DPA microphones played a vital role at Dublin’s fourth Web Summit at the RDS by ensuring that key speakers could be clearly heard, despite high levels of background noise.

10,000 delegates from over 90 countries attended the two-day tech convention, which was officially opened when Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny rang the NASDAQ bell. New York’s NASDAQ stock exchange is synonymous with techie start-ups and this was the first time ever that the bell marking the start of trading was rung from Ireland.

Enda Kenny, Bruce Aust & Paddy Cosgrave

Given the importance of this event – and the fact that the opening ceremony was broadcast live on television and streamed live online – it was imperative that the technical facilities were of the highest quality.

Tony Lanigan, Technical Director and Production Manager at Dublin-based rental/staging company Avtek, was responsible for specifying the audiovisual equipment for the entire event. He chose the cardioid DPA d:fine™ 4088 Headset Microphones for the speakers and presenters because they were the best alternative to lapel mics for sound reinforcement in the Summit’s high ambient noise environment.
“We often use DPA headset microphones, especially in venues such as old buildings and echo-y, cavernous churches where there are lots of reflections,” Lanigan explains. “For this event, at which there were over 200 exhibitors, they were absolutely the right choice because they really hit the mark.”

Elon Musk & Enda Kenny

In total, Avtek used 50 DPA microphones – a mixture of d:fine 4088 Cardioid Headset Microphones and 4066 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphones. DPA’s Irish distributor Big Bear Sound provided some new d:fine units to add to Avtek’s existing rental stock.

“Wherever possible, we tried to use DPA d:fine 4088 Headset Microphones with Sennheiser belt packs because their cardioid construction was able to give us as much SPL as possible to overcome the ambient noise,” Lanigan says. “Some of the ‘pitching’ stages were in the middle of the exhibition areas with up to 10,000 people roaming through the space chatting and selling their apps etc. In that environment, a speaker with a lapel mic would have struggled to be heard.”

Lanigan adds that he was especially pleased with the d:fine 4088 Headset Microphones which performed as well as a cardioid handheld mic.

Kevin Rose & Tony Hawk

“They certainly helped reduce or eliminate feedback, which was critical at the opening ceremony because the event was streamed on New Livestream.com from four of the conference rooms and transmitted live by CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox Business News and many other broadcasters, reaching millions of viewers worldwide,” he says. “The DPA d:fine Headset mics also went down well with the speakers who found them very comfortable to wear. It was certainly the first time anyone has seen our Taoiseach wear one, so he must have found it ok!”

Seen as an innovator and market leader in Ireland, Avtek specialize in high-end conferences, launches and events, the majority of which are in the corporate sector. It also provides in-house audiovisual solutions and services to venues and hotels around the world.

“DPA Headset Microphones often find their way onto our equipment riders, especially for conferences and award shows, because with these mics we can ensure that our MC is never just a moving mouth in a room full of people in high spirits,” Lanigan adds.