We Test the Aston Element Mic, Here's What Happened

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Because I listened to it and went, why isn't such and such on there? And you went, well, actually it is so maybe we should set that up. Yeah, exactly. Well, okay, So the whole backstory here is, you know, how many microphones do we own between us that we've heard over the years. It just never ends, right. Microphones are interesting to us, they're fun, and there are some innovative designs out there. So one company, small company that has gotten absorbed by a bigger company called aston ast O N they created a MIC called the Element A couple of years maybe four years ago, is released and it's unique trait the manufacturer calls a Ridion capsule or rid Yon trademarked r id Yo N capsule, which is an active moving coil design intended to combine the low end punch and off access rejection of the dynamic MIC with a sent sensitivity and clarity of a condenser mic and the smoothness of a ribbon mic. Smooth, yes, smooth. So it's a side address cardioid MIC, so it's relatively like a normal MIC. It's industrial design is rather a acquired taste. It looks weird. I'm sorry. I don't think everybody will look at it and take it very seriously. Looks like it, Yeah, it does look like a classic old school razor, not that I use it anymore. Yeah, and it's it's an unusual design, but whatever, what's it sound like? I remember this? Mike came up and then I was like, you know what, I think I've heard this mic before, and so I typed into Gmail, typed and asked an element. Sure enough, one of my clients has one of these mics, and so I dug into my files, found these samples, and this particular client of mine, she did a very thorough test of the MIC's placement where she moved it, and probably provided to me fifteen to twenty different placement samples. Very song to Mike. Yeah, nine inches away, here's the twelve inches away. Here it is two inches to the right. He's on the left side. I'm in the mood to move myself to the left three feet. Absolutely, George, you know that reference, Yeah, I do. And so you'll get to hear that, and you'll get to hear her just recording on two other extremely common microphones, so you can really kind of hear how it sounds, you know, because everything is a context, right, If you heard this mic completely in a vacuum, you wouldn't maybe think that much of it, like, oh, it's got a pretty nice sound. Other than the inside of a vacuum. Sounds kind of funny. Yeah, yeah, that sucks. Robert's on vacation, by the way, and you're probably imbibing, I would guarantee, especially this time of night. But but when you hear in comparison to the other two, you really go what So take a listen. This is a test with the Senheiser four sixteen. This is a test with the Sennheiser four sixteen. Is that all you need? Sample two testing Neyman one oh three seven inches away. Introduction, Welcome to our step by step guide on installing recessed lighting. The mic is now facing me twelve inches away. The mic is now facing me eight inches away. The mic is now facing me six inches away. The mic is now facing me at four inches The mic is now facing me at three inches The mic is to the left, pointed at my mouth eight inches away. The mic is to the left, pointed at my mouth six inches away. The mic is to my left, pointed at my mouth four inches away. The mic is at the left, pointed at my mouth three inches away. The mic is to the right, pointed at my mouth twelve inches away. The mic is to the right, pointed at my mouth, eight inches away. The mic is at the right, pointed at my mouth six inches away. The mic is to the right, pointed at my mouth, four inches away. The mic is to the right, pointed at my mouth three inches away. The mic is four inches to the right of center, twelve inches back. The mic is four inches to the right of center, eight inches back. The mic is four inches to the right of center, six inches back. The mic is four inches to the right of center four inches back. The mic is four inches to the right of center three inches back. The mic is four inches to the left of center twelve inches back. The mic is four inches to the left of center eight inches back. The mic is four inches from the left of center six inches back. The mic is four inches from the left of center four inches back. The mic is four inches from the left of center three inches back. The mic is two inches to the right of center nine inches away. The mic is two inches from the right of center six inches away. The mic is two inches from the right of center four inches away. The mic is two inches from the right of center three inches away. So you heard three microphones there. The first two were one oh three and a forty one six in that order, maybe by the way around there, Yeah, it was the other way around, I think, other way around. Yeah, And then you heard the asten element and I don't know what when you guys heard it, did you go like I did? Did you go? Well? It sounds it sounds definitely darker than the four sixteen, that's for sure. It's got more bottom to it or whatever, but it does have the top end that you don't lose from a lot of dynamic mics, right. I think also it was because it's got more bottom end. It sounded better because it gets affected by proximity. The further away like the one where she's like four inches the left and a foot away from the mic, probably sounded the best to me. Interesting, It did seem to be pretty consistent as far as the off axis. I mean, and I'm not sure how like she says exactly, but she seems to be keeping pretty close in it. It wasn't too bad, Like I would have been interested to hear it tykes straight into the sight of it. Oh she didn't do that yet. Well, there, I just watched a video while we were setting up. I was watching a video and there was a guy reviewing it, and he went ninety degrees off access and it wasn't It was thin and crusty and ugly. But so in terms of rejection, that's pretty good. There was still stuff there. Interestingly, when he went like behind it, when he went one hundred and eighty degrees, it just went. It went a lot more boomy and lost a little bit at the top end, but it was still fairly let's say strong signal. That's pretty typical the complete backside of a cardioid mic. Or hypercardioid. You're gonna get a little bit more top end on the back of. You will, Yeah, you get that node. I mean, which of those three mics, if you didn't know what they were, what they cost, anything at all, just face value, which sample would you have preferred? I can always pick the full sixteen get thirty six years of working with them. You can't. You can't un here it once you know it. Well, it's a thing, you know that mic really really well. Yeah, Yeah, it's not so much what it sounds like in the hoover and more of how it sits in the mix when you're done, and the reality is a lot of that low end is going to get in the way of other stuff and you're. Just and we'll probably be yeah, chopped out in Yeah. And the other thing is with the stuff like that with you know, more entry level gear. Once you start compressing, all the shit comes fludging to the surface. And unfortunately there wasn't a good room tone sample, so I didn't really get to hear the noise and stuff. Yeah, how the mic picked up. But it's spec is for dB a self noise, which really which. Is really low for a dynaspecially dynamic. Yeah, is it of actually a dynamic. It's a moving coil dynamic, right. It's an active moving coiled diaphragm. So in a plastic caist. It's well, it's the same as the CC five, the CC five is it is a dynamic that needs phantom CC five? Is it a the O C five I get five? Sorry, Yes, that's an active dynamic. It's an active dynamic. Yep. Yeah, I mean a lot of companies are doing active dynamic. Sure has the SM seven b dB dB cheeky model number, but yeah, those are not that uncommon. But it still has a decently open sound, you know, like if you roll off the low end. I thought, if you're trying to take a female voice and make it sound you know, they're on the radio, that radio sound. I thought it did a pretty nice job with that. If that's the sound, I would. Say, what is it like? Normally one hundred and sixty bucks and now on sale for seventy I'd say it's worth like every penny of that. Yeah. At the moment, it's on some crazy they're blowing them out on Amazon. I think the company had bought the company, Yeah, ast and it's just like making room for new stuff in their cattle. In China, So you know they're probably they're probably knocking them out of the factory in China for about ten bucks ages. I was looking at it and it's like it just other things. It'd be a pretty easy mic to get in on Tom's. Yeah, just because of his design and shape. Yeah, it looks pretty and you wouldn't be whacked. Drum, Yeah, it looks it looks like it could take it. It looks like it. Could take it. Anyways. I think being out out a plastic it might sound like a cow bell or something. Well, can you imagine what that would sound like on a kick drum? Might sound great on a kick man. It looks like I mean, it looks like a pretty big diaphragm if you. Can handle it. Says it can handle one hundred and thirty two decibel. Yeah, I think this is a last mic. Anybody needs it all, Like, fuck all the other mics. The last it's just a Desert Island micro. It's every thanks very much Austrian Audio. But we've got new sponsors seventy Desert Island. It's right with a plastic case. Yeah, yeah, come on. My go to my daily Driver. Actually it's not me and China. It's made the p r C. Oh, that's right, People's Republic, People's Republic, People Republic of China. That's right, exactly. No, it's I mean it sounds good for the price point, but I don't know it's. There's a lot of money. I think it's I think it's competitor is probably like a Yetti or something, right, you know, that's who it's probably competing with. Yeah, or the Blue Mics Blue Yeah. Yeah, the Blue Mica. If you're if you're shopping in that. Like like an NTG five a USB and t G not NTG five but nt U s B kind of. In that price range, or the what's the other one, the road podcaster whatever that what do they call it? Well, the podcaster, the road cast, the pro procaster. I've got one in the cupboard. Yeah, yeah, they have a lot of of that. But yeah, when I watched and Andrew from Podcastage doing it, you know, comparing and he he did a test to comparing it with S seven and a road procaster, which is like their S seven B you know, and those sounded thin in comparison with the l this. Wow, it does. It does have a good, goodly amount of I mean. That's the first thing you hear is the difference is that and it doesn't sound like the top end goes away. It sounds like the bottom of it is like still there. Yeah, it's weird because the if you look at the frequency response chart, it's clearly not honest. It's got a deep at the top, it's got to deep around that. It has a million upper mid dip and then a little bit of an up a rise, but at the low end it's just flat all the way down to maybe I don't know, twenty thirty hertz, but it doesn't have a rise. And that's what I don't really understand. But that's not what it sounds like, so that's wrong. It's because of how that coil responds to proximity effect, right, And then that was something that Ben from bees Knees was talking about with head basket design and how the head basket influences the proximity effect. And if you look at the head basket of this thing, it's right there. What it doesn't even really make sense because it's like a it's a flag right in front of it. I mean, usually mics like that that have like such enclosure so close to the element, and I mean it's kind of a weird mic because honestly. Usually left sting coil. It doesn't have much room for a coil if you think about it. Usually moving coils a lot and it's hard to make a say address moving coil make. Talking about proximity effect and this is completely off topic, but you've just touched on something that I was actually thinking about the other day. I actually was doing a video on proximity effect for my socials and we talk about proximity effect on it like talking about it. I was talking about it on a four one six. But like, if you think about the microphone that Robert's on today, the nt T four. The capsule for that, it's a shot it's a pencil microphone. But the shotgun for that's right, the shotgun. Sorry, the capsule for that is right at the front. But on an empty four one six further about, it's way down right. So proximity effect on a four one six is going to be different than a proximity effect. But the four one six does have a Robert A pronounced. It does, and a voiceover artist that we've talked about on the show before in ap and I know, well a guy called Steve Britton uses it to great effect. He's always swallowing that. And I think that that proximity of is actually more indicative of the you know, figure eights have a bigger proximity effect than cardioids, and omnies have no proximity effect because it's all about like the energy that gets lost and refocused essentially when you get closer. It's not just a like design, it's it's a lot to do with the polar pattern that creates. So this mic is kind of a hyper cardioid, right. I mean I looked at the pattern and it looked like a pretty standard heart. It's got a note in the back, and that would. With a flat note squares it's like a tail got jomp off. But that would lead you to think, because it's got such tight sides and it gets more figure eight ish, that it's kind of going to have a big proximity effect. Right, So you'll stay I can see you, George. You're looking at an NTG four to see where the capsule is. Yeah, I think I think the capsules back here, we can see it. I think the capsules is near the back of the slots, dude, not the front. No, I understood it was to the capsules on the front. I don't that was my understanding. I could be completely wrong. I'm certainly not questioning you. I think for a shotgun to work, it has to be back because the early shotgun designs, they literally were a bunch of tubes of different lengths that led to the capsule in the back. That's how they worked. It's a series of tubes. Okay. I took the grill off. Just pulling these microphones. And brill is a little metal mesh. Yes, it's probably hydrophobic. Then you can put your weeds a little foam. There's a foam pop filter in the top. Look at that really not pulling it apot? Now the infer what they call it. Yeah, let's do the pencil drop. Jeez. Well oh wow, he's a long way down. I will stand corrected. Yep. Then it's a good couple of inches three inches or so, isn't it. If you line it up next to microphone when you've marked it, there you go, so we can see where it is on the actual body of the mic. Pretty much down right down the bottom. Yeah, there you go. I apologize it to make sure that you really did find the bottom. It's like a mustard, you know, like putting it. Fire. It sounds mad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that's the very Yeah, because I know the forty one six the capsules most of the way down, but. Not not all right down, No, not all the way down, goodly way down. Yeah yeah yeah. Well, there you go. My theory was just blown completely out of the water. Scrap what I said. There you go. The fire was in the hold. I love proving my pilst. The audio sweet and Austrian audio recorded using Connect, edited by Andrew Peters, mixed by Robbo. Got your own audio issues just ask Robbo dot com. Tech support from. George and the Tech Window. Don't forget to subscribe to the show and join the conversation on our Facebook group to leave a comment, suggest a topic, or just say good day. Drop us a note at our website, our audio suite dot com.