Element Bundle
The Aston Element is a large diaphragm, active moving coil studio microphone designed to deliver unparalleled performance, particularly on vocals and acoustic instruments. Its unique Ridyon™ capsule takes the best features of dynamic, condenser and ribbon mic technology, without the drawbacks each tend to suffer from, and rolls them all into a sleek, lightweight-yet-tough, beauty.
In true Aston tradition, pretty much everything about Element is proprietary, from the all-new capsule to the signal-smoothing, waveform contoured chassis and that cool purple badge, which glows reassuringly to indicate the presence of 48v phantom power. The included pop shield and shock mount are bespoke, highly effective and ingenious, attaching to Element in the blink of an eye. And the whole bundle costs less than some brands charge for their shock mount alone!
Even the way Element was developed was a world-first, with the final voicing decided by public vote, with more than 4000 early adopters participating in a series of blind listening tests of Element prototypes against other brands’ leading models.
The resulting masterpiece of microphone design features the widest frequency response of any electromagnetic (ribbon or moving coil) microphone ever made. Element is also the quietest (in a good way) studio microphone on the planet!
Most importantly it sounds… incredible.
The world's first customer-designed microphone
While other companies, particularly in the software sector, invite their customers to become beta-testers, this is invariably to check a product which is pretty-much already finished. It’s just checking for bugs. Never before in the audio industry has the actual SOUND of a product been decided by the eventual users from the early stages of development.
We took the Aston Element to prototype stage, so we had the chassis and the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the electronics in place, but the most important stage of all, the voicing – which gives each mic out there its own character and distinguishes it from all the others – was left to you.
By participating in Project Element, thousands of musicians, engineers and producers from all over the world, have had their say in the final heart and soul of this unique and beautiful microphone.
Element – Developing a game-changer
The Aston Element bundle was more than 18 months in development (6-9 months would be more usual for a product in this class). It’s a complex package!
The first 15 months was all about the foundations for the mic; the all-new capsule technology, the acoustic housing (which involved a LOT of testing), the chassis, grille diffuser and the development of the included, dedicated pop filter and shock mount.
Then it was over to the public; the musicians, engineers and producers who would ultimately be using Element in their work. How to make sure the new mic’s sound was exactly what they wanted? Brands seeking feedback or enlisting beta testers typically only do so when a product is all but finished. We went much, much further and, in a pro-audio world-first, invited customers to vote on the voicing of the final product.
Read on to see how this worked…
The Aston Family Developer Panel
More than 4000 people signed up to be part of the Aston Family Developer Panel. They participated in blind-listening tests rating, from best to worst, downloaded audio files of Element prototypes against leading competitors’ mics (including some far costlier models) but without knowing which mic was which.
The voting data was analysed and the prototypes modified accordingly. The process would run for as many sessions as necessary until the Element was consistently receiving the majority vote. By the third session Element was the panel’s clear favourite for both male and female vocals and also rating highly for acoustic guitars.
The voting data, which provided Aston’s boffins with more than 50.000 data points to help craft the new mic’s sound, was peer reviewed by Music Tech Magazine and Sound on Sound magazine, two of the most influential and respected independent pro-audio publications in the world.
The resulting mic outperforms anything in its price range, and some far more expensive mics too. It’s a tough dynamic mic, which performs tonally like a smooth, warm ribbon but with the extended high frequency response and professional ‘studio sound’ of a condenser. The best of all 3 worlds all rolled into one beautiful package.
Aston Element - the world’s first ‘People’s Microphone’.
The Aston 33
So where did the idea for the world’s first ‘customer-designed’ mic come from?
Actually, Aston have created all their award-winning mics so far using a similar blind-testing process with hundreds of the top producers, engineers and artists in the world… But with Element we decided it was time to let everyone in on the action! Here’s the history…
The ‘classics’ of the mic world differentiate themselves by having their own subtle yet recognisable sonic character, and this is subjective. So how do you know in advance if your new mic design is going to please the ears of the world’s top music and audio professionals?
Simple. You ask them. In fact, Aston went further and invited them to participate in the R&D right from the start of every mic project. The resulting panel of experts, affectionately named the Aston 33 after the original 33 panel members, now comprises more than 600 top producers, engineers and artists from around the globe, 120 of whom took part in the testing procedures for the development of the 2020 TEC Award winning Aston Stealth.
No other brand develops their microphones this way, in fact it is unique in the Pro Audio technology industry, and it’s the reason Aston mics sound SO good. Aston work with the very best ears in the industry.
Project Element was the first and only time this process has been rolled out to the public, the musicians, engineers and producers who can now use mic they helped voice.
Transducer Type : Moving coil
Directional Polar Pattern : Cardioid
Frequency Response : 20Hz – 20kHz
Equivalent Noise Level ; 3.8 dBA (A-weighted)
Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm : ave. 12mV/Pa
Maximum SPL for THD 0.5% : 132dB
Product length : 163 mm / 6.4 in
Product width : 58 mm / 2.28 in
Product weight : 275g / 0.6 lb
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