The newest additions to our extensive rental microphone options are the DPA 4055 Kick Drum Microphone, the DPA 2015 Wide Cardioid Condenser Microphone, and some new 4099 drum mic mounts to round out an excellent sounding drum microphone rental package. Known for their exceptional clarity and transparency, unparalleled specifications, and supreme reliability, DPA is one of our flagship microphone manufacturers here at TC Furlong Inc.

4055

The 4055 kick drum microphone was introduced by DPA in 2022 and is not your typical off the shelf mid-scooped kick mic. Sporting a flat frequency response, the 4055 gives you all the control and delivers a natural sounding, well-defined signal from any high SPL source you put it in front of. Not tailored to any specific genre, the 4055 is a solid choice for engineers who want a clean slate to shape their kick drum sound.

The 4055s low profile asymmetrical design provides more space for adjustment around the porthole. Image courtesy of DPA Microphones.

With its asymmetrical design, the profile of the 4055 is slimmer than other kick drum mics when mounted on a stand, and gives you a little extra room when inside the porthole to make precision adjustments to your mic placement. This unique design makes it easy to achieve an articulate “beater” or “click” sound, often what you’re looking for from the “kick in” microphone on a drum kit. If a more low-end focused sound is desired, the 4055 also works well further back near the porthole, with its flat frequency response offering clear, full bodied low end with no compromise in the lower midrange.

The 4055 can also work well outside the kick drum on sources like electric guitar cabinets, bass guitar cabinets, baritone saxophone and other large horn instruments, as well as other high SPL sources where a flat, full spectrum sound is needed.

2015

The DPA 2015 wide cardioid condenser microphone is a great choice for situations where you need to cover a broad area or large instrument, while also minimizing excess unwanted bleed. Most often used as a drum overhead, the 2015 works well when placed near cymbals due to its wide cardioid design. Even when placed relatively aggressively, the 2015’s unique polar pattern captures the entire width of the kit and allows you to maximize your signal to noise ratio, while maintaining nuance and balance without sacrifice or need for additional overheads or cymbal spot mics. When deployed as a spaced pair, a couple of 2015s is all you’ll need for even the largest of drum kit setups.

The 2015 wide cardioid excels as a drum kit overhead. Image courtesy of DPA Microphones.

Other key applications for the 2015 wide cardioid condenser microphone include sources such as grand pianos, large mallet percussion like marimbas, vibraphones, and xylophones, as well as large horn and string ensembles. It’s also common to see them hanging above the choir in houses of worship for balanced and natural sounding vocal ensemble reinforcement. Designed as the in-between for cardioid and omnidirectional microphones, the 2015 delivers the same articulate and open sound you’d expect from a small diaphragm condenser, but with a flat off-axis response that captures a uniform, wider breath of the area it’s placed in front of, when compared to a standard cardioid condenser.

4099 Drum Clips

Heralded as one of the most accurate and transparent solutions for micing just about any acoustic instrument, the DPA 4099 is our most popular low profile supercardioid condenser microphone option available in our extensive rental inventory. We’ve recently added quite a few new DPA drum mic clips for our 4099s, making them even more versatile than they were before. The 4099 is at home on sources like rack toms, floor toms, and hand percussion, but also other non-percussive acoustic instruments like violin, cello, piano, acoustic guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, and accordion.

The 4099 can easily be mounted to any hoop style drum. Image courtesy of DPA Microphones.

Looking for more info on DPA Microphones? Visit their website here to see their full range of high quality microphones and accessories.

Ready to take your rental to the next level with DPA? Bundle all of the DPA options mentioned above in one awesome drum mic package for your next rental at TC Furlong Inc.! Send a message to rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of audio technicians will help you choose the right pieces for your kit.

Interested in purchasing your own DPA drum mic kit? We are an authorized DPA dealer and have dealerships for over 100 other pro audio manufacturers. Our sales team is ready to help and can be reached at sales@tcfurlong.com or by phone 847-367-9588. Contact us today to get started on a quote!

Our latest addition to our list of extensive digital console rental options is the brand new Yamaha DM7 digital mixing console! With 120 mixing input channels, dual bays containing a total of 24 + 4 motorized faders, as well as having a 144×144 Dante I/O built right in, this console is ready for the most rigorous of audio production tasks. Unparalleled Yamaha sound quality, ease of operation, and high reliability are making this console perfect for a wide range of audio applications. Sporting a multitude of features built for theater, house of worship, corporate events, broadcast, and live sound reinforcement, the DM7 is a flexible tool at the forefront of digital console technology.

Featuring two 12 inch multi touch screens and a sleek new TF-inspired UI design, the DM7 is Yamaha’s most intuitive digital console yet. The dual 12 fader bays on the DM7 can be used in conjunction with one another, or in split mode to assist a single engineer performing more than one task, like sending a separate, tailored mix to a live stream. A third 7 inch touchscreen gives the user easy access to all the output channels and busses. With familiar tactile interfaces like the touch and turn knob (one for each bay, by the way!), achieving great results quickly on the Yamaha DM7 has never felt easier. Excellent built-in DSP effects, alongside 64 assignable premium processing slots, 16 assignable Yamaha FX slots, and 4 assignable inserts per channel, The DM7 gives you more control over your mix than ever before. With Dugan automixing, and a new AI gain assist feature, you can focus on being creative with your mix while the DM7 does the rest.

The DM7’s expandability is a key component of the next evolution in Yamaha’s new digital console line. Equipped with the optional DM7 Control expansion controller, you’ll have access to additional physical control devices that can be used to quickly and conveniently tweak parameters for a number of functions, such as 12 additional user defined keys, scene memory keys, monitor control keys and knobs, and a panner joystick. The Broadcast / Theatre Upgrade Package is also included with the DM7 Control expansion controller, offering more capabilities like mix minus, actor libraries, and surround sound support (to be released in a future update). While not in stock yet in our rental pool, we plan to have an expansion controller option available for our future DM7 rentals– be sure to keep an eye out for our announcement coming soon, once it’s available!

While we wait for the DM7’s custom made road-case to arrive, we are scheduling in-shop demos… Can’t wait to see the DM7? Very limited rental opportunities may still be available, please reach out to our rental team for more information! You can contact us at rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our offices at 847-367-9588.

Interested in your own DM7? Contact our sales reps today at sales@tcfurlong.com or call our offices at 847-367-9588.

As we continue to commemorate our 50th year in business, we are excited to share our journey– with a special focus on the advancements and improvements we’ve made in the last 5 years. We’ve come a long way since our last milestone on our 45th anniversary! From expanding our facilities and upping our inventory, to embracing hybrid event formats during the challenging COVID-19 era, we’ve come a long way in ensuring that our clients receive the best possible professional audio services. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane showcasing our commitment to excellence and innovation and highlighting our last 5 years here at TC Furlong Inc.

Expansion

One of the most significant transformations to our business in the last 5 years has been our expansion into the neighboring units in our building, suites 102 and 103. Previously, we were crammed into just suite 101, which made it necessary to utilize quite a bit of off-site storage space… but now with everything within reach here in our newly expanded facilities, we are able to move quickly to deliver the fast response service you’ve come to expect from TC Furlong Inc. This expansion has not only provided us with more room to keep everything physically here on-site, but also allowed us to enhance our overall services and offerings for AV equipment rentals. Our 103 warehouse is even sometimes used to host events!

Our new 102 warehouse space hosts storage for the majority of our loudspeakers, consoles, and larger items
Our 103 warehouse space being used for a Meyer Sound loudspeaker demo in 2022
The 103 space again, being used for our Garage Sale in 2023

As part of our facility expansion project, we recently introduced “The Bluehorn Room” in suite 103. This is a space like no other, where we can take our clients on an auditory journey like they’ve never experienced before. Equipped with the highly accurate Bluehorn speakers developed by Meyer Sound, this listening room is a haven for music enthusiasts and audio connoisseurs. Immerse yourself in a world of sound quality that transcends expectations, with the most accurate reproduction of audio that you’ll ever hear. Bluehorn listening sessions are by appointment only.

Our newly treated Bluehorn Listening Suite in 2023

Evolution

To meet the ever-evolving needs of our clients, we’ve expanded our extensive audio-focused rental pool with state-of-the-art lighting, staging, and video conference tools and accessories. We understand that every event is unique, and these additions have allowed us to offer comprehensive solutions for a wide range of occasions, not just for professional audio but for the many other types of AV services our clients have come to expect. Whether it’s a corporate conference or an intimate wedding reception, our enhanced AV inventory ensures that your event is nothing short of spectacular.

Our new fixtures being tested upon arrival
Brand new Yamaha PM3 set up for a demo in our lobby area

Here’s some highlights of the new audio and visual rental gear we’ve added in the last 5 years:

Adaptation

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to the event industry. We embraced these challenges and transformed them into opportunities. During this period, we pivoted to services that helped our customers host hybrid events seamlessly – combining in-person, video conference, and online streaming components and services. This adaptation allowed our clients to continue to engage with their audiences while adhering to safety protocols– It was a true testament to our resilience and commitment to delivering exceptional AV solutions, no matter the circumstances. The show must go on!

In 2020, we pivoted to hosting our Digital Console Expo virtually
Behind the scenes streaming setup for Virtual DCE in 2020
We were also able to help our customers pivot to virtual events during the pandemic
Behind the scenes streaming setup for one of our customers in 2020

New Leadership

In 2022, we began transitioning our leadership role of General Manager from Jeff Cech to Steve Whittenhall. As of August 2023, Steve has fully assumed his new role here at TC Furlong Inc. Steve was the perfect fit considering his 17 year tenure here in the shop, starting out as a driver and quickly moving up the ranks to his most recent position Lead Project Manager. We are excited to have him at the helm for this next chapter in the story of TC Furlong Inc. as General Manager!

From left to right: Jeff Cech, Brian Grahn, and Steve Whittenhall

Conclusion

As we continue to celebrate our 50 years in business in 2023, we are reminded and immensely proud of the progress we’ve made, particularly in the last 5 years. Our commitment to growth, innovation, and adaptability has allowed us to remain at the forefront of the AV event industry in the greater Chicago area. We look forward to the future with excitement, knowing that we will continue to evolve and provide top-notch AV services to our valued clients. Thank you for being a part of our journey, and here’s to the next 50 years of excellence!

With many productions now favoring IEMs for the benefits of lower stage volume and a CD-like stereo monitoring experience for the performers, it’s still important to understand the fundamentals of microphones and old fashioned floor monitors. In this article, we’ll learn about monitor wedge coverage angles, microphone polar patterns, and how you should take these into consideration for microphone and monitor positioning. With this, we’ll learn how the equipment you have on the gig may require small tweaks and modifications to your stage plot in order to maximize your results. Understanding the coverage angles within your monitor setup and your microphone’s polar patterns is imperative to ensuring a high-gain-before-feedback experience for the performers on stage, can help drastically reduce excessive stage volume, and help prevent an environment susceptible to microphone feedback.

What is a wedge? Many pro audio manufacturers make specialized wedge-shaped speaker boxes that are designed to aim the microphone source back at the performer, and are often referred to as “monitors”, “wedges”, or “foldback speakers”. They come in all different varieties of sizes, coverage patterns, self powered and conventionally powered – If possible, you’ll want to choose a wedge that works well for the space you are working with and also the types of performers you are most likely to encounter.

Monitor coverage angles are typically published in the user manual and/or tech sheet, and will give you an idea of the “sweet spot” you can expect while standing near the monitor. Every model is going to have different specs, with some favoring a tighter coverage pattern, and others with a more broad, wider throw. Depending on the situation and the number of performers who are sharing the monitor, you may have to optimize your stage plot for the most consistent and manageable coverage for the performers. In an ideal world, each performer has their own wedge with a tight, well targeted dispersion, but that is not always the case– especially in situations with larger ensembles like worship bands.

Meyer’s MJF series of stage monitors are an excellent example of a highly focused, high volume wedge-shaped speaker box designed to give an accurate monitor mix to the performer. The MJF-210s have been a choice monitoring solution for high profile artists like Metallica for the better part of the last decade, and for good reason! Their little brother, the MJF-208, comes with a slightly wider coverage in a smaller package. Both of these are excellent low-profile monitoring options for most live productions. We have many MJF series monitors to choose from in our rental pool here at TC Furlong Inc. (including the recently discontinued big brother, the MJF-212A)

A herd of Meyer Sound MJF-210s in deployment on Metallica’s M72 World Tour in 2023
Photo credit: Ralph Larmann, via meyersound.com

While it’s not uncommon to have to manually “ring out” a wedge mix by using a hefty amount of subtractive EQ, feedback prevention starts with a good stage setup and understanding a little bit about how the equipment you are using may interact with one another in a loud environment, like a small stage with a rock band. This brings us to the next half of the equation: understanding microphone polar patterns and how they will interact with your monitor coverage angles.

For most live performance sound reinforcement productions, the most common directional microphone polar patterns you will find in use are cardioid, supercardioid, and hypercardioid. All part of the same family of directional microphones, cardioids are built to capture sound coming from the front of the microphone only, and thus rejecting sounds coming from the rear of the microphone. This makes them an excellent choice for reinforcement applications where the source will need to be routed back on stage for the performers to hear through a dedicated monitor speaker. In some cases, other polar patterns may be desired, but for today’s article we will focus on cardioid directional microphones as opposed to other common polar pattern options like omnidirectional or figure 8.


Generally speaking, cardioid microphones, like the time-favored classic Shure SM58, will have the best gain before feedback ratio when being placed with the rear of the microphone (the pointy end) aimed at the monitor speaker. This, along with its uncanny robustness, is one of the many reasons why the Shure SM58 is cherished amongst live audio professionals all around the world, and is considered by many to be a must-have piece of audio gear.

Cardioid pickup pattern of a Shure SM58 via service.shure.com

With the SM58’s directional cardioid polar pattern, it works very well when staged properly in front of a monitor speaker, and is often an engineer’s first choice for most live vocal applications. When placing your speakers, it’s also important to note that your main PA speakers (aimed towards the audience) should be well ahead of the front plane of your stage/performance area, in order to further reduce the chances of feedback, as seen in the left side of the diagram below.

Recommended speaker and microphone locations from the Shure SM58 guide via service.shure.com

Hypercardioid and supercardioid microphones, like the Shure Beta87A, have a similar-looking front pickup pattern when compared to their more-tame standard cardioid counterpart, but both hyper and supercardioid microphones have an 180° off-axis lobe directly behind the capsule. These types of microphones will have the best results with a slightly off-set monitor angle coming from one or both of the sides (approx. 120° off-axis), rather than directly from the rear like a standard cardioid. They also are more focused in their on-axis pickup pattern than a standard cardioid, further rejecting unwanted sound coming from the sides of the capsule. Supercardioids are a good choice when you have many sources on stage that may be bleeding into the microphone, but they require the artist to have consistent mic technique to maximize those benefits, due to the narrower pickup pattern.

Supercardioid pickup pattern of a Shure Beta87A via service.shure.com

Stage volume is often a big reason why many worship bands and rock ensembles choose to switch to IEMs. In the worship world, it’s also common to see the deployment of bleed-reducing tools like drum shields, guitar amplifier isolation cabinets, or stand mounted trumpet shields to help reduce excessive stage bleed, even with a full band already on IEMs.  An often overlooked solution to excessive stage bleed is to ensure your stage plot and monitor coverage is ideal for the performance area– If the performers keep asking for “more me”, giving them more of their microphone in the monitor mix can only go so far before you run into trouble. 

Firstly, you’ll want to ensure the performers are within the throw of the monitor, usually at least 4-6 feet away from the wedge, with the horn of the speaker pointed upwards, relatively at head height. Secondly, you’ll want to be sure to only include the channels that are absolutely necessary for the performer to do their job effectively. This will vary due to each individual’s personal preferences, but as a general rule you should not be sending every channel on your board to an artist’s monitor mix. Some performers may ask for quite a few things in their wedge, and in those cases it’s a good idea to ask what the three priority instruments are, and go from there. You can always sprinkle in a little bit of everything else requested, but the goal is to keep the monitor sends as clear as possible, with little crowding or masking of instruments within the same frequency range. Instruments with a lot of low end information will also take up a lot of headroom, so you will want to add in these types of elements sparingly. It’s common to see a ground-stacked subwoofer and top next to the drums for this exact reason, as drummers typically like to feel the kick and bass strongly while performing.

With this knowledge and guidance, we hope to help you achieve many feedback-free shows in your professional audio career. This is, of course, all just a general guideline, since it’s likely you’ll have many artists who will handle the mic by taking it off the stand during the show. In such cases, if you believe your artist may be traversing the stage excessively during their performance, it would be best to include a quick walkaround with the live microphone during soundcheck. Optional hardware like the Rupert Neve Designs 5045 Primary Source Enhancer can give you up to 20db gain-before-feedback without major coloration to your source, and the 5045 is used quite often here at TC Furlong Inc. for one of our large-scale collegiate sporting events, where historically feedback from the microphones on the playing field was a major issue for our client.

Choosing the right monitor and microphone combinations for your stage and production is key to delivering a top notch experience for not only the audience, but the performers as well. Interested in purchasing for yourself? Check out our line card of over professional audio 100 manufacturers. Our sales team is ready to help and can be reached at sales@tcfurlong.com or by phone 847-367-9588. Contact us today for a quote!

Not ready to purchase? Want to take some mics and wedges for a spin? Send a message to our rental team at rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of audio technicians will help ensure your next event is a success!

At TC Furlong Inc., we understand the importance of providing exceptional customer service during and after every purchase. That’s why we developed our own no-cost comprehensive post-purchase support program that sets us apart from the competition – called Warranty Support Advantage. 

If an item purchased from us fails while under manufacturer warranty, we offer customers a free loaner of an equivalent item from our rental inventory to keep their system up and running until their gear is repaired or replaced by the manufacturer. If an item fails after the manufacturer warranty expires, we offer customers substantial discounts on rentals and in-house repair services, for as long as they own the gear.

To help illustrate our dedication to customer care, we have a few recent compelling examples below that demonstrate how our team goes above and beyond to ensure your peace of mind with every purchase from TC Furlong Inc.:

  • A local performing arts center’s digital audio console failed before a weekend show. On short notice, we delivered a rental of a replacement console to get them through the gig, then facilitated a repair of their console. The rental and repair were heavily discounted, despite the rental prep and delivery occurring outside of our standard business hours, and despite the fact that the customer had purchased the console from us 15+ years ago.
  • A production company purchased a stage box that wasn’t performing correctly out of the box. We worked with the manufacturer to get a replacement unit shipped out, and offered the customer a free loaner stage box from our rental inventory until the situation was resolved.
  • One of our customers experienced a sudden power loss on their wireless receiver, and we helped out by identifying the root issue and replacing the front panel power switch to get their receiver working properly again. Repair labor was done at our discounted rate.
  • A local church had an entire fader bay stop working on their digital audio console. We located the source of the issue and replaced the affected fader power supply and control cards. All repairs were performed on-site, and billed at our discounted rate.

There are many other benefits to our no cost Warranty Support Advantage, and each purchase made at TC Furlong Inc. is supported by this program. Interested in learning more? See the full details on our website. You can also contact us at 847.367.9588 if you have questions about our Warranty Support Advantage or if you need any support with your new gear!

The Warranty Support Advantage program is just one of many reasons to buy gear from TC Furlong Inc. Interested in purchasing gear from any of the 100+ manufacturers on our line card? Reach out to our Sales Team at sales@tcfurlong.com or call us at 847.367.9588.