The Aston Spirit Microphone and Halo Portable Vocal Booth.

I first heard of the Spirit from Aston Microphones on a Sound on Sound Magazine video report at last year's AES show with James Young of Aston Microphones.




Then again it was mentioned along with the Halo Reflection Filter by our friends over at Protools Expert with their NAMM 2016 interview.

Vintage King Audio sells the Halo for $299.


Today I received an email from them stating that they have the Aston Microphones' Spirit in stock for $399.


From the website:

"The Aston Spirit has a switch on the mic body selects from Omni, Cardioid or Figure-of-Eight polar patterns and is versatile enough to use with most instruments and excels on acoustic guitar and vocals. Its hand-selected capsule is teamed with high-end transformer balanced circuitry using only the best components such as WIMA capacitors, the same devices you’ll find in boutique microphones costing far more than the Spirit.The Spirit is designed to deliver a beautifully open sound with sparkling harmonics. This highly accurate microphone gives a stunningly natural and transparent recording, capturing all the detail in the high range but without adding the harshness that some condenser microphones seem to. This microphone must be heard to be believed!"

Aston Spirit Features:

• Wave Form Mesh Head
• Built-in Pop Filter
• Integrated XLR and stand adapter
• Custom Chassis
• Superbly balanced mix of discrete and integrated electronic circuitry.
• Armonised circuit stage arrangement for easy integration from phantom power input circuitry to capsule voltage bias.
• A novel non-linear voltage/current source rectification to provide controlled amplification and smooth, clear audio.

Specifications:

• Transducer Type: Condenser
• Acoustic Operating Principle: Pressure Gradient
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz (+/-3dB)
• Equivalent Noise Level: 14dB A-Weighted
• Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm: 23.7mV/Pa
• Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm: 23.7mV/Pa
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio (rel. 94dB SPL): 80dB A-Weighted
• Polar pattern: Omni/Cardioid/Figure-of-Eight
• Pad Switches: -20dB/-10dB/0dB
• Low-Cut Filter: 80Hz
• 48 Volt Phantom power (+/- 4 Volts) is required for operation

Here are 3 short video demos by Vintage King Audio of the Aston Spirit:

The Spirit on drums:

The Spirit on acoustic guitar:




and on vocals:



as you can hear the Aston Spirit has a very warm full bodied sound.

I like the sound and features of the Spirit microphone and plan to get one to use on upcoming projects. 

There is a cheaper but also great sounding Aston Origin Microphone that sells for $249. 

It is a solid state (cardioid only) microphone. But for my purposes the Spirit was the obvious choice.