Sound designer George Glossop used a DPA 4088 cardioid headband mic for UK comedian Bill Bailey’s recent Tinselworm tour, which took in some of the country’s largest live venues.

Glossop, who had previously used a DPA with another giant of British comedy, Eddie Izzard, stresses the importance of giving the audience an experience akin to watching live comedy in their living room, even in the largest of venues. Accordingly he needed to use a mic that could easily handle this level of vocal output and speech clarity.

Glossop’s relationship with DPA goes back to the manufacturer’s inception, and he has also worked closely with UK distributor Sound Network who supplied the 4088. “When DPA started producing the lavalier capsule, it was like chalk and cheese, compared to everything else out there,” he says. “They are really nice open-sounding, natural microphones. I started badgering them about making a headset mic years ago.”

Although Glossop had already used a DPA headband for Izzard, he had to wean Bailey off his usual headband mic for this tour.  “His existing mic wasn’t staying in place after being repeatedly taped onto the back of his neck, so he came around to the 4088,” says Glossop. “From his perspective, once it goes on it stays on and he can’t feel it. He’s been very, very happy with it. He jumps around all over the place during the show, which is pretty frenetic, and the 4088 stays where it should.”

Glossop has found the sound quality and robust build of the 4088 to be equally reliable. “As I tend to be Mr. Paranoid I specified a spare 4088, and the only time we needed it was for a guest artist,” he says. “It’s really robust, and fits closely around the jaw, which stops the capsule bouncing up and down and producing dither when the wearer is running around.”

Bailey played a range of keyboards and acoustic guitars during the tour, and was accompanied for the last three nights by 12 musicians with a full monitor mix on stage. “The DPA 4088 did really well over the top of it all, vocal quality was not an issue, and we didn’t have to resort to any kind of backup at any point,” he concludes.