Singer-songwriter Ash Easton, who previously performed under the stage name HLLNDR (pronounced Hollander), debuted her first full-length studio album, Rough & Tough, in August, and is committed to performing live with an Audix OM6 handheld vocal microphone exclusively.
Beginning to sing almost as soon as she could talk led Easton to learning to play the piano and writing songs on guitar, her favorite instrument, and it led to gigs in clubs and bars, along with the microphone problems that can come with them. “There was this one time the house insisted I use their mic even though I had my own,” she recalls. “I’m looking at this thing and it’s dented all over, the grille was gunky with who knows what, just a mess. I start playing the gig, and the sound guy just leaves. I’m noticing I can’t really get signal out of the mic. I finally found this one spot on the side of the grille that I could sing into. Maybe it was the only place the openings in the grille weren’t blocked up. From that point on, I have exclusively used my own mic. I tell places, ‘Oh, I don’t want to get lipstick on yours!’ But really it’s because mine sounds better!”
Specifically, Easton prefers the Audix OM6 handheld dynamic mic with a hypercardioid pickup pattern that’s optimzed for loud bands in tight spaces. “The OM6 doesn’t pick up sounds that are coming from too far away from me or around me,” she explains. “It has been a dream for a lot of the smaller venues I play in. I have a new drummer. He plays loud and I love it!
“There was one show where we were supposed to play more softly because the venue had gotten some noise complaints from neighbors. I was like, ‘Bring your quiet sticks and a minimal kit.’ He doesn’t really know how to do that, but I love that about him. And I’m always set up right in front of him. When we are playing hard, it would be a real issue with most other mics I’ve used. The OM6 works perfectly in that scenario.”
