Most of my speaking gigs take place in houses of worship. I have found that a church congregation can be very critical when it comes to their ability to clearly hear the pastor, priest, preacher, rabbi etc. The fact of the matter is that any speaking event is only successful if the speaker can get their message across clearly, and that is why we need good microphones.
Not only do we need good mics, we need the right mic for the job at hand. That is where Da-Cappo comes in. They have developed a lavalier microphone that they hope will serve as the right mic for most of your speaking gigs.
The Gear
The DA04 mics I received for review were very small lavalier microphones. The electret condenser capsule is only 2.5mm in diameter. The microphones come with a wind screen, tie clip and an adapter for your wireless receiver. I was sent two models. The DA04AL has a sensitivity of -35dB and the DA04BL has a sensitivity of -45dB. The latter model has some additional headroom designed for the pro broadcasters. The microphones listen in an omni-directional polar pattern with a published 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response.
The mics I received for review came in a flat black finish but they are also available in beige and white. Before I get into the performance of these lav mics, I think I should mention that many houses of worship have opted to use headset mics rather than lavs. Personally, I like the appearance of a lavalier microphone because it is less "rock star" looking and in my view more professional looking than a headset mic. That said, I should mention that Da-Cappo also manufactures a couple of different headset microphone designs and I may even be reviewing one in the future. OK, let's get to the performance of the DA04 mics.
The Gigs
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I mix most of my speaking events in houses of worship. My first outing with the mics was at a mid-sized church in Wilmington, Calif. The pastor of this house preferred to use a handheld wireless mic so it took a little pre-service negotiating to convince the pastor that the lav would work well. He told me he didn't really know what to do with his hands, and I suggested he hold a Bible while he preaches. I am only telling you this in case you face the same or similar resistance. The "Bible in Hand" is a good look for most preachers and gives them something to do with their hands. Anyway, back to the event.
Once I had the pastor on-board with the new lav mic, I still had to place it properly. I tend to place my mics higher on the lapel than other techs. Mainly because I feel (and hear) that I get a little more resonance out of the speaker if the mic is placed closer to the voice box. So, I clipped the DA04AL (-35dB) higher on the lapel than others may. I next married the lavalier microphone to a Shure transmitter (Da-Cappo makes adapters to interface with most types of wireless systems).
Right out of the box, the mic sounded flat and natural. Of course, I did not expect the same amount of gain as a handheld, but the lav had a good amount of headroom. The pastor of this particular church used floor monitor wedges to hear himself, and due to the omni-directional pattern of the microphone, I had a little feedback. So, I just pulled back the wedges and all was well. (By the way, most preachers or speakers don't ask to hear themselves in monitors. It would be unlikely that you will run into this type of issue during your own personal mixing duties.)
The most important question with this lav mic was whether I could get clear audio to the congregation, and I did. A few minutes into the sermon, the pastor was comfortable with the new mic, and the audience was responding to the message. By the time the service was over, I had sold the pastor on using a lav mic rather than a handheld. That would pretty much be "mission accomplished" in this case.
My next event was more of an uphill battle than the last church, as the preacher at a worship house I mixed in La Cresenta Calif. was very tied to his headset mic. I never considered that field testing the DA04 lav mic would also mean changing the hardened minds of some of the pastors I work with. At any rate I finally convinced my La Cresenta pastor to use the Da-Cappo microphone. The end result was very good. I got the same flat response from the DA04BL that I had gotten from the DA04AL. However, I preferred the AL for a live speaker. It seemed to be a little more flexible. It all boils down to the mics performing very well in two very different scenarios.
As for any of you sound techs out there who are planning on picking some new lavalier mics Da-Cappo would be a sound (pun intended) investment. It is obviously easier to walk into a speaking gig armed with good mics and not having to negotiate your way through the gig. But should you have to deal with any resistance or having to change minds at least you know you will have to right microphones with you.
Da-Cappo DA04AL and DA04BL
What It Is: Lav mics
Who It’s For: Anyone doing a lot of spoken word gigs
Pros: Small and unobtrusive, plenty of headroom, flat and natural sound
Cons: Convincing speakers to use a lav…
How Much: DA04AL: $275.00 MSRP; DA04BL: $285.00 MSRP; Shure Adaptor, Black (DAADL04) $24.00 MSRP
