ASTON ORIGIN (2016)

It is not often that I buy anything simply on the strength of the advertising, but in the case of the Aston Origin that is exactly what I did! In fact worse than that I bought two! As a rule when you make this kind of impulse purchase, the goods arrive and you are doomed to disappointment. However, on this occasion it turns out that Aston microphones are as good in real life as they look on paper and on the website! Every aspect of the product has been carefully considered and designed from the ground up, everything from the unique flexible grill to the eco-friendly packaging.

At the present time the myriad of competitors  in this price range are mostly derivatives of older designs, often vaguely resembling particular vintage Neumann or AKG models. Aston Microphones have launched into this rather tired and jaded market place with product that is radically different.

Designed and built in the UK the Aston Origin not only has eccentric good looks, but it also boasts a distinctive ‘British’ sound. A sound shaped by a panel of 33 well known UK producers and recording professionals, who listened to every element of the audio chain, and by a lengthy process of elimination, chose the very best sounding components. For the full story and technical specifications visit: – http://www.astonmics.com/

The stand mounting options are either the very classy custom Rycote InVision shock mount (left) or simply screwing the mic straight on to the stand.(right)

My only criticism of screwing the mic straight on to the stand is that whilst this is quick and easy, it is not always possible to manoeuvre the mic into exactly the right place.

Below is my homemade rotating knuckle joint which allows the mic to be moved into any position whilst screwed directly to the stand.     It is made from the top piece of an old camera tripod. Using Milliput (which sets rock hard) I glued a 3/8 inch thread adapter into the base.  Then over the screw which would normally hold the camera, I glued a 3/8 inch stand adapter to hold the mic. The ball-joint, which can rotate in any direction, is fixed by screwing down the chrome locking ring.

So What Does It Sound Like?

CLICK HERE for Saxophone.

CLICK HERE for Piano and Orchestra

Neumann U87Ai  v  Aston Origin CLICK HERE

N.B.

The Neumann U87Ai is 8 x the price of the Aston Origin!

Here are my Aston Origins used to record Vocals, Guitars and Harmonica on the title track of Steve Ashley’s new album ‘Another Day’.

IT’S QUIZ TIME!

QUESTION.

The Sennheiser MD21, the Aston Origin and the Electro-Voice EV664.

What do these 3 microphones have in common? 

Post guesses in Comments below.

Answers Next Week…………………………………………….

One Week Later 

In addition to the correct answer given by Chris Dando, here is the other one I had in mind.

Answer.     The manufacturers of each of these microphones have made extravagant claims about their product’s durability, and in order to demonstrate this each mic has been subjected to somewhat ‘rigorous’ testing!

Sennheiser MD-21

From Sennheiser’s website:

“The indestructible design of the new microphone was impressively demonstrated at the Industrial Fair in Hanover in 1954. “We set up a round wooden board, about 5 feet in diameter, on which we had fitted ramps at regular intervals. An MD 21 suspended on a short cable was placed on the board, which was then rotated quite fast. The microphone was dragged up each ramp and could be seen crashing down onto the board again and again,” said Fritz Sennheiser describing the unusual demonstration. “It was sensational – at that time, microphones were delicate objects and had to be handled carefully.” And even today, the extremely low percentage of repairs for the MD 21 – 0.4% – speaks for itself.”

 Electro-Voice EV664 

John Woram, 1986

(Reminiscing about Lou Burrows, one of the founders of Electro-Voice)

Lou’s lectures were often hard to forget, as anyone who attended a demonstration of the E-V 664, the Buchanan Hammer, can testify. Lou would show up with a few mics, a piece of wood, and a nail. When the talk got around to the matter of durability, he’d unplug the 664, use it to pound the nail home, and then get on with the talk, having more than made his point.

Aston Origin

Following in this illustrious tradition of abuse here is James Young MD of Aston carrying out his very own ‘Microphone Destruction Test’ .  Enjoy!