Earthworks has been around for a while; it’s a family-owned company in New England (specifically, Milford, New Hampshire) that has a reputation for designing high-quality microphones at a price point that’s usually not for the faint of heart. So when I heard about the company’s new handheld vocal condenser, the SR117, coming in at $199 MAP, well, there was no question — I had to try it out (and, of course, tell y’all about my experience).

Earthworks sent me several mics, because I would be evaluating them at my stage at the Sisters Folk Festival (in Oregon) as well as at a smaller club and a radio station panel discussion. Also provided were three SR3117 capsules for wireless that are threaded to fit on standard Shure wands, which I would be evaluating at a casino showroom where I’ve been mixing.

Here are my first impressions: Wow, Earthworks put some thought into this design. The windscreen covers a 1/4-inch capsule, in between the capsule and the ball is a second wind sock.

I was a bit confused why there was no badging anywhere on the mic anywhere; I reached out to the company about it and was told, “That lack of branding is a gift to you and all the busy engineers and MDs out there. These mics were made for TV and the Jumbotron, and no one needs to cover up logos anymore. No sharpies needed. No gaff tape needed. You’re welcome! Just that hint of stainless to beg you to pop the hood and to look under at the hot rod engine.”

I happen to think that’s really bold, as most other manufacturers (in my experience) want folks to notice their logo.

These are true condensers, so 48-volt phantom power is a must. The pouch is nice, and the included K&M -branded clip is really nice. So, let’s try them out…

Use Case #1: The Occidental Tourists at Atlantis Underground, Portland. This system is tricky for a small club. It’s a very bright room, with a tin ceiling and concrete floor. I have two flown mains and three flown monitors (I understand the thought process behind this in the environment but it does make mixing tricky). The house console is an (analog) Allen & Heath MixWizard III, Monitors are mixed from the FOH position. For whatever reason, there is no house EQ (besides the channel EQ); there is a graphic for each monitor send.

The SR117s did a really good job. It’s a shallow stage with a draped back wall (big glass window behind the drapes). The mics are hot (5 mv/Pascal — about 12 dB hotter than a standard dynamic handheld), and while the pattern is tight, they did pick up a lot. The phase interactions between the three mics was great, they really didn’t bump up against each other. I high-passed at 75Hz (the MixWizard is a fixed point) and I rolled off the low end about 3 dB on each mic, but otherwise, the channel strips were left flat. There were no feedback issues, and both the singers and I were happy with the tonality.

Use Case #2: KBOO Community Radio Candidate Panel, Portland. We set up the microphones to be used in a group interview for candidates for local government. KBOO is one of the oldest community radio stations in the country (full disclosure, it’s my day job); part of the mission is to inform the community about issues that affect them.

The station engineer noted the high output of the microphones; they were almost too much for the station’s old Soundcraft Spirit board. The isolation, however, was good in spite of the output. The panel was a success; thse mics could be used in broadcast/podcast situations with proper preamps.

Use Case #3: Sisters Folk Festival Depot Stage, Sisters, Oregon. I worked this stage with Jim Bull of Central Oregon Sound — we had an outdoor stage and a variety of performers, from single singer-songwriters to full tilt folk-rock/Americana bands. The mixer was an Allen & Heath SQ-6 control surface joined by a GX4816 stage box (96 kHz) working with dBTechnologies DVX-D15 mains FBT Q118SA subwoofers; stage monitors were a mix of dBTechnologies Flexsys FM12 and FBT Ventis 112MA powered wedges (both with 12-inch coaxial drivers).

There were no notable phase or feedback issues; even though the mics have a supercardioid pattern, picking up the wandering folk singers was not an issue. They sounded very clear and natural; aside from high-pass filters, when I was mixing I used very little EQ on the channel. Bull told me, “The microphones were used throughout the weekend on various artists’ vocals with great success. Being a folk festival, it’s important to have clarity and intelligibility-because singer songwriters often are storytellers also. The SR117s gave us the clarity while allowing gain before feedback consistently.”

Use Case #4: Rock and Brews at Ilani Casino, Ridgefield, Washington. I’ve been mixing at the casino for a while now; Rock and Brews is a franchise (Owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS) brew pub/music club that has several locations nationwide — some of them don’t have music but many do. This particular venue has a Yamaha CL5 console at front of house and a QL1 for monitors. The house rig is comprised of Meyer Sound Melodie line arrays (six flown per side) and two 900-LFC low-frequency control elements per side in a cardioid setting. Depending on the act, there are as many as eight wedges on stage, mostly JBL STX 812M.

I mixed country, rock, and soul/R&B acts, deploying both the wired SR117s and the wireless SR3117 capsules on Shure QXLD handhelds. The only discernible difference is the gain is much easier to manage on the RF units. Again, I used minimal EQ, and depending on the singer, high passed anywhere from 125 to 160 Hz. The sound was clean, and again, it’s a supercardioid pattern, so vocal positioning is important but there’s plenty of gain before feedback (taking the output into consideration).

Like all condensers, there’s going to be some stage bleed, especially from cymbals, but nothing that’s distracting. I didn’t try the mics on instruments but I can tell that, in a pinch, they would be very nice for strings, assuming it’s not in the way.

The mic feels very comfortable in my hands; it has decent handling noise. There’s a sonic accuracy usually experienced in much more expensive microphones. My only wish is for a pad (and possibly a roll-off) switch — as noted, these mics have gain, so it’s important to consider whether your system/mixer is equipped for it.

All in all Earthworks has done a remarkable job; the SR117 is a $199 mic that sounds like it should cost a lot more. I expect to see it on riders, especially with the singer-songwriter crowd that became so enamored with handheld condensers in the early 2000s. Earthworks has definitely changed the game in the lower cost condenser market; I will be watching closely to see how the competition responds.