greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of a microphone right out of the uk so go ahead
and grab yourself a cup of tea that microphone is the aston spirit although i do have the aston
spirit black bundle it's a limited edition one same microphone just a different finish
if you are interested in this microphone it will cost you around 450 dollars
like always i'll throw some links down below and for this review i have the microphone connected
directly to the focusrite 18i20 second gen my gain is set just at around 12 30. i will
not do any kind of post processing but i may boost it in post so check the dooblydoo to
see what i didily did and now let's talk about what comes in the box and god save the queen
i don't know what a surprise you are going to get the microphone
you'll have a 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand adapter in the microphone already
you'll get a shock mount which comes with a second 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand adapter you'll
get a pop filter which clips on to the shock mount some documentation a pin and a sticker
then as far as the build quality the microphone feels extremely well put together i have no real
complaints about it it has an all metal body it has a metal grille and behind that grille
it has this malleable mesh metal wind protection in there it weighs in at 625 grams on the front of
the mic you'll find three switches one being a pad to switch between negative 10 negative 20 or 0 db
you will find an 80 hertz high pass filter and you'll find a polar pattern selection switch to
go between cardioid omnidirectional and figure eight then on the bottom of the microphone you
will find a standard 5 8 inch threading to mount this directly to a stand it does come with a 5 8
to 3 8 inch stand adapter and you'll find the xlr port and this is made in the uk then as far as the
specs this mic has a cardioid omnidirectional and figure eight polar patterns it has a
frequency response of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 32 and a half db
a self noise a 14 dba a max spl of 138 db and a phantom power requirement of plus 48 volts
now i am spinning around the aston spirit on the cardioid polar pattern here's how it sounds at 90
degrees continuing around to 180 degrees here's the rear of the microphone continuing around to
the second 90 degree angle and then rotating and ending at the front of the mic now i am spinning
around the microphone on omnidirectional and i am at 90 degrees moving around to 180 degrees and
as i move around the microphone you should hear very minimal change to the tone of my voice but
now i am back at the front of the mic and lastly we are on the figure eight polar pattern and i
will rotate around to 90 degrees which should be a very dead area continuing around to 180 degrees
you should have another lobe of sensitivity right here you should hear me pretty well continuing
around to the second 90 degree angle or the second dead area and then rotating and ending
at the front of the mic again now let's see how well this microphone does at rejecting plosives
please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring
pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto now i am right on top of the
spirit to really accentuate the proximity effect i do not have the high pass filter engaged and here
is how it sounds and now i have engaged the 80 hertz high pass filter i am at the same distance
really engaging that proximity effect and here is how the audio compares now i am right on top
of the microphone and here is how it sounds about three inches away with it pointed at the corner
of my mouth and here is how the spirit sounds about one foot away from the microphone two feet
away from the microphone and about four feet away from the microphone now i am typing on a keyboard
with gatoram blue switches to see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for you lonely girl 15 gamers out there now i am typing on these sad w keys
here is how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room and now to see how well
the provided shock mount performs i am bumping the desk to see how much of that noise it rejects
and i'll tap the boom arm
and now i'll go ahead and tap the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
now i want to do a very quick comparison between the aston spirit and a couple of other microphones
on the market so we can see how it compares to its competition of course i will start on
the aston spirit i am on the cardioid mode no filters engaged my gain is set at 12 30 and i
am six inches off of this thing and here is how it sounds first off i'm on the audio technica
this is a 100 electric condenser microphone i am six inches off gain is still set at 12 30
and here is how it compares against a 450 dollar condenser microphone we are back on the aston
spirit still six inches away still gain set at 12 30 check the lower third to see how much i boosted
each of these mics here's how it sounds let's jump to another one now we are on the crowd favorite
the neat king b this goes for about 130 dollars i am at the same distance same gain setting 1230
and here is how a 130 dollar condenser microphone sounds like compared to a 450 multi-pattern
condenser microphone from the uk we are back on the aston spirit and i have been locked inside
for over six months i am not losing my mind at all but here is how this microphone sounds
let's jump to another one so you can compare it to that and now i am on the little baby sibling thing
of the aston spirit the aston origin this goes for three hundred dollars it is cardioid only no
filters engaged same distance same gain setting 12 30. here is how a 300 dollar condenser sounds
compared to the 450 dollar condenser do they sound the same let me know in the comments down below
i don't know what else to say but i'm back on the aston spirit same distance same gain setting i'm
back on this so you can hear how it sounds before we jump to another mic and compare it to that now
i am on the shure ksm44a this is a multi-pattern condenser microphones with the exact same polar
patterns as the aston spirit omnidirectional cardioid and figure eight same distance same gain
setting no filters engaged and here is how a one thousand dollar multi-pattern condenser microphone
sounds like compared to a four hundred and fifty dollar multi-pattern condenser microphone
there you go sure ksm 44a and i think this may be the last mic we're comparing it to but we're
back on the aston spirit here is how it sounds cardioid mode no filters gain 12 30 6 inches off
let's jump to the last mic so you can hear how this mic compares to that
and lastly we do need to compare the aston spirit to another multi-pattern condenser microphone
now i am on the akg c414 xls this goes for about 1070 or 1100
same distance same gain setting cardioid polar pattern no filters engaged and here's how it
compares do you think it sounds three times better than the spirit but more importantly of all of the
microphones that i compared this spirit against which one did you like the best or do you think
the spirit is the winner in this quick vocal shootout let me know in the comments down below
i'm so tired all the time but i must review these mics because they won't review themselves
and there's only one way to tell which one you'll like
and that is by you doing proper research reading and listening you are the one who needs to
determine which microphone is right for you this has been your weekly psa with andrew i hate myself
goodbye all right when i was ordering the spirit i was expecting to get the exact same
sound as the aston origin just with a couple of additional polar patterns but after testing it out
and getting to know it for a little bit i think it's quite a different sound and quite a big step
up from the little brother and first up in terms of prose on the note of the aston origin i think
the spirit offers a much more even sound that is far less top heavy and quite a bit more pleasing
the build quality of the microphone also feels excellent and it's built in the uk which is
always great to see additionally the microphone did a surprisingly good job at rejecting plosives
even without the provided pop filter and the microphone is completely dead and there are no
resonant frequencies whatsoever it is dead it's amazing you're not going to have any resonances
interfering with your recording and then as far as cons i'm really not too keen on the accessories
with the pop filter i broke the mounting system within 30 minutes of using it
and when you have the microphone mounted in the shock mount it starts to sag and droop a little
bit to the point where the microphone ends up resting on the switches on the mic and i would
be worried about that affecting the longevity of it but even though the shock mount doesn't
have a death grip on the microphone it does do a pretty good job at rejecting shocks and bumps
of the desk or the mic stand and now what are my overall thoughts and opinions of this microphone
on the electric guitar i found the top end to be very open sounding but it doesn't come across as
top heavy it just captures a lot of information in the treble and air frequencies and it does it
pretty well the mids are nice and neutral they're not overly forward they're not scooped and the low
end is incredibly controlled all around for the electric guitar it offers a very clean sound that
i was quite impressed with then on the acoustic guitar i would just say top end top end top end it
is a detailed articulate and open and airy sound and then you have the mids and the lows which are
unoffensive they just sit there nicely to support this beautiful top end and i really enjoyed it on
the acoustic guitar i thought it was a great and very lively sound next up for singing i think this
offers a very airy sound and i think this is the sound that most people would call modern it's not
mid-forward it's not dark it's not the smoothest it is articulate detailed airy it has all this
top-end information and i think that's what a lot of people look for in modern microphones the mids
they do not have nasaliness to them which is kind of prevalent in more vintage sounding microphones
the low end is controlled it's not overpowering but you can get a lot of it if you get right on
top of the microphone and don't hit yourself in the face with a shock mount all around a very
modern sounding singing microphone if that's what you're looking for and lastly for spoken word the
low end on this microphone doesn't really give you the voice of god but you can get quite a bit
of weight to it if you eat the microphone the mids nice and neutral natural sounding not over boosted
not cut not recessed and the top end detailed articulate it captures all that information in
your voice if you're looking for a microphone to smooth out some harshness in your voice and help
you out this is not going to do you any favors it captures all of the top end of your voice
and that's what it does so just know that going in if you're buying this if you're looking for help
up there it's not going to give it to you but if you want all of that information it will do that
and to wrap up what i recommend this microphone both yes and no if you're looking for a vintage
smooth dark sounding microphone no this is not a microphone for you it is not designed to do that
and it does not do that go look somewhere else this is not the mic for you this is not the
microphone you're looking for but on the other hand if you are looking for that more modern
sound which has that articulate detailed open and airy sound to it kind of having a shimmer or a
shine in the top end caused by a big treble and air boost then yes i would recommend it because
it does that and it does it well and if you were looking at the origin and you have an extra 150
dollars i think the improvement to the sound is worth it it is less top heavy and more balanced
sounding and when you have that big boost in the upper frequencies i think it's essential to have
something to offset that and not be completely focused up in the upper frequencies all right
i think that's going to wrap up for today but i want to hear from you in the comments down below
which of the microphones did you like the best did you like the spirit the origin the king b
the 414 44a blah blah blah blah blah let me know in the comments down below if you found this video
fun interesting or helpful go ahead and give me a thumbs up if you hated it big o want to hang
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thank you all so much for watching thank you all so much for listening i'll talk to you later bye
you