Chart-topper Jake Bugg has been using one successfully on his concerts this year while Mercury Music Prize nominee Jessie Ware is also finding that the D7 capsule, in conjunction with the versatile DMS700 wireless system, is revealing new detail in her vocal register and enriching the artiste's timbre, according to FOH engineer and tour manager, Olly Long.
"It offers so much clarity and definition, particularly in the upper-mid register," he observes.
The sound engineer was introduced to AKG's latest mic and wireless technology at tour production company Cato Music when he was working with dubstep band Hadouken. "We were able to take out a DMS700 and D5 dynamic capsule - and the results were great," he appraised.
The band then went into the recording studio, and with the summer festival season approaching he was given the opportunity to work with the then relatively unknown Jessie Ware.
"I was told she had an amazing voice but by the opening festival at Manchester Parklife I still didn't know much about her and had to hit the ground running."
In Europe she played the Pitchfork Festival in Paris and London Calling Festival in Amsterdam before heading straight into a UK tour of mostly small 300-400 capacity circuit clubs to promote her new album Devotion. And this sent Olly back in search of a top vocal mic.
Having heard great things about AKG's new D7 reference mic, he was able to spec an AKG DMS700 digital wireless system with its newly available D7 capsule option.
"The mic worked fantastically in these small venues but I also wanted to see how it would translate to the 1500 capacity Electric in Brixton; since the mic is quite directional, the results were equally outstanding," he confirmed.
(Jim Evans)
