Gareth Dunlop live on air with Aston Mics

Multi-talented songsmith and Aston 33 member Gareth Dunlop performs two tracks from his new album, ‘79’ on the Cool.FM ‘Cool Live Sessions’ in this video and discusses his stripped-back sound with Cool’s John Kearns. Gareth uses an Aston Spirit for his vocals and a Starlight on his acoustic guitar. An Aston Origin on the double bass completes an Aston trilogy.

When he recorded the album, at his home in East Belfast, Gareth tried an old U47, a 251 reissue and a vintage C12 mic before choosing an Aston Origin for the vocals throughout. The Belfast singer-songwriter, producer, soundtrack composer and actor has a long and impressive list of credits to his name including having his music used on the worldwide hit drama Nashville, and it was in the deep south home of country music that Gareth first encountered Aston microphones...

“One of the guys had just been doing shootouts between the Origin and his locker of vintage and hard-to-find mics. He was running around town telling everyone to check these mics out. I took his word for it and drove down to the local Guitar Center and grabbed the Origin." Gareth explained. From there he added the Aston Spirits and Starlights to his audio arsenal: “I’ve been lucky to try out my Astons against a plethora of tried and tested favourites of great producers and engineers I’ve worked with. The results are always the same. Time and time again we’ve favoured the Origin, Spirit or Starlight”.

As much of his recording takes place in a domestic setting, Gareth has also become a fan of using the Aston Halo reflection filter and portable vocal booth to tame unfriendly room acoustics: “I absolutely love the Halo, it’s brilliant.” he told us.

As Aston 33 Panel member, Gareth is part of the sound development team for new Aston Mics products. Read his full profile and interview here.

Gareth’s album ’79’ is available on iTunes and Amazon music, and also available to order on CD. Visit Gareth’s website to find out more and to check on forthcoming live shows.

For further information on the Aston range of microphones please click here.