Tierra Audio New Twenties

This handmade mic offers vibe in abundance.

Madrid‑based Tierra Audio have always done things differently, and since their first release back in 2018 they have built up a range of original, handmade studio outboard products including preamps, compressors and summing mixers. Tierra also take their environmental impact seriously, and their website lists a number of eco‑friendly decisions, such as the use of sustainable bamboo for the panels on their outboard units and an emphasis on sourcing parts locally wherever possible.

In April 2022 (www.soundonsound.com/reviews/tierra-audio-flavours) I reviewed their range of inline mic preamps, which have culinary names such as Chilli and Mint and offer ‘flavoursome’ ways of boosting microphone signals. In this review, we have the Spanish company’s first capacitor microphone (they’ve previously launched a range of active and passive ribbon models), and in keeping with their previous releases, the New Twenties is not your average mic.

The Roaring ’20s

Tierra have chosen a retro visual theme for their new capacitor mic, which aims to offer distinctive looks (important in the ‘content’ age that we live in) along with some innovative technology to achieve a high‑quality but characterful sound. The mic is not intended to directly reference the sound of microphone technology available 100 years ago; rather, as Tierra explain, when developing the mic during the Covid lockdowns, they felt inspired by “the tireless spirit that the women and men of the 1920s showed when coming out of the aftermath of World War 1”. With a stylistic nod to the elegance and glamour of an era known as the Roaring ’20s, this mic is very conscious of its looks, and can even be fitted with custom‑engraved ‘ridges’, for you to add your studio, social media channel or podcast name and logo to. This is not a cheap or gimmicky microphone, however, so I was very intrigued to see if it sounded as good as it looks.

The mic ships with ‘ridges’, which Tierra can custom‑engrave with your studio’s logo as a cost option.