You probably know that hearing is highly susceptible to outside influence. If not, watch this Audio Myths Workshop, it’s amazing. (The good stuff starts at 5:27, with Poppy Crum playing Led Zeppelin.)
It’s Sexy
The Edwina microphone sounds good, and its sound quality is augmented by its sex appeal. I brought this large diaphragm cardioid condenser microphone from Ear Trumpet Labs to review during a festival of mostly acoustic bands at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, and its brass body, stainless steel bolts, and swiveling head basket made it immediately popular. I even got to do some group miking as described in yesterday’s post.
Compared to a Neumann KSM105, the Edwina sounds more crisp and light in the high end on stringed instruments, with a more detailed and less rounded low end. This was useful for mixing a giant instrument like a piano in with an entire band. It was also helpful when distance miking groups, because the summing room reflections were less obvious.
I love the construction, which looks great and feels sturdy. It does have exposed cabling, but I’m not sure when that would be in danger. There are two things I think can be improved:
- It is not immediately obvious which side of the capsule is the front. It becomes clear on close inspection, but if you are in a hurry to record your podcast you might accidentally do the entire interview into the wrong side of the microphone. But then, who would do that?… (cough)
- The head basket is not 100% stable when finger-tight. When I placed the microphone and tightened the head basket by hand, it occasionally slipped out of place. When I tightened it with my multi-tool, there was no slipping.
Listen to a Sample
My interview with Philip Graham includes a short recording with the Edwina, starting at 20:45. (Using the built-in preamps of the Soundcraft i4, if you’re interested.)
That’s me monkeying around on the piano. ☺
Is the 10% ETL promo code discount still available somewhere? I have scrimped and saved for months and am ready to get my hands on an Edwina! But of course, a little discount would be fantastic…thanks for the fun review. 🙂
Hi Amy, the code is available here: https://sounddesignlive.com/ear-trumpet-labs-philip-graham-condenser-microphone-vs-dynamic-microphone-live-sound/
Thanks for reading!
he Edwina mic “Looks” to be real sweet!
The head basket has that Astatic D series
resemblance to which I’ve modeled some
of my own builds after.
My curiosity pertaining to this mic entails
sound quality & Type of capsule……………
Hi Andrew, it is! What do you want to know about it?
Most of the time this mic is a joy to use. But I have noticed that Edwina can be feedback prone when used in confined areas, say in a pergola or against a hard surface where reflective sound is an issue. Yesterday, we were in a pergola. We had a very basic board, so it was impossible to ring out the set up to get more volume.
It was more of a party than a concert so crowd noise masked the band. It was the first time we felt let down by our Ear Teumpet, Yamaha, QSC system. Live and learn. I’m considering getting a QSC Quickmix board with Automatic Feedback Reduction.
Hey Bruce, thanks for sharing your experience. What do you think you’ll do next? It may be wise to have a plan B for this situations like another micing option or some way to get direct inputs from instruments.