Introducing the Aston Spirit 5th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

Forget princes winning the hearts of actresses, governments losing their majorities and solo artists smashing the chart algorithms with looper pedals. What should really have grabbed all the British headlines in 2017 was the launch of the Aston Spirit, a truly professional condenser mic which people could actually afford.

To celebrate our flagship LDC’s birthday, we are proud to announce the Spirit 5th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, a limited-run version of the modern classic. The mic features a stunning ‘full-sleeve’ engraved chassis whose design references the uniquely British heritage of the Aston brand, the only mainstream mic company still manufacturing in the UK.

Spirit was the follow-up to our first mic, the distinctive and much-loved Origin. While the two mics shared many features - a 1” gold evaporated diaphragm, Aston’s unmistakeable waveform spring head, direct-to-stand mounting and near-indestructible build quality - under the hood Spirit was a completely new beast, housing a transformer and offering cardioid, omni and figure-of-eight polar patterns.

Spirit has become a fixture in many of the world’s top recording facilities, attracting many favourable comparisons with far costlier ‘industry standard’ mics. Chris Porter, who produced David Bowie, George Michael and many other A list artists, commented: “I use my Origin and Spirits happily alongside classic microphones such as the Neumann 49b, U87 or AKG C414s and often choose the Astons.”

And Dave Pemberton (Kasabian, The Prodigy, Orbital, Groove Armada) tells the story of a seamless switch from old to new: “The vintage U47 started to pop and fizzle so I switched to a Spirit. The clients seemed unaware of the change... the Spirit had more presence than the U47 and it certainly kept the warmth.”

Like all Aston’s microphones the Spirit was developed in conjunction with the Aston 33, a panel of leading producers, engineers and musicians who blind-tested the prototypes against leading competitors’ models to achieve world-class performance without an earth-shattering price tag.

Only 2000 of the 5th Anniversary Spirit will be produced, meaning it will surely become hot property!

The Aston Spirit 5th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be limited to just 2000 worldwide.