Liz Young is a professional violinist based in Australia whose career spans classical performance, contemporary ensembles, touring festivals, and cross-genre collaborations. From intimate acoustic settings to large-scale festival stages, her focus has remained constant: preserving the true natural voice of the violin in every performance.
Since 2015, Liz has relied on her DPA 4099V Instrument Microphone, which has become an inseparable part of her live sound. Over more than 11 years of continuous touring and performance, the microphone has travelled with her through hundreds of concerts, festivals, and events, quietly delivering consistency and clarity night after night.
“It is the microphone I trust for my violin,” Liz says simply.
A Career Across Genres and Stages
Liz’s musical world is anything but limited. Her work moves fluidly between classical repertoire, tango ensembles, country, rock, and pop performance. She performs as a soloist and as a collaborator in a diverse range of groups including the Mendoza Tango Quartet, Diez Cuerdas, the rock band The Smashing Bumpkins, and her children’s stage production LizzieLand.
Her collaborative work has also seen her share the stage with artists such as Conrad Sewell, Colin Buchanan, and Sons of Korah, and appear at major Australian festivals including the Woodford Folk Festival, National Folk Festival, and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Across all these environments, one requirement remains unchanged: her violin must always sound natural, expressive, and true to its acoustic character, regardless of venue or genre.
The Challenge: Consistency Across Every Environment
For Liz, the original project requirement was clear: achieve a high-quality, natural, and reliable amplification system for acoustic violin across an extremely broad range of performance settings.
Her objectives included:
- Delivering a clear, natural violin sound that reflects the true acoustic tone
- Maintaining consistency across indoor, outdoor, corporate, and festival environments
- Preserving freedom of movement on stage and in immersive performance settings
- Minimising feedback, handling noise, and technical limitations
- Building a touring-ready system suitable for professional, high-pressure events
- Creating a setup she could confidently recommend to other musicians and students
In practice, this meant finding a system that could perform equally well in an intimate acoustic duo as it could in a high-energy amplified band or large festival stage.
Why DPA
The DPA 4099V Instrument Microphone was selected for one key reason: its ability to faithfully capture the true acoustic sound of the violin. Unlike many pickup systems that can colour or compress the instrument’s tone, the DPA solution preserves the natural resonance, detail, and dynamic expression that define Liz’s playing. “It captures the violin exactly as it sounds in the room, just with more clarity and presence,” Liz explains. Reliability and discreet design also made it ideal for her touring lifestyle. The microphone integrates seamlessly into both solo and ensemble settings and has remained a consistent part of her performance rig for over a decade. To support her dynamic performance style, Liz integrates the DPA 4099V with a wireless system, enabling complete freedom of movement on stage. This wireless capability is essential to her work, allowing her to move through audiences, perform in unconventional spaces, and create immersive, interactive musical experiences without being tied to a fixed position.
A Versatile Performance System in Action
Liz’s setup supports a highly flexible and expressive performance approach. She regularly moves between genres and environments, from corporate events and luxury functions to tango ensembles, rock performances, and children’s theatre productions. The same core system is used consistently across all these contexts, demonstrating both its versatility and reliability. It allows her to transition seamlessly between subtle, intimate acoustic moments and powerful amplified performances without compromising sound quality. After years of use, Liz reflects on the durability of her system with appreciation, and a touch of humour: “It has been through hundreds of performances, multiple tours, and more than a few cable and clip replacements… but the core of it has never let me down. That says everything.”
Results in Practice
Over more than a decade of performing with this system, Liz has experienced:
- Consistently high-quality sound across all venues and event types
- Strong positive feedback from audiences, clients, and event organisers
- Increased confidence in live performance due to reliable sound reproduction
- Streamlined setup and touring efficiency
- A consistently maintained premium sound standard across all performance formats
She also notes that the system has proven itself not only in live environments, but in recorded and digital contexts as well: “I have successfully used the DPA 4099V for recording applications, capturing a natural, detailed violin tone suitable for professional release. While primarily a live performance microphone, it proved highly capable in recording environments, producing results that meet the standard required for streaming platforms such as Spotify.”
A Trusted Sound, Shared With Others
Beyond her own performances, Liz is a mentor and educator to emerging violinists. Conversations around amplification are a regular part of her teaching, and she has consistently recommended the DPA system to students and peers. “I often get asked how to amplify the violin properly,” she says. “For me, nothing compares to hearing the instrument naturally through a system like this.”
Over the years, she has also appreciated seeing DPA Microphones feature images from her performances, reflecting a long-standing connection formed through her continued use of their products.
Looking Ahead
After more than a decade of touring with her current microphone, Liz reflects on the journey with gratitude. As her system begins to show the physical wear of constant performance use, she sees it as a testament to just how integral it has been to her career. In many ways, she notes, she has already been representing DPA on stage for over 11 years. Alongside her live work, Liz continues to produce performance videos and online content, where the same commitment to natural sound remains central. She remains eager to continue using DPA microphones as her primary choice across both live and recorded work, and to further explore a formal artist partnership in the future.
Closing Reflection
For Liz Young, the microphone is not just part of her equipment, it is part of her musical voice. “The clarity and warmth of the DPA 4099V sound is incredible, it still sounds exactly like a violin, just elevated. It allows me to connect with my audience in a much more powerful and authentic way.” After more than 11 years of performances, festivals, tours, and collaborations, one thing remains unchanged: her trust in a system that lets her instrument speak naturally, wherever she plays.
