ESC Design Team Selects DPA 4088 Headsets and d:facto 4018 Vocal Mics for Performers.
The 2021 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in The Netherlands last month. Presented by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and hosted by Nederlandse Publieke Omreop (NPO) and Nederlandse Omroep Stichting NOS and AVROTROS, under the leadership of ESC Head of Production Erwin Rintjema, this year marked the 65th edition of the event.
Postponed from 2020, the 65th ESC was coordinated under the direction of a team of experts with decades of experience. Among them were ESC Head of Broadcast Sound Thijs Peters and ESC Head of Venue Sound Jeroen ten Brinke, longtime, consistent users of the DPA brand.
The show's design team was further supported by Ampco Flashlight, the official technical supplier for lighting, rigging and audio, which provided one-hundred 4088 Directional Headsets and 40 d:facto 4018V Vocal Microphones from DPA Microphones for all of the show's vocal performances.
I have over 25 years' experience as a live sound engineer and designer, and I have been using DPA since it was B&K; the d:factos are great-sounding mics, says ten Brinke. It was an honour to work on Eurovision, one of the world's biggest live television productions. It was wonderful to find that there was no doubt from anyone within the production as to which mics to use.
For Peters, who has 30 years' experience running sound for the Dutch National Radio & Television Services, taking care of the Eurovision Sound Contest was a unique experience, which was further compounded by the unique COVID-19 protocols in place this year. In terms of the microphones, Peters noted that they matched best with the needs of this production.
Due to the pandemic, the Eurovision team was extra cautious about hygiene. As a result, the production invested in 120 separate d:facto microphone grids to ensure each singer would have their own, for an added level of health safety. The microphone were also cleaned between changing the grids, adds Peters. Though this required more work than in the past, and the addition of two crew members, we were happy there were no issues from screwing the grids on and off the microphones so frequently.
The DPA d:facto 4018 mics are available in an extremely linear version (4018VL), as well as one with a high-end boost (4018V), which was used for the ESC. The modular nature of the d:facto enables users to switch the adapter and capsule, making it the most flexible vocal microphone on the market. Based off DPA's studio solutions, the d:facto also brings a true recording sound to the live stage or broadcast studio.
Additionally, the company's classic 4088 Directional Headset Microphone has long been an industry standard. It offers an open and natural sound for both spoken word and vocal performance applications alike, earning it a top rank for Broadway and other theatre productions. I use the 4088 headsets on almost every show because the look good and remains on position, says ten Brinke.
Photo 1: Eurovision stage. Photo Credit Ralph Larman
Photo 2: Thijs Peters. Photo Credit Ben Houdijk
Photo 3: Jeroen ten BrinkePhoto Credit Nathan Reinds
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
ESC Design Team Selects DPA 4088 Headsets and d:facto 4018 Vocal Mics for Performers.
