Aston Stealth beats all the odds to win world’s most prestigious award

Aston Stealth named ‘Best Microphone’ at the 35th NAMM TEC Awards

Aston Stealth’s nomination for Outstanding Technical Achievement at this year’s NAMM TEC Awards was exciting enough - Aston’s third major NAMM nomination in its short history – but to win ‘Best Microphone’ was incredible.

What are the TEC Awards?

Now in its 35th year, the TEC Awards are presented annually by The NAMM Foundation at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, USA. With more than 115,000 visitors, NAMM is the largest and most important music and audio trade event in the world.

The awards recognise ‘the individuals, companies and technical innovations behind the sound of recordings, live performances, films, television, video games and multi-media’ and are divided into Technical and Creative Achievement categories.

Why are the TEC Awards so prestigious?

The TEC Awards are voted for by professionals. Only those who make their primary living in the music, sound and entertainment technology industries are eligible to vote.

The many other awards voted for by, for example, a magazine’s readership, remain extremely important and influential - at Aston we are fortunate and hugely grateful to have been voted the best many times by those who have invested in our brand and are our lifeblood.

But there is another type of sheen to winning an award bestowed by those whose very living depends on the equipment they choose and use.

Why is Aston Stealth winning a TEC Award so huge?

Stealth (£299 / 339€ / $379) was up against mics costing far more - there are no price categories or limits in the awards - and many of the nominees were (unsurprisingly) products from huge, well-known global brands. Aston Mics only formed in 2015 and has just 18 employees! This was proper ‘David beats Goliath’ stuff…

Aston are the only mainstream brand actually manufacturing mics in the UK (other ‘British’ brands are basically providing sales, marketing and distribution for Chinese and other imported products). No other British-built products were even nominated, let alone winners, at the 35th TEC Awards.

So how did this tiny new British microphone company pull this off?

Read the brief history and meteoric rise of Aston Microphones - the boutique British mic manufacturer who broke all the rules >>>

Aston's CEO James Young accepts the award at the ceremony in Anaheim: