Miking Sutra - with Aston Microphones

Some fantastic work here by Daniele Carbonelli, a 27 years old sound engineer based in Marino, a village near Rome, on his Youtube Channel Miking Sutra, which features mic placing demos and shootouts. Daniele owns no fewer than six Astoin mics, four Starlights, a Spirit and an Origin. "All great mics!" he told us.

If you've wondered what the different settings on the Starlight sound like, the above video compares the 'Modern', 'VIntage' and 'Hybrid' settings.

Here (below) is a demonstration of the difference mic placing can make, using an Aston Starlight on classical guitar:

And it's not all about guitars, there are tips on mic'ing techniques on a range of intruments, like this piece compating ORTF and NOS stereo set-ups on drum overheads:

The channel also features multiple mic 'shootouts' so you can hear how the Aston mics stack-up against the competition!

"I decided to open a YouTube channel, with the aim of comparing miking techniques and microphones, all in the most neutral way, trying to offer the user all the tools to appreciate the differences, often subtle, between microphones or techniques." Daniele told us.

"I chose for the YouTube channel the name “Miking Sutra”, because the word Sutra in Indian literary tradition refers to a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual, and I like to think about the channel as a miking manual with lots of little hints that can help people who are looking for microphones or those who have to make miking choices but have no way or time to experiment and compare them."

"I don't want to create a competition between microphones, because I think that there isn't a best microphone ever, but the most suitable microphone for the kind of recording we are going to do, for example I was particularly impressed by how amazing the Aston Origin sounds on Wurlitzer electric piano, also comparing it with other excellent well known ones."

"Obviously all this would not have been possible without the help of excellent musicians who have lent themselves and are lending themselves to the cause and good colleagues with whom I have the opportunity to confront and collaborate during the shooting."

The recordings and videos were made at Undercurrent Recording Studio and Forward Studios in Rome.

Check out Daniele's Miking Sutra channel here

And on Instagram here