d:facto Vocal Microphone

Why it is renowned

DPA's d:facto set out to bring the sound of a studio condenser to the live stage.¹ Reviewing the d:facto II for Sound on Sound in 2014, the live engineer Jon Burton took it on tour with a singer who had not found a vocal microphone to suit, and found its off-axis response set it apart from its rivals.² DPA tells of Celine Dion dropping one on stage in Copenhagen; it went on working.³

The story

The microphone was largely the project of Christian Poulsen at DPA, who told Sound on Sound that the team tuned the capsule for voices on stage, having noticed in early listening tests how often singers sing around a microphone rather than into it.² Under the screw-off pop shield sits a pre-polarised supercardioid capsule, chosen to reject noise from the stage and lower the risk of feedback; it takes 48 volt phantom power.²

The design is modular: the capsule and head come off the handle and, with an adapter, fit the wireless transmitters of most major makers.¹² The 4018V version adds a soft 3 dB boost at 12 kHz.¹ Burton found the machined mounting and the soft-touch finish of the handle a sign of careful Danish engineering.²