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Iwan Gronow - Johnny Marr
Iwan Gronow
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Iwan Gronow - Johnny Marr

Musician, Writer, Producer
Iwan Gronow

Iwan Gronow enjoyed hit singles and a top 20 album with the band Haven and now plays bass in Johnny Marr’s band. He is currently working on solo material with his debut single ‘In the Mire’ being released in September 2019, which was recorded with a variety of Aston’s...

Haven, Mutineers, Johnny Marr, Sentric Music
Johnny Marr, Top of the Pops and Top 20 Hits

I grew up in Cornwall and moved to Manchester 18 years ago with the band Haven. We were managed by the late great Joe Moss and produced by Johnny Marr and were signed to Radiate, a subsidiary of Virgin in 2000. Our debut album Between the Senses charted in the top 20 and also included the hits Say Something and Til the End which we performed on Top of the Pops.

I have now been a member of Johnny Marr's band since 2013, and have toured the world and played many festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella and Fuji Rock. I have also appeared on TV programs such as Later With Jools Holland and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

In 2018, I began writing, recording and producing music under my own name. The video for my debut single, ‘In the Mire’, will be released on Friday 13th September, and was directed, shot and produced by Emily-Jade Hagan (currently working on Tin Star).

“That’s bloody brilliant!... …Major response online.” - Simone Marie, Soho Radio

For more info https://iwangronow.co.uk/ 

A/B to go-to

My recording set up is actually pretty simple really. I use Avid Pro Tools with a Universal Audio Apollo interface. I would generally use the UA Neve 1073 plug-in from the Apollo as well as a compressor plug-in to track down guitars, bass and vocals. Guitar wise I now use the Aston Spirit mic with my Vox AC15 amp. For vocals it also has to be the Spirit mic. I’ve tried a few mics but the Spirit has to be far and away the best one for me and my voice.

We actually A/B’d the Spirit next to a Neumann TLM103 Mic and also a Neumann TLM 193 just to see which we preferred. It turns out that the Aston mic was a lot smoother and clearer on the top end. It worked really well with the vocal treatments we were using and it was just perfect for our tracks. At present we are working with Sentric Music. For well over a year now I have been using Aston mics for this project and they have simply trumped any other mics we have used.

Just recently I recorded an acoustic track with my Martin guitar using the Spirit. I was so pleased with how rich the sound was, having struggled with other mics doing the same type of recording. The Spirit is now definitely my go-to mic.

Drum wise we’ve been using the Origin for the bass drum and the Starlights for the overheads, and we have also been using the Starlights for guitars. I find all the Aston Mics good all rounders with no end to recording possibilities. There is no doubt that Aston is my word of mouth.

Out-takes

Q. If you weren’t working in music what would you be doing?
A. “Living in Cornwall, eating pasties, surfing, skating and doing as little as possible.”

Q. What would your fantasy mic be?
A. “A mic that would do everything an Aston mic would, plus water and feed me so I wouldn’t have to stop recording.”

Q. What are the 4 words you’d chose to describe Aston, or your experience with the brand?
A. “Friendly, ambitious, vibrant and informative.”

Q. What is the first song that made you cry?
A. "Sam Cooke -  A change is gonna come"

Q. Who are your favourite artists?
A. Gerstein: “Magazine, Arthur Lee and Love, Blind Faith, Skip Spence, Brian Eno, Modest Mouse, The Horrors, Broken Social Scene and Mogwai.”

Aston Credits

Aston gear has been used on the following projects...

Sentric Music

Johnny Marr

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