Georg Neumann introduced the world’s first commercially available condenser microphone, the Neumann CMV, and officially put his new company Neumann on the map. The interchangeable capsules offered different directional patterns, and it was hard to miss at 40 cm tall and 9cm in diameter. Its unmistakeable shape and large profile earned it the name, “Neumann Bottle.” The easily recognizable CMV 3 is often seen in historical photographs of public events in Germany, many taken during World War II.

After the Neumann factory in Berlin was damaged by Allied bombing in November 1943, Georg Neumann moved his company to the town of Gefell and resumed production in the early months of 1944. After the war ended, this Gefell fell under Soviet control and Neumann became a “people’s corporation.After the reunification of Germany, the Neumann company now located in Gefell became known as Microtech Gefell.

Upon re-establishing Neumann in one of the Allied sectors of Berlin under the new name “Georg Neumann GmbH,” the famous U47 switchable pattern microphone was developed, based on the M7 capsule on the earlier CMV 3 microphones. One of the first condenser microphones to be widely accepted, the U47, was used in recording studios around the world. Neumann microphones were used by The Beatles giving their recording a signature sound which had better upper midrange response, and sounded sharper and more present.

Post-war, Neumann developed the famous M49 and M50, both of which used the M7 capsule, and later during the 50′s the KM 53, 54, and 56. In 1957 Neumann introduced the first stero microphone, which was essentially a pair of KM56 microphones housed in the same body and capable of being remotely controllled. The rock ‘n roll era was distinguished by recording up close vocals at high volume into the U47 and U48, producing a harsh, overdriven sound. Around the same time this trend was developing, Telefunken discontinued production of the VF 14 vacuum tube on which the U47 and U48 were based, and a new model was developed, the U67.

The first Neumann solid state microphones apeared in the mid-sixties with the KTM and U77, which were transistorized versions of previous Neumann microphones. Phantom power was first introduced by Neumann in 1966 in its Neumann U87 capacitor microphone, a method which had previously been used by telephone companies now allowed Georg Neumann to connect his solid state, tube, and dynamic microphones all to the same power source.

In the 80’s Neumann introduced the TLM 170 microphone,  which featured balanced outputs and no output transformer. The KM100 was an expansion on the transformerless design and featured seven different changeable active capsules, the TLM 193 borrowed the capsule from the U89 and TLM 170, the KM 180 series, the large diaphragm TLM 103, the variable pattern TLM 127 condenser.

In 1983 Neumann began to introduce microphones with balanced outputs but no output transformer, starting with the model TLM 170. Eventually this “fet 100″ or “transformerless” series was expanded to include the KM 100 modular series of small microphones (with seven different “active capsules” for various directional patterns), the cardioid TLM 193 (using the capsule of the U 89 and TLM 170), the small-diaphragm KM 180 series, the large-diaphragm cardioid TLM 103, the variable-pattern TLM 127 and the TLM 49 cardioid vocal microphone.

The 90’s brought a series of Neumann vacuum tube microphones with transformerless output circuitry.  Still widely sought after today, the Neumann M149 Tube microphone, the cardioid Neumann M147 Tube microphone and the Neumann M 150 Tube microphone, an evolution of the M 50 design that featured a pressure transducer mounted on the surface of the sphere directly inside the capsule head. In 1991, the legendary Neumann company was acquired by Sennheiser and production was moved to a new 100 level clean factory in Wedermark, while official headquarters remained in Berlin.

In 2003 Neumann revolutionized the recording industry again with the Solution-D D-01, which features built-in analog-to-digital conversion. A few years later the D-01 was followed with a modular, small-diaphragm series of digital microphones, KM D, based on the KM 100/180 series. During this time Neumann also began production of its very first dynamic microphone, the BCM 705 broadcast microphone.

Since the beginning, Neumann microphones have remained synonymous with quality and signature models like the Neumann U87 have become unmistakable icons of the recording studio. For artists, producers and engineers alike, Neumann vocal microphones represent the highest level of sonic perfection and innovation.

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