Breaking the rules - the new Aston Stealth microphone

On stage or in the studio, singers, musicians, narrators, voiceover artists, podcasters and gamers now have common ground; a new means of capturing their performances to a world-class professional standard. Introducing the Aston Stealth, an affordable microphone which holds its own against not just one, but several of the far more expensive ‘industry standard’ options on the market. 

This is not a jack of all trades, it’s a master of them. Vocals, spoken word and all manner of musical instruments, including drums and percussion are all within the capabilities of this ground-breaking piece of microphone design.

Stealth features four separate voice settings, each rigorously blind-tested by 92 of the world’s top international producers, engineers and artists, and tailored accordingly to excel in its particular tonal field. Not to be confused with faux ‘modelling’ mics or those with crude slabs of flattering EQ pre-applied, Stealth offers four discreet and pure, high quality signal paths.

The four voices are full of pleasant surprises. Vocal 1 and Vocal 2 alone will, between them, make spending thousands on a single mic (‘because it’s the one everyone else uses’) suddenly seem rather unnecessary. The blind tests between Stealth and a couple of such (particularly well-known) mics have left a number of extremely experienced producers and engineers astounded at Stealth’s performance capabilties.

The ‘G’ (guitar) setting surprised even the Aston eccentrics who dreamed Stealth up. The blind testing panel unanimously voted it their favourite setting for ALL guitar sources, from finger-picked acoustic through to a snarling, distorted guitar cab! Both start with vibrating strings though, and this is a setting which will inevitably be used to capture the subtleties of a host of other acoustic and electric instruments too.

Finally, the ‘D’ (Dark) setting offers a portal to the past, offering rich, warm vintage tones, reminiscent of some of the very best sounding ribbon mics. For those who have been screaming at Aston to release a ribbon microphone, here’s the nearest thing yet, offering all the vibe but without the fragility or expense traditionally associated with ribbon mics.

Even just having the choice of settings on a single mic will be a time and money saving game-changer for those who frequently work with different sound sources and/or in different recording environments. It only takes seconds to compare them all for a given singer, narrator or other source and choose the best sound. The labels are there as a guide, but as creative types know better than most, rules are there to be broken.

The name Stealth arose from the need for our new mic to disappear, not just off the shelves of the music stores, but literally. Broadcast studios, video and film sets invariably need their mics to be heard and not seen. Turn the purple LED phantom power indicators off using the button on the end plate and Stealth becomes as discreet as can be, with its sleek, non-reflective black finish.

While Stealth will certainly be found in many such facilities it is also uniquely equipped for studio and live use, for pretty much any instrument and, of course, vocals – after all, words are words, whether spoken or sung, and Stealth will deliver pristine results wherever it’s called upon. It works in either passive or active modes, meaning you can plug straight into the PA on stage, just like any dynamic mic, then take it back to the studio and use it like a condenser.

Where phantom power is present Stealth automatically switches to active mode and activates the built-in Class A pre amp, as well as some very stylish purple LED floodlights, so the external gain lift devices needed with many expensive ribbon and dynamic mics is simply not needed here.

The world’s most versatile mic? We have yet to find a sound source Stealth does not excel at capturing – and invariably with a viable choice of tones. Whether your audio will be living on Film, TV, Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube or Twitch, here’s a mic that will effortlessly make itself right at home. Sung or spoken, studio or stage, modern or vintage, subtle or raucous; Stealth does it all.

Aston mics CEO James Young introudces Stealth at the 2019 NAMM Show: