MICROPHONES

"Quite a while back I read a cool write-up on Sontronics mics and I had to try them. I'd used their ribbon mics before and now I'm using their drum mics – DM-1B on kick and bass, DM-1S on snare, DM-1T on toms – plus DELTA and HALO on guitar cab, and they've featured on all my recent stuff: tracks co-written with Gary Numan, the soundtrack to US telelvision series Hunters and the music for movie TT3D, plus a sample library I'm recording for Spitfire Audio. 

"My first try of the DM-1B was on bass cab and it was amazing. I'm now using it on kick drum and when you get it in the right place it sounds as good as my [Neumann] U47fet does outside the kick, which is amazing! 

"The DM-1S is one of the best close snare mics I have ever used. It is working amazingly well. It gives you a real open snare sound, unlike the snap/crack you get with a 57. I've just started using the DM-1T on toms and again I found that even with close miking you get a nice open sound. It's great! 

"Sontronics HALO is amazing on guitar – it gives you a real direct, in-yer-face sound. It can make your amp push through the mix like a DI guitar with a plug-in. I love it! 

"I've now got Sontronics ARIA which is just stunning. I spent the first six months using it alongside my vintage Neumann M49, tracking everything on both mics, and pretty soon it was obvious that the ARIA was better on everything… I ended up putting some of my Neumanns on ebay because of it. 

"It's just beautiful. I used it on everything from guitar to percussion to operatic vocals to double bass to overhead on bass drums… ARIA is a phenomenal mic and it's always set up ready to swing round and use on whatever I'm recording. I couldn't live without it. 

"My daughter is now writing and recording her own tracks, and she's been using Sontronics mics at her college. She's got an STC-3X for her own set-up, and it's incredible how Sontronics get even their most affordable mics (STC-3X is about 250 quid, I think) to sound like they should be ten times the price. When she's not using it, I steal it for my own studio - it's a brilliant mic!"