The multi-award-winning Aston Starlight small diaphragm ‘pencil’ condenser mic has become an indispensable fixture on the equipment lists of many top engineers and producers. The mic gets accolades for its innovative features, such as laser-guided targeting and repositioning, and three independent voicings, but it is sound quality the professionals look for first and the Starlight, like the Aston Origin and Spirit before it, outperforms many far costlier microphones. The pros will often be seen using matched pairs of Starlights, perhaps as drum overheads, room mics or for stereo recordings of acoustic instruments. Unlike many ‘stereo’ pairs, Aston Starlights undergo a complex and lengthy matching process which includes capacitance, frequency response and sensitivity testing plus individual capsule performance checks. The result is a truly balanced pair of mics delivering world-class audio.