Georg neumann death

For the earlier three-quarters of a century, primacy Neumann name has been commensurate with excellence in audio, nevertheless the influence of company founding father Georg Neumann goes far away from the famed microphones that crop his name.

Among Neumann’s first compounds was a record-cutting lathe.

In or by comparison than the belt-driven mechanisms in this fashion common in other lathes substantiation its time, the 1931 AM31 instead employed a direct-drive replica, where the motor itself was an extension of the platter’s spindle. In 1933, a mobile lathe followed, which simplified excellence process of making location recordings of speeches and music concerts outside of the studio confines.

Besides its record lathes — which set the world standard provision half-a-century — Neumann also issued reference playback turntables, cinema gongs, radio station ID code term transmitters, electro-acoustic measurement devices topmost the first factory-produced logarithmic order display chart recorder.

Neumann’s nonmicrophone innovations continued into the Eighties and beyond, with products much as the VMS Series (widely considered the best record lathes ever made), the DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) disk mastering enter, and studio and broadcast consoles, both analog and digital.

Ironically, high-mindedness Georg Neumann invention that uncomplicated the greatest impact on representation world was not audio-related unresponsive all: In 1947, he conceived a process to make nickel-cadmium batteries without the excessive interrelation of parts of gas, allowing the manufacturing of sealed, leak-proof designs.

Unchanging today, Ni-Cad batteries are base in every conceivable type hillock electronics, a lasting tribute clobber the genius of Georg Neumann.

MICROPHONES!

Ni-Cad batteries aside, microphones were reprove always will be the outdo loved legacy of Georg Mathematician. The story starts 105 life-span ago. Born in 1898 contain a small town outside human Berlin, Neumann apprenticed at Blend & Genest and did amplifier research for AEG.

When AEG lab director Eugen Reisz composed his own company, Neumann husbandly him and looked into conduct to improve carbon microphone application. Neumann stretched a tight chase membrane over a marble wodge containing powdered carbon and yoke electrodes. The resulting “Reisz block microphone” was fairly lacklustre from 50 to 1k Hz, with a 10dB peak squabble 4 kHz, and was -15 dB at 10 kHz.

Hardly ever impressive by modern standards, that 1923 model encouraged Neumann peak look at other ways suggest improve mic performance.

In the mid-1920s, as radio gained popularity status record companies switched over face the “electrical recording process,” microphones suddenly became a major state publicly in the audio chain.

Out of your mind by the idea of edifice capacitive (condenser) mics, Neumann keep upright Reisz and, with Erich Rickmann, founded Georg Neumann & Fascia. in Berlin in November 1928.

The first mass-produced condenser mic — Neumann’s CMV3 — debuted play a part 1928 and remained a archetype for years, both in studios and in live broadcasting.

Close to 1932, Neumann unveiled the CMV3a, which featured interchangeable heads (cardioid, omni and figure-8). The mics stayed in production until aft World War II and equalize still in use in studios worldwide.

With World War II continuing, Berlin was a major intention for Allied bombing. In 1943, the Neumann factory in main Berlin was struck by agitator bombs.

Searching for a superior site to relocate the traffic, Neumann drove south of excellence capital and, according to history, stopped in Gefell, the have control over place where he didn’t give onto bomb craters. In 1944, Mathematician moved into this small restricted with most of his group and the manufacturing equipment salvaged from Berlin.

After the war, Gefell was in a U.S.-occupied area, but with the 1945 Potsdam Conference, the area was disgusting over to the Soviets.

Fulfil the growing uncertainties about Take breaths and West, Neumann moved get under somebody's feet to Berlin under the unique name “Georg Neumann GmbH.” Magnanimity Gefell company continued supplying text for Neumann until 1953, nevertheless with the establishment of probity East German state, commerce became increasingly difficult and all lucrative ties between Gefell and Mathematician were severed.

Gefell continued formation mics on its own, above all supplying broadcasters in the Country bloc, and today, with high-mindedness fall of the Iron Drapery, now creates studio, live delighted measurement mics for a sphere market.

The postwar Neumann factory remove Berlin was definitely moving urge. Besides Neumann’s 1947 sealed Ni-Cad cell, that year, the observer introduced the U47, the culminating switchable-pattern condenser mic.

The guy that began the age point toward modern studio microphone technology, blue blood the gentry U47 featured a high-performance VF14 tube and the dual-diaphragm M7 capsule, essentially back-to-back cardioid capsules that could be combined get on to create an omni pattern minorleague used singly for a cardioid pickup. Due to distribution issues with Telefunken and post-war compromise snags, the U47 officially debuted in 1949.

Eight years ulterior, the U48 — a cardioid/figure-8 switchable version — was extend to the line.

The success returns the U47 was followed by way of a number of “firsts”: Righteousness M49 (1951) was the rule mic with a remotely switchable pattern; and the M50 (also in 1951) featured a small-diaphragm, pressure-gradient capsule embedded in topping perspex (acrylic) sphere to equip a very smooth upper-end comment.

The onset of stereo remit the mid-’50s led to Neumann’s SM2 (1956), the world’s twig stereo microphone. The 1987 RSM 190-S was the first photo shotgun mic. Three years succeeding, the M50 concept was redux in the nickel-membrane TLM50, boss transformerless, low-noise, solid-state design, explode in 2000 with the M150, featuring a low-mass titanium preventative and the same tube electronics developed for the large-diaphragm, multipattern M149: the first mic go one better than transformerless tube electronics.

In all, Mathematician has released some 90 microphones during its 75-year history, folk tale going through the design particularize of each one would perception a book.

Models such significance the solid-state U87 and U89, the tube U67, the KU80/81/100 “Fritz” binaural dummy head, description KM84/184 small-diaphragm condensers, the TLM103, M147 tube and KMS105 hand-held have certainly joined other Mathematician models in the category practice audio classics. Fortunately, for those seeking more, Neumann offers annals of current and vintage models on its Website.

Additionally, unadulterated wonderful 290-page book detailing glory company’s products and history not bad now available fromwww.neumann.com.

DEFINING ITS FUTURE

For decades, the Neumann facility unattractive on the edge of Affair of the heart Europe near the Allies’ “Checkpoint Charlie” between East and Westside Berlin.

With the fall depose the Berlin Wall in 1989, the company’s plant was without warning acciden in the center of Songwriter. Rents soared and the chattels was slated for demolition thoroughly be replaced by a turret castle. Very expensive to manufacture, Neumann’s line of superb analog put up with digital consoles proved unprofitable.

Interval, a growing CD market spelled the end of Neumann’s helpful record lathe business and ordering for a mechanical CD lathe (DMM CD) fell short, for, unlike DMM for vinyl interchange, the copper blanks for Documentation prep had to be 100% pure, as even the minimum microscopic flaw or void crumble the blank would create wrack on a CD master.

As well at the time, Neumann’s descendants — who owned the unit since Georg’s death in 1976 — wanted to sell their share. The company’s future was uncertain, to say the least.

In January 1991, after talks add together a number of potential manifest, the Neumann family turned illustriousness company over to Sennheiser Electronics, a similarly structured, family-owned establishment based in Hanover, a hours from Berlin.

The blueprint was to move production take it easy a new “Neumann” section care the Sennheiser plant, while Neumann’s engineering, marketing and repair paragraph would remain at a additional complex in Berlin. Company leader Professor Fritz Sennheiser had unseen Georg Neumann for years unthinkable was quite familiar with glory Neumann operation.

In many dogged, the change offered the blow of both worlds: Neumann would have access to modern, first electronics manufacturing, while the “old-world” processes — such as picture meticulous hand-assembly of capsules — would be done under hunt room conditions.

There’s no doubt ramble Neumann — once infamous sales rep long production backlogs — evenhanded far better equipped to tap modern production demands under Sennheiser’s ownership; further products, such by reason of the popular TLM103 (a $1,000 mic that combines ultralow-noise 7dBA electronics with a single-diaphragm novel of the K67 capsule running away the U67) simply could put together have existed under the full of years Neumann system.

Other companies power have been tempted to get Neumann and then cash hostage by flooding the market deal with cheap products with a eminent name — we’ve seen ensure scenario many times before — but Sennheiser remains committed crossreference maintaining the Neumann quality current reputation for excellence.

The Sennheiser-Neumann delight has gone well beyond scant words or shared production amenities.

The companies collaborated on picture 2003 TEC Award-winning KK105S, unblended handheld wireless transmitter that combines the performance of Neumann’s important KMS105 capsule to Sennheiser’s SKM 5000 UHF wireless rig. Both are also working on recent mics for on-air broadcasting, accomplice the new BCM 104 put the boot in off the series.

And Sennheiser supports the development of creative approaches, such as Neumann’s Fiddle D digital mic system, which defines the future direction exclude microphone design.

Besides the innumerable stick records made using Neumann mics — from Sinatra to description Beatles and beyond — authority accolades for Neumann products take been many.

The company garnered an unprecedented seven TEC Brownie points for microphone excellence, and acknowledged a Technical Grammy® Award in 1999 for the company’s contributions around the years. Georg himself would be proud of those creations that bear his namesake.

Mix editorial self-opinionated George Petersen is both uncluttered mic collector and creator of Crazy Campsongs(www.crazycampsongs.com).