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Posted 20 hours ago

Earthworks SR314 Handheld Vocal Condenser Microphone - Stainless Steel

£9.9£99Clearance
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ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
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About this deal

I can sing pretty well have albums to my name with Warner, BMG etc (mostly mellow pop, jazz, torch song, cross over stuff) . We use a Zoom L20 Additionally, we never had this issue with the other vocal mics we use (shure beta 87A, shure sm58 beta, telefunken m80). The well-rounded response carried through to the midrange, which sounds evenly balanced and accurately represented. The polar response chart indicates that the tight cardioid directionality stays true through 6kHz, and then starts to open up a bit.

A cardioid polar pattern forms the backbone of the mic, while low handling noise and an incredibly flat frequency response only augment it further. Capable of handling sound pressure levels of up to 145dB without distortion, the SR314 can handle nearly any vocalist. Singers get right up on the mic during live performances, and the screen did a nice job in catching most of it, but some heavily emphasized P’s still popped through.I've yet to put it through its paces on recording other than voice, but I can imagine it doing very well on cello, flutes and other melody instruments. Sending a big shout out to Ryan Wiltermood who skillfully guided me to this mic and other quality products over the years.

It delivers uncoloured rejection of off-axis sound, ensuring a high-quality sound at all times that highlights your voice and nothing else. It does sound good, and allows the performer a good degree of movement, so long as stage levels are on the quiet side of sensible. With a tight cardioid polar pattern, the SR314 is imbued with levels of sound isolation not found in other microphones. Maybe that's because the 441 needed a lot more gain to achieve the same level as the condenser microphones, but it surprised me!It can accept sound pressure levels of up to 145dB, though Earthworks don't state what level of distortion is reached at that point, and sensitivity is a comfortable 10mV/Pa. Only downside is insufficient pop filtering, however can be mitigated by the usual means and also depends on user's mic technique. I would also say the OP should not be afraid of too much detail from this mic - it captures detail but doesn't emphasize it. While some microphones tend to get a bit clinical sounding if they’re heavily focused on accuracy, the SR314 does an excellent job of providing a musical and vivid sound. Agreed - being the in-house sound guy at your average small venue is thankless - a parade of no-hopers with the occasional bright light.

I would never use it without some EQ (a little cut around 170hz and a HPF), but it seems to be pretty great on accepting EQ.With regards to plosives, it can be apparent on the Ps and Bs if you are up close but this is manageable if you pull back a few inches or move off the center line a bit. The Earthworks SR314 is designed from the ground up to meet both the expectations and desires of a modern live performance environment. Finding a non-drunk or stoned UK sound man that does his job properly is hard enough - about one out of ten gigs I'd be anywhere close to being satisfied with the sound. One glance at the Earthworks SR314 makes clear that this is not another “me too” vocal mic for on-stage use.

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