LAS VEGAS, APRIL 4, 2024 ― Whereas spatial audio was taking on the recording business, the Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas—an immersive 5,000-capacity live performance and leisure venue—launched it to the dwell music scene as nicely. Yearly, the multi-level theatre welcomes numerous musical acts that take the stage and wow audiences with distinctive and never-before-seen, or heard, immersive performances. This consists of high-profile artists like Carrie Underwood and Enrique Iglesias.
With immersive audio being a comparatively new format within the dwell business, audio professionals working these reveals have needed to method their mixes from a distinct angle. This was the case for Entrance of Home Engineers Tim Holder and Brad Divens, who labored on reveals for Underwood and Iglesias, respectively. Understanding that the readability and definition of their mixes was extra essential than ever, each engineers required high-quality microphones with detailed, pure replica. Holder and Divens due to this fact turned to a long-trusted model, DPA Microphones, for a wide range of vocal and instrument mic options.
“Immersive audio is admittedly groundbreaking,” Holder shares. “It offers a sense of really being a part of the music for the primary time. It’s wonderful what you may get out of your combine in that atmosphere. That’s the place these nice options from DPA come into play; the immersive system simply enhances the high-definition capabilities of those mics.” For Underwood’s Vegas residency, Holder utilized a DPA d:facto4018VL Vocal Microphone for lead vocals, and the model’s 4055 Kick Drum, 4099 Instrument and 4011 Cardioid Condenser microphones to outfit the drum package.
“The d:facto is an incredible mic for Carrie’s vocal fashion,” continues Holder. “Generally, she finally ends up holding the mic at an arms-length, however you continue to get a full voice and nice tone with the mic’s proximity impact. We even have the 4011s as overheads and 4099s on snare and toms, which take the SPL actually properly. There’s a deep, fats tuning impact, particularly on the snare. There’s additionally a 4099 on violin when the present transitions right into a extra classical act.”
Divens discovered the DPAs to carry out equally nicely for his first expertise mixing Iglesias in immersive. Divens had Iglesias and two backup singers on DPA d:facto 4018Vs, whereas the drum package options the model’s 4099 Instrument and 2011 Twin Diaphragm Cardioid microphones. “The mics are so detailed and introduced out all of the little nuances within the drum package, percussion and vocals,” he says. “I wholeheartedly imagine that utilizing DPA helped me hear issues within the combine that I hadn’t earlier than.
“With these high-fidelity sound methods, you hear the definition and readability in new methods, so that you’re going to desire a microphone that doesn’t work in opposition to you,” Divens continues. “I all the time describe the DPA sound to be precisely because the supply meant. It’s important to EQ plenty of different microphones as a result of they’ve inherent curves or sonic traits that you could be or might not like. With DPA, it solely sounds just like the instrument being performed, and to me, that element interprets extraordinarily nicely via the immersive system.”
Regardless of being the primary time both engineer blended a present with spatial audio, each Divens and Holder notice that the expertise was past their expectations. “I’m having a lot enjoyable,” Divens shares. “It’s a completely totally different approach of blending and having fun with a live performance. It’s very artistic and extra musical. The immersive facet mixed with the DPA mics has turned the identical present I’ve seen each night time into one thing recent and model new.”
Holder agreed, saying, “there may be a lot you are able to do with this format. It virtually appears like you possibly can contact the audio, relying on how shut or distant you place the mic to the supply. It’s so dimensional and really cool. You possibly can inform the viewers loves it, too, even when they don’t actually perceive how particular the setup is. Throughout set or wardrobe modifications, the totally different results and transitions get an enormous response out of the gang. It’s high quality methods like these that make us actually admire DPA microphones.”
A bass participant by commerce, Holder has been within the leisure business his complete life. After rising up taking part in music, he transitioned into the skilled audio scene and started his profession as a mixer. Holder has labored alongside business icons equivalent to Steven Tyler, Kenny Chesney, Enrique Iglesias and the Backstreet Boys. He blended Underwood’s residency at Resort World Theatre via December 2023 and appears ahead to future alternatives on the venue.
Divens started his musical profession when he obtained his first guitar at age 10. His ardour for the artwork grew with him and he spent a few years in bands like KIX, Wrathchild America and Again Alley Gators. After selecting up a mixing job by probability, Divens discovered his new ardour, which led him to working with artists equivalent to Linkin Park, Mötley Crüe, and Cyndie Lauper. Divens can now be discovered mixing for Enrique Iglesias, who wrapped the North American leg of his tour in December.
