Recording - November 2013 - 43

can also be used wired or wirelessly with
a variety of body packs.
The only difference I experienced
between the sound of the wired body and
the SL-1 adaptor I was sent for my Shure
ULX-Pro system was that the wireless system was a tad lower in output and a bit
noisier, but this was the wireless system
and not the microphone, and the difference was slight.
d:workload
I used the d:facto II wirelessly live for a few
months and wired in my studio. The easiest
way to describe this mic is: gently forward,
and clear as a bell. On stage it pushes the
vocals effortlessly through the mix with a natural clarity. Due to its tight supercardioid pattern I had zero issues with feedback, and it
also did well to minimize other instruments
on stage like the drums and guitars.
In the studio I used it on a few sessions
where the performer needed to sing at
the same time as tracking their acoustic
guitar part for feel. While I originally
intended these to be only scratch vocals,
the tone of the vocal was so close to the
clarity of many of my large-diaphragm
studio mics that it rivaled them in the final

vocal mix. It also did a fine job of minimizing bleed from the acoustic guitar and
did not highlight the room sound at all.
The d:facto II tone is very consistent. It has
a very tight, sharp off-axis rejection and
very little proximity effect, even if the singer
eats the mic. This is presumably due to the
mic’s built-in highpass filter; it is quite different than my experiences with other high-end
vocal handhelds, like Shure’s KSM9 and the
Earthworks SR40V, both of which thicken up
in tone as a singer gets right up on them.
Not better or worse, just different, depending on the sound one is after. As you would
expect from DPA, this is a mic that adds
almost nothing to the sound of the vocalist,
no high hype, no woof, no thickness.
d:othercapsules
Using the d:facto II with a DPA 2006 twin
diaphragm omni capsule makes the mic
ultra wide with almost zero off-axis rejection—as such, well suited for choir and
small vocal groups. One caveat, however:
in my opinion this configuration is good for
distance work and room mic duties only. If
you treat it as a normal up-close vocal mic
with this capsule it’s very bright and sibilant.

I also I tried it with one of DPA’s 2011
twin diaphragm cardioid capsules.
Unfortunately this capsule is too tall to
screw the windscreen back on, so I placed
it over the capsule and just rested it there for
test purposes. This setup had a rich low-end
proximity effect and a nice smooth off-axis
rejection. It’s a very luxurious sound, and I
am curious if DPA’s smaller MMC4011 cardioid capsule, which would fit in the windscreen assembly, would be a nice cardioid
option for this mic. I am guessing it would,
as the 4018V was based upon the 4011,
as per the 2012 NAMM press conference.
d:singersongwriter
This leads me to my last thought on the
d:facto II microphone. I think DPA may
have stumbled upon the perfect microphone system for the professional
singer/songwriter!
The d:facto II can travel from gig to gig
as a personal vocal mic, wired or wireless, and then come back home where it
is perfect wired, to achieve high-quality
vocal takes for your songwriting sessions,
demos and even a final album. Since it’s
a standard DPA mic in handheld clothing,
it can also be very well suited to tracking
acoustic guitar and percussion.
While a supercardioid pattern is not
most engineers’ choice for most instrument recording, for the home-based song-

writer whose room may be problematic
it’s actually perfect. It focuses on the voice
and the instrument and not the room.
d:end
At $899.95 this is definitely a high-end
option for a vocal mic, but once you hear
it, it will be hard to go back to anything
in a lesser category. I also appreciate the
simple price structure DPA offer. It’s easy
to budget what you need to expand your
system, and the combination of pristine
quality and ultimate flexibility just can’t be
beaten.
Price: $899.95; additional
bodies/adaptors $249.95 each
More from: DPA Microphones,
www.dpamicrophones.com
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com) is
a recording engineer, producer, sound
designer, and live sound engineer, living and
working in Milwaukee. He loves it when his
studio gear makes his life easier on stage, too.

http://www.recordingmag.com http://www.dpamicrophones.com

Recording - November 2013

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