Hi, let me introduce myself.
This is Miles from DCA and welcome to the new website blog!
I get lots of interesting questions through social media and I thought this would be a great place to try and consolidate the answers to hopefully help you understand more about Custom In Ear Monitors, what DCA is all about, our ethos, and how we can use our experience to help you!
Lets start at the beginning…
So first, let me quickly answer why I started DCA, what it is all about?
So as a small business, DCA is currently founded and run by me, Miles! My background started with training as a Sound engineer at University but I then decided after a couple of years I wanted to pursue my passion for playing, so then built a career as a professional session Musician of 7/8 years full time, so I like to spend a bit of time on both stage and behind a mixing desk and have an in depth understanding of where the art meets the tech!
I’ve had the privilege to work and tour with some incredible musicians on some really cool stages and In Ear Monitoring and sound engineering has always been a huge part of my professional career! As you can imagine, making a living through Music isn’t always easy and often involves very long hours, in very loud spaces and using Custom In Ear Monitors has always been a really good way for me to have a great sound, but also protect my hearing and I wanted to help other Musicians that I met to do the same.
One thing that I found was however, especially here in the UK, accessing good Custom In Ear Monitors was definitely seen to be a really tricky thing. You either had to be in London or pretty well off to be able to benefit from them too – which didn’t feel right to me. So I decided to create a mobile In Ear Monitoring hub to allow more musicians across the UK to access the best custom IEMs, hearing protection and hearing health education as possible and so, Dakin Custom Audio, or DCA, was born in 2021!
DCA’s Core Values: More than just selling Custom In Ear Monitors!
As a freelance Musician & Engineer, relationships and people are everything. So as a new business starting in 2021, I really wanted to make a company that was based around those Music Industry values, around people and the planet, not directed and led by sales. So here are the core values I run DCA by:
1. To have a person-centred community approach, always!
So DCA is designed from the ground up to have the best, most transparent and person-centred
service possible. As a Musician, I totally appreciate that the relationships and trust we build between fellow Music Industry Pros, are the most valuable thing, and I want to build DCA into a community that reflects that and goes beyond just selling Custom in ear monitors! That’s why a large part of what we do is outreach through our hearing health education scheme, DCA Demo Clinics and the Hear Forever Project.
2. DCA is designed to have as lower impact on the planet as possible!
So it’s 100% not lost on me that as Musicians, to protect our hearing we have to build, custom and single use plastic earpieces that can’t be recycled and may be shipped from the other side of the world! Naturally in terms of impact, for now we can’t really help that so I’ve tried everything I can to minimise our impact. That’s why we have championed 3D Ear Scanning to reduce the amount of single-use plastics we need to use to create those IEMs, and plant a tree here in the UK through our own Hear Forever Project as part of every sale!
Is this the final iteration of our Climate promise? No, it’s constantly evolving! As a business I’d love for DCA to be a leader in the Music Industry and showcase that the Pro Audio industry can embrace being environmentally conscious!
3. To only work with Custom In Ear Monitor partners we trust and are happy to use ourselves.
So in terms of Custom in ear monitors, if you’ve done a bit of research you’ll probably see that we work with a few select companies and not with some larger brands – why is that?
Well there’s many reasons! Firstly, I wanted DCA to above all else have integrity for Musicians and be able to be able to talk to Musicians and Industry Professionals their level. So this means we have developed our 3D Impression process and built Custom in ear monitors for ourselves, then worked and performed with them to ensure that we not only understand what that brand sound like, but also how it fits, feels, it’s strengths and weaknesses!
I’m proud to be able to authentically say that with the partners we work with now in 64Audio, ACS Custom, Fir Audio and Bellos Audio, I would personally step on stage with any of the custom in ear monitors they build and I would be happy they would be reliable, fit and sound great and not let me down! This is something that I think really sets us apart.
Why don't you work with certain 'Legacy Brands' for Custom In Ear Monitors?
Well, as I mentioned before, like I would if I was performing on stage or getting a crew together for a tour - I wanted a business to run with integrity and to work with the right people, for the right reasons. I think we have found those people.
Put simply, not every manufacturer was receptive to what I wanted to do, or was maybe aligned with our values and way of working. That door isn't closed from my end, a lot of people ask me to help or advise them about those companies, but my priority is to uphold the high service standards I set to look after our clients!
DCA is a specialist service, so I'm really pleased to say those that we have on board I really enjoy working with, they're smaller teams doing awesome things, that I trust and can contact easily whenever I need to. Plus I know we’ve got a set of Custom In Ear Monitors for any music industry professional, at any level, on any budget!
All our partner manufacturers are awesome to work with and great people! Here at DCA we have fantastic relationships with them, which I feel means when it comes to any kind of sales, endorsements, servicing, repairs, or any kind of query – I know I can get hold of them quickly and have whatever conversation I need to and get a quick resolution. In my opinion this is invaluable!
Any questions? In Ear Monitors & beyond...
So that in a nutshell is what DCA is about. Being led by people, not sales and to make the very best custom in ear monitors, service and technology available and accessible to everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and if you ever have any questions about what I’ve written, or maybe you have a different question or query – feel free to reach out!
Cheers, Miles - Founder of DCA
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