At each stage of product development we conducted double blind listening tests with our test panel... we call them the Aston 33 after the original panel which was made up of 33 of the top producers, engineers, FOH guys and artists in the UK.
Each capsule was chosen, by a process of elimination from 100’s of designs, in listening tests designed to show differences between market leading mics in each price sector. With Origin and Spirit we tested with both male and female vocalists, percussion and acoustic guitars. With Starlight we extended the original panel of 33 to more than 70 top flight producers, artists and engineers, and used a variety of instrument sources, including drums, guitars and even vocals.
In the final tests to choose the capsule and tuning used in each Aston microphone, the panel graded the recordings of 5 different variants from 1-5, with 1 being the best, for both male and female vocal takes, and acoustic guitars. In order to reduce variables, the capsules were each connected to an identical PCB and chassis, so that ONLY the difference in the capsule were being listened to. We did a similar process in reverse for the PCB, using identical capsules and variants of our PCB designs to refine the sound.