WHICH DIRECTION?
3 September 2014
Whether you like them or not, you can’t deny that teenage favourites, One Direction, are a success story. They are the first act to have all their first three albums debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 200 list and their latest album Midnight Memories was the best selling album of 2013 according to IFPI (source).
We heard from 1D’s FOH engineer Mark Littlewood and Monitor engineer Ant Carr, for the band’s current Where We Are Tour. When planning how they were going to mic each of the band’s instruments, the engineers decided to add four Milab DC‐96B’s to the lineup.
Milab isn’t a brand we hear much about. Back in 2007 we did a review of an earlier model of the microphone, the DC-196 (you can read that, here). The 96B is the brand’s signature mic and it’s remained pretty much remained exactly the same for the last 50 years or so.
Ant: “I’d never used Milab before we started rehearsals. Mark had put them on the input list for overheads and I was willing to give them a try. I like to build drum mixes in in‐ears starting with the overheads, it’s important to me to get a balanced mix of cymbals and drums without too much ambience outside of the kit and then mix in the direct mics. The DC‐96B has such a smooth response and accurate pick up pattern, it gives me exactly the sound I need.”
Josh Devine (drummer for One Direction) was pretty happy with the mics too: “These overhead mics are insane, I can pick everything out. The devil is in the detail!”
Mark and Ant also hooked up the mics to the guitar amps for both support guitarist, Dan Richard and to 1D member Niall Horan‘s amp as well.
Ant: “While going through the input list with Mark I said I really wanted a dynamic and condenser combination on the main guitar amp. We tried several combinations but always came back to a pairing that used the DC‐96B, Mark only uses this mic in the PA mix.”
If you’re super keen to see One Direction live, then the band is currently in the last leg of their US tour, which ends with a final show in Miami on October 5th.
Milab’s Australian Distributor:
Microphone Solutions Australia,
24 Stiles Ave, Burswood WA 6100
PH: (08) 9470 4083
RESPONSES