Los Angeles, CA (February 26 2015)—After the Academy Awards earlier this week, many attendees headed to the Governors Ball, held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center, where the legendary Sergio Mendes performed with will.i.am, using several DPA Microphones d:facto Vocal Microphones.
Selected by Mendes’ production manager John Baker, wired and wireless versions of the d:factos were used for vocals by Mendes, will.i.am and the three female singers who performed centerstage for the 45-minute set. Baker also selected DPA’s d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones for a variety of the band’s instruments.
Baker’s wife, Keiko Takeda, is Mendes’ longtime FOH engineer, a role she once again took on for the Governors Ball. “Leading up to the event, I told Keiko about my experiences using DPA and how she wouldn’t have to process the mics very much to get a perfect sound,” says Baker, who notes that while he’s a very good mixer, his wife is even better. “She’s such a good sound engineer, so I was very interested to hear what she would think of the mics. She took my advice and the set sounded fantastic. It was very interesting to see how she worked with this new process and to hear how the mics performed. Keiko was definitely impressed as well. We’re now going to have a microphone custody battle should we have competing tour schedules.”
When he’s not doing production work for Mendes, Baker can be found on the road as FOH engineer for The Al McKay All Stars—featuring Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist, songwriter and producer Al McKay—and The Jacksons.
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