Recording - August 2016 - 21

I gave my opinions about the Edwina
vs. the Josephine above, but let's take a
quick look at the Myrtle.
Myrtle makes use of the same capsule
and FET design of the other two models
and visually is a marriage of both the
Edwina and the Josephine. The capsule is
housed in the same triple layer brass,
black silk and stainless steel grille assembly
as the Edwina, but rather than a swivel

200 Hz to 2 kHz, a small 3 kHz dip of
2 dB, and two smaller 2 dB peaks at 5
kHz and 7.5 kHz, where it stays extended to 12kHz before rolling off.
It exhibits the same thick proximity effect
as its sister mics, and is closest in tone and
use to the Edwina. If Edwina is tight and
punchy, and Josephine is open and wide,
Myrtle lives in between the two, but closer
to Edwina in overall tightness and color.

mount, it is spring suspended on eight
springs in an aluminum wheel rim with a
tilting thumbscrew base. It measures 12" x
61/2" x 13/4" and weighs 1 lb.
Myrtle's specs are: frequency response
20 Hz-15 kHz (-3 dB), sensitivity -36.8
dB (12 mV/Pa), < 50Ω output impedance, and <17 dBA self-noise.
Graph wise it has a larger 4 dB lowend dip, a wider flat mid section from

In use
All three mics excel at onstage use for
vocals or acoustic instruments, and I liked
Josephine the best of the three on electric
guitar cabinet. It was mid-forward but
natural, and paired well with standard
dynamic mics like a Shure SM57, Audix
i5, or Telefunken M80.
I also think that Josephine is the best
suited to use as a front-of-kit drum mic or
for overhead duties, thanks to its more
open sound. It captures cymbals, guitar
strings, and shakers and tambourines
beautifully with a clear but gentle tone.
On vocals and acoustic guitar, it's a
tossup; all three mics do a great job, but
fall into taste- and source-specific territories.
I would say that if you need more air and
naturalness, use the Josephine; if you want
a tight forward punch, it would be Edwina
or Myrtle. The latter two are in my opinion
the better choice for mandolin and banjo,

as the tightness and rounding act to tame
these often bright and fragile-sounding
instruments. On violin/fiddle, Myrtle has
shown to be the best choice of the three.
Conclusions
Over the past 3-4 years, Ear Trumpet
Labs has gained quite a cult following,
especially in the indie folk, bluegrass, and
singer/songwriter genres, as an amazing
live microphone. This is due in no small
part to the mics' gain before feedback and
off-axis rejection. I recently chose the
Josephine as my live mic in an electronic
live looping set, for adding extra percussion
and vocals to my loops. I chose it for this
very reason; it did exceptionally well at
rejecting the sound of the speakers and
stage monitors in the somewhat awkwardlyset-up and feedback-prone room.
Bottom line, not only do Ear Trumpet
Labs mics look unique, they also sound
incredible and are wonderfully flavorful in
the studio and on stage! Josephine and
Myrtle are both well worth a listen in combination with all kinds of acoustic instruments and on vocals; check them out!
Prices: Josephine and Myrtle, $599
each; Edwina, $549
More from: Ear Trumpet Labs,
www.eartrumpetlabs.com

http://www.eartrumpetlabs.com http://www.mil-media.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2016