The Aston Microphones Element Studio Microphone Bundle

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.

Spirit has become a fixture in many of the world's top recording facilities, attracting many favourable comparisons with far costlier '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 competitor 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 amongst the boutique brand's fast-growing fan club.