Neumann

Georg Neumann started building microphones in Berlin in 1928. His company's first product was the CMV 3, the first commercially-available condenser mic, and a common sight at public addresses in that era. The Second World War and the subsequent founding of the East German state both disrupted production, with the company eventually re-established in an Allied sector of West Berlin.

Neumann began production of a new switchable pattern microphone in 1949. The U47 built of the success of the CMV 3 series and became one of the first condenser mics to be widely accepted as a recording industry standard. In 1957 the company introduced the SM2, which featured two condenser mics in a small body, and was the world's first unit in stereo.

In the 1960s the company was contracted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation to design a unit that didn't need an external power source aside from an audio cable. In 1966 Neumann introduced the first "48-V phantom-powered" microphone, a standard that exists to this day, and goes to showcase the company's groundbreaking work over the years, with each of its iconic devices containing a little bit of history.