The Spirit's Rise - a story of British microphone innovation

A new benchmark in condenser mic technology

In an industry where little has changed for decades, the Aston Spirit represents a significant step forward. Characterful, accurate, detailed, natural sounding and versatile, the Spirit is finding favour amongst the world’s audio elite, often in preference to far more expensive and revered microphones.

While it's ultimately the character and quality of sound that counts, the technically minded will be reassured to hear the Spirit’s unparalleled performance is underpinned by some pretty radical technical innovation.

The high-performance Spirit combines a 1” gold evaporated capsule with premium quality transformer balanced circuitry, using only the finest components throughout. The specially designed printed circuit board (PCB) is a masterful blend of discrete and integrated electronic circuitry with proprietary non-linear voltage/current source rectification to provide controlled amplification and smooth, clear audio output. The electronics wizards who worked on this are also music makers who care about vocals as much as voltages.

A mic for all reasons

A choice of three polar patters (omni, cardioid and figure of eight) and three pad settings provide a level of versatility that sees the Spirit used for drums, overheads and distance mic’ing, in addition to performing vocal and close-mic duties.

MusicTech magazine dubbed the Spirit the ‘Best All-Rounder’ in their studio mic round up, and seemed to echo the opinions of some of the producers above regarding its ability to stand firm against pricier rivals: “The Spirit performed well at just about everything we threw it on, matching and even outperforming some much more expensive microphones in the process.”

Audio Media International, in their recent review, said: “After testing the Spirit in several scenarios, I certainly see why the brand has managed to cause quite a stir and I feel it is well deserved.”

French magazine KR Home Studio labelled the Spirit a "Tour de Force".

Out of thousands of new products, USA trade magazine Music Inc selected the Aston Spirit for its Editors’ Choice Award at 2018 Summer NAMM, the world’s leading instrument and audio event. At the previous show the Spirit was nominated for the uber-prestigious NAMM Tech Award.

Read more Aston Spirit reviews here

The Spirit’s natural, transparent and highly accurate sound – free from the harshness sometimes encountered with large diaphragm condensers - certainly makes the Spirit a favourite for recording acoustic instruments, and in particular, vocals.

While the plaudits continue to roll in from engineers, producers and the world’s media, the Spirit has received some weighty endorsement from some of the world’s most iconic performers, including Stevie Wonder, Kylie Minogue, Sterephonics, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Gary Barlow, and many more. Noel Gallagher gave the Spirit a short, sweet endorsement; “I ******* love these mics.”

British Spirit

The Oasis and High Flying Birds singer and writer is one of the many artists who have collectively built and maintained Britain’s position as a powerhouse of popular music influence, spanning many decades.

All the more surprising, perhaps, to find Aston Mics the only company currently designing and manufacturing microphones in Britain, a point the media have also picked up on, with MusicTech commenting: “Aston Microphones has brought the Spirit back into British microphone manufacturing.” Audio Media International shared the sentiment: “This is a brand that we can be proud of here in Britain, delivering a high-quality product.”

Thanks to all the reviewers, artists, engineers and producers for the love. We are proud to be manufacturing such a well-received British mic, and one which is affordable to the many, not just the few.

Read more on the Aston Spirit condenser microphone here:
https://www.astonmics.com/EN/product/Mics/Spirit

To find your nearest Aston Microphones stockist click here:
https://www.astonmics.com/EN/dealers