Neumann

Georg Neumann started building microphones in Berlin in 1928. His company's first product, the CMV 3, was 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 for a time, but 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 on 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, making it the world's first unit in stereo.

In the 1960s, the company was contracted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation to design a mic that didn't need an external power source aside from an audio cable. In 1966, the first "48-V phantom-powered" microphone was born. It's a standard that exists to this day, and is just one example of the history that each Neumann device carries within in its DNA.