greetings earth why am i wearing a grey jumpsuit because the party was gracious enough to provide
me with a great jumpsuit i am a proud member of the party and i must continue to review
microphones to ensure that i hold my position as a valuable member of the party you should know
by now audio is strength microphones is peace huh the microphone that we're reviewing today
is the earthworks sr314 which is a handheld condenser microphone if you are interested
in this microphone it will cost you around 700. like always i'll throw some links down below and
for this review i have the microphone connected directly to the 18 i20 48 volts phantom power are
turned on my gain is at around 12 45 i will not do any kind of post processing but i may boost it in
post so check the dooblydoo to see what i diddly did and now let's talk about what comes in the box
first off you will get a zippered storage and carrying bag you will of course get the microphone
a microphone clip but no 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand adapter some documentation and oh
good sticker aka an adhesive marketing device then as far as the build quality of this microphone it
happens to be one of the best feeling mics that i have ever reviewed it does have an all metal body
as well as a metal mesh grille but the grille is protected behind this steel cutout thing and the
end of the microphone seems to be reinforced and there is very little give to it the microphone
weighs in at one and a half pounds or 68 grams as you move around the microphone there are no
buttons no switches no nothing the bottom has an xlr port and this microphone is made right
in the usa then as far as specs this microphone has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response
of 20 hertz all the way up to 30 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 40 dbv a self
noise of 15 dba an impedance of 65 ohms and a phantom power requirement of 24 to 48 volts now i
am going to go ahead and move around the 314 to 90 degrees so you can hear the off axis rejection and
coloration we'll continue around the microphone to 180 degrees here's what it sounds like from
the rear continuing around the microphone to the second 90 degree angle here is how it sounds and
then we will rotate and end at the front of the microphone because this is a handheld microphone
i will pass it back and forth between my hands to see how it does a rejecting handling noise
now let's go ahead and see how well this microphone does at rejecting plosives
please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto
now i am right on top of the microphone to demonstrate the proximity effect on this thing
about three inches away from the microphone with it pointed at the corner of my mouth
about one foot away from the microphone two feet away from the microphone and about four
feet away from the microphone praise be unto the party now i am typing on a keyboard with gatoram
blue switches to see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for you elite gamers now i am typing on the sad w keys
here is how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
next to be a little bit pedantic i will go ahead and bump the desk to
see how much of that it rejects in the provided microphone mount and i will bump the boom arm
now to be as thorough as possible i will go ahead and tap the body of
the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
and although this is not the standard way of holding a microphone i will go ahead and cup
the microphone so you can hear how that affects the tone of the microphone it does affect it quite
a bit but not terribly not not the worst thing in the world there you go now to provide some context
for this microphone i want to very briefly give you a comparison between a few other options on
the market so you get an idea of how this fits in of course we are going to start on the earthworks
sr314 i am about six inches off of this microphone 48 volts are on gains set at around 1245 and here
is how the audio sounds and first up we are on the shure sm58 because no handheld microphone
comparison is complete without the most famous handheld microphone i am six inches off of this
thing i did increase my gain to nearly 100 percent because it is so quiet it is a dynamic microphone
but here is how this microphone sounds compared to the earthworks let's jump back to the earthworks
unity through strength strength through audio we are back on the sr-314 here is how the microphone
sounds let's jump to another one and compare it to that which is another stage condenser microphone
very cool now i am on the luit lct 940cm this is a handheld stage condenser microphone
same gain setting same distance and here is how the audio compares to the earthworks high
definition condenser mic guess what we are back on the sr314 and today's comparison is going to
be short because we have one more microphone that we are comparing the sr-314 against let's
jump to that one and lastly we are on one of my all-time favorite handheld microphones the neumann
kms-105 this is another stage handheld condenser microphone 700 bucks six inches off of this thing
gain at 12 45 on the 18 i-20 check the lower third to see how much i boosted it
and there you go very brief comparison but let me know in the comments down below which of these
microphones did you like the best earthworks shure luit or neumann which one did you like
i will review all the mics because the overlords demanded and i need to be a valuable member
of society oh please take pity on me 1984 overlord people things something intelligent
something memorable something profound intelligent social commentary something
okay i think it's safe to say that this is one of the most detailed and revealing microphones that
i have ever used and first up in terms of pros the detail and the accuracy of this microphone
is beautiful the handling noise rejection was also excellent the background noise rejection
was also very respectable and the build quality on this thing is absolutely bonkers
it feels like a tank and it seems to be one of the few microphones that is actually made in the usa
how cool is that and then in terms of cons the main issue that i have with this thing
is the plosive rejection it leaves a lot to be desired especially because on stage you aren't
going to have a pop filter you're just going to have a windscreen and i think that's something
that could be improved upon now what are my overall thoughts and opinions of this microphone
on the electric guitar it captured a sound that i am not used to hearing it just has
so much top end detail that it captures a certain sizzle that i am not used to hearing
the low end was controlled and not muddy not boomy and the mids were absolutely beautiful though then
on the acoustic guitar it seems to capture every bit of information being put forth from the guitar
the top end is insanely detailed and articulate and i don't know if i liked it on my guitar the
mids nice and neutral the lows nice and controlled but it did seem to be a little bit too focused
on the top end for my personal liking then for singing the low end was nice and controlled and
not overpowering the mids were open and articulate in a way that i don't think i have heard before
and the top end was accurate and detailed and it captured exactly how i think my voice sounds
i don't know if that's a good thing for my voice but that is what the microphone is accomplishing
and lastly for spoken word the midsection is what stood out to me the most of all the microphones
that i compared it against the midsection sounded the least congested and the most natural and
appealing the top end was also open and airy but it didn't come across as over boosted it was just
smooth and very revealing and the low end was nice and recessed and controlled but not too thin
sounding all around a very balanced and natural sounding microphone for spoken word in my opinion
to wrap up would i recommend the earthworks sr 314 yes i would if you're looking to capture
exactly what you're putting the microphone in front of if you are looking for a singing stage
microphone a podcast microphone or a streaming microphone that does not hide anything then 100
i would recommend it because that is what it does and it does it exceedingly well but if
you're looking for a microphone with a little bit of color or a little bit of flavor to mask some
shortcomings of the sound source you're recording i don't think i would recommend it because this
thing is accurate to a fault if you have a bad sound source you're gonna know that
you have a bad sound source and that is going to wrap up the review of the earthworks sr314
i want to hear from you in the comments down below which of the microphones did you like the best
the sr 314 the sm58 the lct 940cm or the neumann kms105 let me know in the comments down below
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microphones is peace audio is strength