Amber Technology Blog

Marco Caviglia, vocalist and guitarist with Dire Straits Legacy, has switched to a DPA d:facto Vocal Microphone for all of his live performances.

“This amazing microphone is engineered especially for onstage vocals and holds a supercardioid capsule that reproduces every nuance of the human voice, transparently, consistently and thrillingly,” he says. “As soon as I tried it I knew it was the microphone for me – the results were so good that it is now my first choice of microphone for all my on-stage performances.”

Caviglia went to DPA’s Italian distributor, M Casale Bauer for a demo after first using the d:facto Vocal Microphone whilst working on a new album at Forward Studios in Italy.

“Like traditional supercardioid microphones, d:facto enjoys high side and rear rejection with a minimum of 9_dB attenuation to the sides,” he says. “What makes it unique, though, is its wider acceptance angle at the front. This is identical to a first-order cardioid at ±60 degrees off-centre, resulting in the same work field as a cardioid but with extremely high and uniform side and rear damping. This really makes a difference because the microphone is not bound by the less desirable aspects of a supercardioid like the uncontrolled and nonlinear rear lobes, which can create feedback from stage wedges. To put it simply, this microphone is great!”

Caviglia has always been a fan of Dire Straits and considers Mark Knopfler to be a great mentor and hero. He is based in Rome and in 1988, formed the Dire Straits tribute band Solid Rock. Over the next 20 years, they've played nearly 1,000 gigs all over Europe.

He is today a vital member of Dire Straits Legacy, what used to be Dire Straits Legends - a concept show celebrating the music of the much loved Dire Straits band. The show involved musicians such as John Illsley, Phil Palmer, Alan Clark, Mel Collins, Jack Sonni, Danny Cummings, Pick Withers and Chris White, who have all recorded with the iconic band as some point throughout the years. The Legacy perform at a range of different events every year.

“I am very lucky to have the opportunity to be on stage with my heroes and to celebrate the legacy of Dire Straits in front of thousands of fans,” Caviglia says. “When I first decided to switch my microphone to a d:facto, my Dire Straits Legacy sound engineer Maurizio Nicotera was a little bit worried because he wasn’t sure how it would perform with Steve Ferrone on drums behind me. However, he didn’t need to be concerned because the d:facto was easily up to the task. Even with challenging sound pressure levels, the d:facto’s 160 dB SPL threshold, three-step pop protection grid and best in class low handling noise gave us excellent sonic reproduction with all the detail and balanced linear phase and frequency response we needed for a great sound.”

Dire Straits Legacy recently completed a series of gigs in Brazil before returning to Europe for concerts in Luxemburg, Italy and France.

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