DPA Microphones Help Two Guitar Legends Impress Audiences In Asia 02 March 2015
News
FOH engineer Rick Wheeler chose DPA for Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather s recent concerts because he knew they would deliver exceptional sound quality.
Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, two of the world s most inspirational guitarists, recently completed an Asian tour that saw them together on stage for the first time in 15 years. And behind the scenes, Front of House engineer Rick Wheeler was also having a small reunion with a DPA d:facto Vocal Microphone that he first used in 2014.
Based in Nashville, USA, Wheeler has been Larry Carlton s FOH engineer, guitar tech, and tour manager for the last 10 years. He was flown to Asia specifically for this series of concerts, which took place at the Blue Note Club in Tokyo and the Hong Kong Baptist University in Kowloon Tong.
On arrival, his first choice of microphone was DPA and, after taking advice from Ken Kimura, head of DPA s Asian Office, he specified a variety of models. These included d:dicate 2011C Twin Diaphragm Cardioid Microphones for guitar, bass amps and kick, snare and hi-hat drums; d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones for toms and kick drum; a matched stereo pair of d:dicate 4011A Cardioid Microphones for overheads and the tried and tested d:facto Vocal Microphone that he used for live vocals and speech.
"I first came across DPA when I was working in Hong Kong with American blues, jazz and rock guitarist Robben Ford and was introduced to DPA microphones by Francis Lai, DPA s regional sales manager," Wheeler explains. "On that occasion I used a DPA d:facto Vocal Microphone for Robben and I chose it again for this tour because it is such an outstanding microphone for live vocals. Typically, condenser vocal mics can get unwieldy in a hurry, but the d:facto s supercardiod pattern provides a workable separation from nearby sound sources. It is extremely responsive and very natural sounding for the human voice."
Wheeler admits he was initially sceptical about DPA s d:dicate 2011C Microphone, but he soon changed his mind when he heard its clarity, particularly in Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather s guitar amps and inside the kick drum.
"I was very happy with it," he says. "It has such a high SPL that it was able to handle the vast dynamic range of the kick from our drummer, Keith Carlock (who has previously played with Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, James Taylor and Sting). Overall it was a great microphone. I was equally impressed with the d:dicate 4011A mics that we used for overheads. They really are made for that function and are outstanding overhead microphones that are exceptionally versatile. They were also very pure and accurate and didn t colour the sound at all. I was really impressed with the way the cymbals sounded, but also the way the mics picked up the rest of the drum kit so naturally."
Wheeler adds that what drew him to the d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones was their compact size and high SPL.
"After listening to them, I found them outstanding in frequency response for toms," he says. "They were very accurate and perfect in terms of staying out of the way of drum sticks, yet they could still pick up the sound of the drums."
Larry Carlton, who has won four GRAMMY Awards for his performances and compositions, and Steve Lukather, a prolific session musician who is best known for his work with the band Toto, were joined on stage by Keith Carlock, Jeff Babko on keyboards and Travis Carlton on bass.
"The real testament to the accuracy of a microphone is how happy everyone is with their stage sound," Wheeler says. "Artists tend to know what they like to hear and often don t pay much attention to the makes or model numbers. On this tour everyone was delighted with the sound and I received a lot of compliments about it. Particularly notable was the sound we achieved in Hong Kong where we played a room where the sound can get out of hand in a hurry. On that occasion, I think I went right to the edge of getting the sound at an appropriate volume for the music."
Wheeler, who is also a studio engineer and has worked with Miles Smiles, Sam Bush, Keb Mo, Herbie Hancock, FourPlay and Earl Klugh, is now back in the USA and reflecting on the success of this tour.
"Overall, it was a great experience for me, both in terms of learning more about DPA microphones and getting a great mix for the audience and performers," he says. "I like DPA mics so much that I have already recommended them to a number of other FOH engineers."
About DPA
DPA Microphones is the leading Danish Professional Audio manufacturer of high quality condenser microphone solutions for professional applications. DPA's ultimate goal is to provide you whether you're in live sound, recording, theater or broadcast with the absolute finest possible microphone solutions for your tasks. DPA takes no shortcuts in the design processes nor makes any compromises in manufacturing, which is all 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, uncolored and undistorted sound.
For more information, please visit www.dpamicrophones.com
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...
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...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
DPA Microphones Help Two Guitar Legends Impress Audiences In Asia 02 March 2015
