ABOUT US
Ear Trumpet Labs was founded in Portland, Oregon by inveterate tinkerer and former software engineer Philip Graham, who built his first microphone for his daughter Malachi when she wanted to record her own songs. In acoustics and electronics he pursued an accurate, natural sound using carefully selected discrete components. He assembled the bodies from parts he had at hand in his basement and gleaned from hardware scrap stores– but applied a design sense from the peak of industrial style. Soon, musician friends were asking to use his mics, and he refined the designs to excel for live sound. The basement lab became his full time passion.
With the help of numerous musicians spreading the word, we've grown to a small workshop with four craftspeople building microphones for customers worldwide. Philip's daughter Malachi now helps run the business (and her two bands). Everyone in the shop is a musician, and we try never to lose sight of our goal of putting affordable, great quality tools in the hands of working artists.
At Ear Trumpet Labs we try to foster equality of access to jobs and performance opportunities for people and communities that have been underrepresented and underserved. We advocate for the active pursuit of diversity of gender, race, culture, and sexual orientation in festivals, booking, engineering, and manufacturing. Kids and young people especially need to see that any future could be theirs, for us all to have the richest culture and economy we can.
As part of our ongoing commitment to share profits within our company & our community, we distribute 10% of our profits each quarter to organizations and causes chosen by our employees.
photos below 2016 Mark Danley/CityWorksPortland and 2020 Kale Chesney
THE CREW
Our Guarantee & Policies
Simply put, we stand by what we build, and will do everything in our power to make sure you are satisfied with your purchase.
30 Day Full Return Policy
You can return anything you buy from us, for any reason or none at all, within 30 days of receiving it for a full refund of the purchase price. If any of our equipment is damaged or defective in any way when you receive it, we will pay for shipping to and from as necessary in order to fix it to your satisfaction. Custom work may require a non-refundable up-front materials charge, but otherwise the same satisfaction guarantee applies.
LIFETIME WARRANTY
We offer a lifetime warranty on defects or internal electrical failures in normal use. If a transistor goes noisy or an internal connection breaks we'll fix or replace it for free. Obviously things like microphones can get broken by mishandling or misadventure; if your mic is damaged from rough handling or a hard touring life (we’ve seen it all!) we'll fix it for the cost of parts and shipping. We want these mics to be heirlooms, so we’ll always take care of you and your mic. Contact us at info@eartrumpetlabs.com if you’re having any issues.
On diagnosing problems: If you experience issues, please remember that there are multiple places in the signal chain where problems might be happening. To confirm that the issue is with the mic, we recommend testing it with multiple cables, in multiple channels of your mixer or interface, another source of phantom power, and if possible with another set-up entirely. We don’t want you to be without your mic if it’s not necessary. Feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to assist with diagnosis.
SHIPPING INFO
All our microphones are shipped double-boxed, in their foam-padded metal carrying cases. We ship our microphones via FedEx. Accessories and merch are shipped USPS. If you would like to pick up your purchase at our workshop in Portland, OR, select "Customer Pick-up" at checkout and coordinate with us when you'd like to stop by. (sales@eartrumpetlabs.com)
We will ship as soon as we practically can – always within 2 business days of receiving the order, except for models designated as custom builds. If you’re placing an order for next-day or otherwise expedited shipping, it’s a good idea to call us at (503) 974-4147 to alert us so we can be sure to get your order out ASAP. We do our best to get express orders out same-day Monday through Friday if placed before 1 pm Pacific. Express orders placed after 1 pm Pacific will be shipped ASAP on the next business day. Let us know if you have any questions!
CONTACT US
EAR TRUMPET LABS
2117 NE OREGON STREET, STE 303
PORTLAND, OR 97232
503-974-4147
INFO@EARTRUMPETLABS.COM
Are you in Portland or passing through on tour? We love visitors at our workshop for tours and demos! We're generally in during business hours, and drop-ins are welcome, though to be safe it's best to call or email us to make sure we're not out running errands. Feel free to bring your instrument for mic demos.
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