DPA Provides Tunes for Millions

22 March 2001

Sweden's 'Tunes for Millions' tour in Sweden, with its cast of hundreds, includes some of the biggest concert events staged anywhere in the world. This touring choral concert production now plays 14 shows in Sweden's largest cities, to audiences of up to 4000 people. The tour comprises a small symphony orchestra, four well-known Swedish solo artists and a pop band, plus, at each concert, a large choir. Choral singing is extremely popular in Sweden; typically, the choir size would be 150-280 members. At the headline event at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, it was 5,000-strong. Front-of-house engineer Thomas Malbeck relied heavily on DPA Microphones, using DPA 4011s to capture the choir accurately on a busy sound stage. "We had so many channels, up to 96 in total," explained Malbeck, "that for the choir I had to choose a microphone with very low noise, that's why I specified the 4011. The pop band was very loud on stage, so I had to be careful that the detail of the choir could be heard above them. I used a total of 18 DPA 4011 cardioid microphones, positioned on stands, in about three or four rows, depending on the size of the choir."

Malbeck was using a Midas XL4 console to mix the concerts, submixing the choir and the violins on a Heritage 3000. The show carried a full NEXO Alpha sound rig, provided by Starlight PA. " When you use a lot of microphones, as I do, you can tell that there's a big difference between the noise level of the average mic and that of the 4011, which has incredibly low noise. Also, I like the sound of these mics: maybe it's not so obvious on a big show like this, but I used a 4011 the other day on classical piano, and that's when you can really tell the difference."