Los Angeles, CA (November 19, 2019)—R&B sensation Khalid has been touring the globe on his Free Spirit World Tour. Along for the ride is production manager and FOH engineer CJ Blair, overseeing gear from Clair Global, including a DPA Microphone d:facto 4018VL Vocal Mic, used by the singer himself.
“Khalid, like most artists, doesn’t want a technical explanation of why something does or does not sound great,” he says. Blair has used the DPA d:factos for the entirety of the Free Spirit tour. “When Landon (Storey, Khalid’s monitor engineer) and I started using the d:facto 4018VL, we finally began to breathe easier,” he says.
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“The d:facto delivers a much more usable response for Khalid’s voice without me having to hack the EQ too much. Khalid has a very rich, deep voice and sings a lot of soft, lower-register songs. The d:facto has very little proximity effect in the low mids, so I no longer have to rely on EQ. Prior to using the d:facto 4018VL, that was a big struggle for me as FOH, especially in a big, resonant room.”
Another prior concern that Blair is able to address by using the DPA d:facto is the ability to control stage bleed from other sources. “Khalid is an extremely dynamic singer who, thankfully, has a good mic technique and doesn’t sing too far off of the mic,” he adds.
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“Initially, we were concerned about the noise from Khalid’s drummer who is crashing cymbals behind him throughout the show. Fortunately, the d:facto, which can isolate and handle noise rejection, has an amazing off-axis rejection that put to rest any of our fears.”
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