Aston Microphones HALO Purple Reflection Filter and Portable Vocal Booth

Product Information

The Result is abeautifully open sound with sparkling harmonics. This highly accurate microphone gives a stunningly natural and transparent recording, capturing all the detail in the high range but without adding the harshness that some condenser microphones seem to. Key Features: In case anyone from Greenpeace is reading this, we’d also like to point out that the Halo on the Aston is made of recycled plastic bottles (PET), so as well as not feeling cheap it’s environmentally friendly too! The Origin is designed to deliver direct, smooth and intimate sound… for a supremely natural and transparent recording. The Aston Halo itself is made of Aston’s own patented form of PET– the same material that they make plastic bottles out of. All of which makes the Halo a hit of an eco-warrior, as it’s made out of 70% recycled material. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s rubbish! This material is far more acoustically absorbent than foam. In fact, the only instance where we think you should think twice, or at the very least assess whether a Halo would be worth it, is if you don’t really need a mic isolation shield full stop. In other words, you’ve already got a fully sound-treated room or free access to a professional studio. In which case, this purple shield would serve more as a prop than a functional piece of equipment. But saying that, it would look pretty killer as part of a music video, and certainly screams “pro producer” to any artist who walks into your studio.

Up steps the fresh faced contender on the market Aston Microphones to offer a striking new design that signals a marked departure from the original design. Because with the Halo, the centre of gravity is directly above the top of the mic stand, there’s little chance of it causing your mic stand to tip over. Good news for those of you with precious condenser microphones! Our market research also revealed that many people have a hard time with getting a good performance when using other reflection filters because they are not very ‘creative-friendly’ environments. The Halo’s form, colour options and size is designed to create a more ‘organic-feeling’ space for the performer to work with.The sheer difference a Halo makes to vocals is nothing short of phenomenal. Get your hands on one of these and you’ll soon see what we mean. Sing or spit your rap bars into a Halo and almost immediately your vocals are more focused and noticeably tighter in the low end. They’re just so much more pronounced than you get with a bare microphone setup. All of which makes post production 10x easier, especially if your recording environment isn’t what you’d call soundproof. The Halo gives a mic diffusion from 360 degrees, including the top and bottom. Something that the majority of mic isolation shields do not. Perhaps why mic isolation shields have got a bad rep? As two of the most reflective places in most rooms are the floor and the ceiling. Though I was acquainted with the specs beforehand, I was still surprised when setting it up at just how rigid and lightweight the structure is. I found it to be perfectly stable when placed on a dedicated bog-standard mic stand (ie. on a different stand from the mic), and the extra isolation this produces is definitely worth it. Conclusion Buy a Halo and you’re buying a completely new product – the Aston Halo has been completely re-engineered as a mic isolation shield. It’s not just a rip off of one that’s been released before.

When it comes to sound absorption, the sE uses foam. Unlike the Aston which uses the company’s patented type of PET felt. A materials that’s said to 1up the sound absorption that you get from traditional foam.

Oh no! Why did I get blocked?

I’ve had a few mic shields over the years. This one actually works. Really good. I don’t need it anymore so selling on. Because the pop filter is integrated into the eyeball, you can’t really alter it distance from the mic. Whereas with the Aston you can, as it doesn’t come with a pop filter built in. The filter itself offers a much bigger surface area and is made of the latest patented acoustic materials and proprietary moulding techniques which bring massively improved filtering performance. It also incredibly lightweight so you don't need a ridiculously heavy duty stand or have troublesetting it up. Not everyone has access to a perfect place to record vocals, unwanted reflections coming into your take, but not anymore. The Aston Halo is a huge leap forward in reflection filter performance, for isolation, absorption, mounting hardware and the overall performance as a studio tool for achieving portable room control. Key Features: Where the sE lags just provide absorption from the sides, the Aston Halo absorbs and protect your mic from all 360 degrees – that being the left and right hand side, as well as the top and bottom.

The Halo is made from a patented PET felt which is one of the most lightweight and efficient, technical acoustic products available on the global market today, making it ideal for use in a reflection filter. An additional side benefit is that the acoustic felt which makes up most of the sound absorption field is made from 70% recycled PET plastic, so this highly technical product is also very environmentally friendly. The most impressive quality of the Halo is its sonic neutrality. Placing any (semi) solid object close to a microphone, especially those with cardioid and figure-eight polar patterns, tends to seriously affect tonality, whether the intended source is close or at a distance. Yet another perk of that PET felt is the size and weight of the Aston. Therefore, we’re yet to find a mic isolation shield that can match it in terms of portability. Also being bigger = more acoustic absorption = a clearer sound. Then as an actual product, the Aston shines too. Compared to its competitors it’s significantly better value – considering you can pay pretty much the same for what is essentially a ball of foam (the Kaotica eyeball), we’d even be tempted to say that this bespoke mic shield, with it’s innovative PET felt and acoustic ribbing isn’t just good value – it’s a bargain! An additional side benefit is that the acoustic felt which makes up most of the sound absorption field is made from 70% recycled PET plastic, so this highly technical product is also very environmentally friendly.Because not only is there a lot of scepticism around mic isolation booths, but when it comes to the Halo, we’ve got to admit that we’ve got a slight crush. Well, we say slight… we’re HUGE fanboys! So as you can imagine, the thought of doing an Aston Halo review seemed to be treading awfully close to being bias. Which it kind of is, but we’ve decided to give it a go anyway, as a way of disciplining our fanaticism about this remarkable mic isolation shield. The Halo is more expensive than many similar products, so it does need to trade on quality over value for money. Probably the most noticeable difference between the Aston halo and the Kaotica Eyeball is that the Aston is far more a isolation booth, whereas the eyeball is pretty much a mic cover. We like to think of it as an oversized mic windshield – you know, the type newsreaders have on their mic. Therefore, you can record a lot further away from the Aston Halo than you can the Kaotica Eyeball. The multi-award winning Aston Origin is a high-performance cardioid condenser microphone utilising a one inch (1″) gold evaporated capsule. It's versatile enough to use with any instrument and, for singer-songwriters, excels on acoustic guitar and vocals. Its hand-selected capsule is paired with high-end transformerless circuitry using only the finest components. All of which then means you can make a fair comparison and of course reach your own conclusion. After all, everyone’ setup is different, as are their requirements,, so while we might think the Halo’s worth every penny, you might think different. So let’s gets into it – here’s everything you need to know about the Aston Halo reflection filter… Key details