The Microphone Book, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 21

CLASSIC MICROPHONES: THE AUTHOR’S VIEW

INTRODUCTION

This chapter was written as a result of numerous conversations with both microphone users and manufacturers following publication of the first edition of The Microphone Book. While the list reflects my personal view of the subject, it should come as no surprise that it contains virtually all of the celebrated models of the last 75 years. Most engineers would agree that the German and Austrian capacitor (condenser) models introduced into the United States shortly after the Second World War virtually reinvented both popular and classical recording in America, and those models form the core of this presentation. To these I have added the American contributions in dynamic and ribbon ...