Jonny Williams at FOH with the CEDAR DNS 8D on tour with Sir Rod Stewart at the Sportpaleis, Antwerp,
CAMBRIDGE, U.K. — A CEDAR Audio DNS 8D multi-channel dialog noise suppressor with Dante was used on Sir Rod Stewart’s nine-week 2024 European tour and his FOH engineer Jonny Williams commented on its use for live vocals on one of the largest tours of the year.
During his career, Williams has often had to overcome the challenges of producing clean vocals in difficult environments and, as a FOH engineer working with touring bands, he needed a way to ensure that his clients sounded their best.
“We play in all sorts of venues, many of them quite cavernous with a lot of sound bouncing around. I was looking for a way to clean up the vocals so they could sit on top of the mix and be present no matter what type of environment we were in. I have eight vocalists scattered around the stage and a lot of spill to eradicate. What’s more, they wander around the stage, so the background is constantly changing, and I was searching for a unit that was able to analyze these changes and eradicate the noise,” Williams explained.
The answer came in the form of CEDAR Audio’s DNS 8D. “I heard about CEDAR’s products when a good friend of mine was using them for FOH sound for The 1975,” he notes. “I also found out the DNS 8 Live was being used by Ed Sheeran, so the more I researched, the more I liked the idea of giving it a go. The 8-channel DNS 8D appealed to me, so I took the plunge and asked the audio supplier to purchase one for me.”
After receiving a video tutorial from Paul Alexander at CEDAR, he was able to integrate the DNS 8D unit seamlessly into his setup.
“I have much cleaner vocals now and it’s also helped with potential feedback risks. Each day I spend a long time with one of the monitor engineers and the systems engineer EQ-ing, the system to the vocal mics. I then build the rest of the mix around these. The DNS 8D helps us to keep the P.A. and the room reflections out of the vocal mics.”
Today, the DNS 8D sits in Williams’ FOH outboard rack and connects to his mixing console via Dante. “In the beginning, I used the unit in Learn mode and it was doing a good job. I then tried creating a noise floor by getting the unit to Learn for a few seconds at the top of the show, before punching out the Learn function. I found this didn’t work so well because, as the vocal mics moved around the stage or when there was talking between songs, the background noise changed. I went back to leaving the unit in Learn mode full time and it still works great. It’s actually much easier to use it this way as well.”
When asked about any feature he felt deserved special mention, Williams concluded by saying, “Using a browser to access the DNS 8D’s GUI is a great feature! It’s so easy to make adjustments and monitor the unit. I have a laptop, set up wirelessly (with an Ethernet backup) that sits next to the console, in my line of sight. I am easily able to take the laptop and make minor tweaks if needed — but to be honest, I haven’t touched the settings in weeks!”
Learn more about the CEDAR DNS 8D at www.cedaraudio.com/products/dns8d/dns8d.shtml
About the CEDAR DNS 8D
The CEDAR DNS 8D DNS multi-channel dialog noise suppressor with Dante
CEDAR’s Dialogue Noise Suppression technology is the standard for removing background noise from dialog in studios. With near-zero latency, high-resolution processing and a fast, intuitive user interface, it eliminates traffic noise, air conditioning, wind, rain, babble and general background noise from audio signals. It will also help to compensate for unfavorable acoustic conditions and poor microphone placement and will even suppress excessive reverberation.
Designed specifically for broadcast and live sound, the CEDAR DNS 8D DNS multi-channel dialog noise suppressor with Dante features eight channels of noise suppression, via a new algorithm that marries the best of the machine learning and signal processing on which the DNS 8 Live and the DNS 2 dialog noise suppressors are based, including control from the front panel and from almost any web browser that can access its internal remote control software. With its near-zero latency it’s suitable for use in all live sound venues such as theatres, concert halls, conference venues and places of worship.
The DNS 8D is the first DNS offering both a Dante interface in addition to its AES3 audio connections, plus a fail-safe AES3 audio bypass implemented via hardware relays that immediately connect the inputs to the outputs in the event of a power failure or other significant disruption.
An optional AES3 breakout cable for the DNS 8D has a DB25 connector at one end and four XLR (female) plus four XLR (male) at the other, allowing users to connect the DNS 8D to equipment using the traditional XLR format.
