I heard about Aston from knowing the team of people behind the products who I have a lot of trust in terms of their knowledge and ability to create great products. I was shown the Halo reflection filter at NAMM at the launch of it and straight away I had to have one. Even in the loud environment of NAMM I could easily hear the difference in the voice in front of it. It’s been an amazing tool ever since, even in my well-treated vocal studio. Using that as well just adds that extra isolation that clears up the vocal really nicely and gives it a lot more focus.
I now use the Halo on so many vocals with artists, it just cleans up the vocal so well and gives me such a focused sound. They look really great and inviting so singers really enjoy singing into them and, as I said earlier, even in a great vocal room, they really help with that last extra bit of clarity on the vocal.
I’ve also had the Spirit and Origin mics from very early on when they came out. They are both fantastic, with different qualities to them. The Spirit is great for pop vocals and where you want a really nice bit of air in the vocal. The Origin is absolutely fantastic for more natural sounds whether it is a vocal, or strings, acoustic guitar, or even in front of a kick drum.
I think my favourite piece of Aston gear at the moment, though, is the Starlight. As soon as I heard Aston were bringing out some small diaphragm condensers, I was on the phone straight away wanting a pair to test. I think I use them in almost every session I do now, they are that good! I have used them in place sometimes of classic Neumann and AKG small diaphragm mics, but not so much because they sound as good as them (which they do), but because they sound great in their own right.