Vocal Microphone, please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7stBS5lYtI
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
DPA helps Joel Compass Perfect His Mic Technique
