Tellus Magnetic
Tellus is a highly sensitive active contact microphone designed for field recording and sound design. It enables the exploration of sound worlds usually hidden from our audible range. Magnetic and miniature variants available. Hand made in Dorset, UK.
Tellus is a contact microphone with high sensitivity. It enables the listener to examine subtle sonic activity which would usually be hidden from our audible world. The microphone encourages listening to the very small and enlarging the unheard, bringing unusual and experimental sonic activity into our domain.
The microphone achieves this with a carefully constructed piezo element especially designed for this particular microphone. The microphone also features an internal preamp.
Because of the internal preamp, this microphone requires 24-48v Phantom power.
There are now three variants of Tellus available suited to different applications. Read more about them below. The microphones are designed, hand-built and tested at my workshop in Dorset, UK.
Magnetic:
With a thinner body but slightly slightly wider, this version features eight powerful magnets surrounding the element. The microphone has been designed so the magnets do not affect the sound quality of the microphone. The magnets allow the microphone to be easily attached to a range of magnetic materials making it ideal for sound design sessions.
The microphone body is made from a highly durable plastic with a specially designed brass pickup element. The microphone can is water resistant but is not designed to be fully submerged in water.
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
Tellus Magnetic
Tellus is a highly sensitive active contact microphone designed for field recording and sound design. It enables the exploration of sound worlds usually hidden from our audible range. Magnetic and miniature variants available. Hand made in Dorset, UK.
Tellus is a contact microphone with high sensitivity. It enables the listener to examine subtle sonic activity which would usually be hidden from our audible world. The microphone encourages listening to the very small and enlarging the unheard, bringing unusual and experimental sonic activity into our domain.
The microphone achieves this with a carefully constructed piezo element especially designed for this particular microphone. The microphone also features an internal preamp.
Because of the internal preamp, this microphone requires 24-48v Phantom power.
There are now three variants of Tellus available suited to different applications. Read more about them below. The microphones are designed, hand-built and tested at my workshop in Dorset, UK.
Magnetic:
With a thinner body but slightly slightly wider, this version features eight powerful magnets surrounding the element. The microphone has been designed so the magnets do not affect the sound quality of the microphone. The magnets allow the microphone to be easily attached to a range of magnetic materials making it ideal for sound design sessions.
The microphone body is made from a highly durable plastic with a specially designed brass pickup element. The microphone can is water resistant but is not designed to be fully submerged in water.
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
