New York, NY (October 26, 2017)—FOH engineer Bill Sheppell used DPA d:facto vocal mics on the recent Bon Jovi tour as an experiment and ultimately opted to make them a permanent fixture. As a result, official live show recordings from the tour have captured that iconic voice closer to Sheppell’s intention: “Since using the d:facto, I have noticed that we are able to use less EQ than normal.”
Sheppell was led to DPA by FOH engineer Brad Divens, who mixes Enrique Iglesias. “Brad has been using DPA for some time,” said Sheppell, “and even though I wasn’t trying to fix anything in particular, I wanted to see if the DPA mics would be an improvement or add a different flavor in certain applications.
“The d:facto worked out really well on Jon’s (Bon Jovi) vocals,” said Sheppell. “I was impressed with how natural Jon’s voice sounded through the d:facto. The other thing that helps is that Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres hits the drums and cymbals extremely hard and Jon’s normal position is in front of Tico. The cymbals that are picked up from behind Jon sound natural and smooth, so the bleed from there is not an issue like I have noticed in the past. It makes riding the vocal mic up and down in the mix seem smoother to me. I also noticed that Jon seems really happy with how his voice sounds in his ear monitors.”
Much like his musical charge, Sheppell has spent three decades in the industry, during which time he has worked with the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson, ZZ Top, Jennifer Lopez, Ministry, Korn and Green Day among many others.
Bon Jovi
www.BonJovi.com
DPA Microphones
www.dpamicrophones.com
