Neumann History
Especially for outdoor recordings the RSM 191 stereo shotgun microphone was developed. The recording angle of this MS combination can be adjusted for the most diverse recording situa- tions.
Upheaval Everywhere
These dynamic developments in the area of capsule technology and circuitry coincided not only with turbulent upheavals in global politics, but also with changes throughout the Neumann Company’s corporate structure. For three dec- ades, the company’s Charlottenstrasse headquarters in Berlin near the Allied border checkpoint “Checkpoint Charlie” had stood at the edge of Western Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Neumann suddenly found
itself thrust into the centre of Berlin. The con- sequence: costs climbed dramatically overnight and ultimately the company’s building was to be torn down to make way for a planned sky- scraper.
The “politics in microcosm” within the compa- ny, however, was also good for a few surprises. The Neumann family, which had continued to hold a controlling interest in the company after Georg Neumann’s demise in 1976, decided to sell its shares. TELDEC, which in turn now belonged to Warner Brothers, had been an additional owner since the early seventies. After ne-
gotiation with several prospective buyers, the Neumann family decided to turn the company over as a whole to a similarly structured, family
So 1 January 1991 marked the start of a new chapter in the 62 year history of Georg Neu- mann GmbH, Berlin. This coincided with two fundamental changes in the market and thus was not without consequences: Since the mid eight- ies, traditional vinyl disk technology had been increasingly replaced by compact discs. Automation and digitisation in mixing console technology demanded ever increasing development outlay with ever shorter product life cycles for the components.
Some of the last large consoles in N 7000 technology were installed in the Berlin Philharmo- ny and in regional studios of the Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Since 1993 Neumann concentrates itself on studio microphones. Herewith lie the core compe- tence, the tradition, and 70 years experience of Neumann, Berlin.
Neumann Moves
In 1993, a decision was taken to move microphone production to the parent firm Sennheiser, located north of Hannover.
Now it was time to break camp and make a “fresh start” at a new location. This location is in Ollenhauerstrasse on the Northwest side of Berlin, not far from Tegel Airport. At Sennheis- er, in the meantime, a separate “Neumann Pro-
duction Hall” was erected with
time it was possible to manufacture the entire line of microphones and accessories at the high level of quality which the world has come to expect and appreciate.
New Objectives – New Microphones
Despite all of these very dramatic changes, development of new microphones continued at the usual pace. In 1993, for example, Neumann launched the TLM 193 large diaphragm micro- phone. Limitation to those factors that are essential for recording quality, in
conjunction with uncompromising streamlining of production, resulted in a new microphone category. This was a studio microphone which, by virtue of its low price, for the first time reached a demanding new set of customers who until then had never even dared dream of owning a “real Neumann”. This marked the advent of a new generation of microphones, which was continued one year later with the KM 184. In this connection, Neumann is espe-
cially proud of the fact that not only do these microphones have the technical specifications associated with “real studio microphones”, but
they are also part of the continual, uncompromising improvement of these values. For the time being, the zenith of this development is marked by the TLM 103, which was launched in 1997 and received the TEC Award in 1998. For now, its residual noise of just 7
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