(Mix Magazine) Just a few days after his 98th birthday, Dr. Fritz Sennheiser, the founder of Sennheiser Electronics passed away. His years of innovation, combined with a warm sense of caring and creating a close-knit family atmosphere at work live on in the company he started 65 years ago.
The Beginnings
In the Karlshorst district of Berlin on May 9, 1912, a child named Fritz Sennheiser was born who would forever change the course and direction of the consumer and professional audio industries. It's ironic that at the time, neither industry existed at all, but fate would change all that. Fritz's father wanted him to study landscape architecture, but an event a half a world away on October 25, 1929, would intercede, as the Black Friday stock market crash affect the economics of the entire planet.
With that, the 17-year-old Fritz Sennheiser saw little future in landscaping during those perilous times and instead entered the electrical engineering/telecommunications program at Berlin's Technical University and focused his studies on speech and music. The career change wasn't entirely unexpected. Sennheiser already had a keen interest in technology "I built my own radio receiver in 1924 from a slide coil and a crystal," he once recalled. After attaining his Ph.D., World War II broke out and Dr. Sennheiser continued his research and headed the Institute for Radio Frequency Engineering and Electroacoustics in Hannover.
In 1945, post-war Germany was in shambles, and Sennheiser and seven other employees of the Institute were left with virtually nothing. In June of that year, Sennheiser founded his Laboratorium Wennebostel with a staff of just seven employees in an abandoned laboratory of Hannover's Technical University. German scientists were then prohibited from doing research in radio technology, so Sennheiser used his savings to create a business making millivoltmeters for Siemens.
"Then we had a stroke of luck," Sennheiser recalled. "Siemens asked if we could make microphones for them." After building mics for Siemens, the team began designing its own mic and in 1947 debuted the MD 2, a dynamic mic that found favor with radio stations. The company grew and expanded into other products, such as amps, intercoms, transformers, headphone capsules and the 1953 MD 21 mic, which is still in production. Based on a lab model developed in 1949, the company's 1956 MD 82 was the first shotgun mic. A move into wireless mic production followed a year later.
By 1958, the company had 450 employees and made the wise decision to change its name from the original "Labor W" (Laboratorium Wennebostel) to Sennheiser Electronic. During the 1950s, the company's sales grew tenfold, but Sennheiser always returned to the community, splitting his time between running the company and teaching at Hannover Technical University, a tradition continued by his son (and current chairman of the company's supervisory board), Prof. Dr. Jorg Sennheiser.
Innovations Abound
The innovations continued, with the 1960 MD-421 dynamic studio mic (which sold more than 500,000 units and is still a studio favorite today) and in 1964, the first RF condenser shotgun mic. In 1968 came the HD 414, the first open-air headphones, a definite hit that in 10 years provided more than half of the company's sales, establishing Sennheiser as a leader in the consumer market. In the `70s, the company merged its headphones with infrared technology, creating interference-free wireless headsets for home, tour guide and assistive listening systems. The `80s brought a major expansion into ultra-reliable UHF wireless mic systems that made Sennheiser a first choice on London and Broadway stages.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Neumann In...Neumann Out
Neumann Expands Product Portfolio
At prolight+sound a logo on the Neumann stand, visible from afar, alerted visitors to the fact that Neumann, world-famous for professional microphones, is now applying its electroacoustic expertise to the other end of the audio chain.
A few months ago it was announced that Neumann would add studio monitors to its product portfolio. This range is based on the products of the well-known Klein + Hummel company. Their monitors have an excellent reputation in German-speaking countries and a few others, but are less familiar internationally.
“That will certainly change in the near future, because the Neumann brand is well-established in the international studio world. We anticipate a strong synergy effect here,” explains Wolfgang Fraissinet, President of Marketing/Sales at Neumann Berlin. “In the history of the company, Neumann stands for far more than microphone technology. Over the decades we have also produced record-cutting equipment and studio consoles, for example. Our expertise in transformer design – for the microphone – as well as in signal processing and digital audio technology, has already been demonstrated. In addition Neumann has a leading role in the area of high technology, which is successfully implemented, for instance, in the digital microphones of the Solution-D series.”
Existing studio monitors are being incorporated into the Neumann product portfolio as the “KH Line”. Over time, new products will be developed to fullfil the needs of the most discerning customers in the market. The core concept of excellence in audio reproduction will remain and cutting edge technologies will continue to set Neuman Studio Monitoring Systems apart from the masses. Later this year, the first new studio monitors carrying the Neumann label will be launched.
Most of the former Klein + Hummel engineers continue to work for the Sennheiser Group, in support of the markets Installed Sound at Sennheiser, and Studio Monitor Systems at Neumann. Thus, for the most part, the same people still stand behind the products. Service for present and future customers is also ensured, with the accustomed Neumann quality.
Klein + Hummel has been part of the Sennheiser Group since 2005. At the beginning of 2010 it was decided that the Studio products business would be further developed by Neumann, and that the Installed Sound area would be integrated into Sennheiser.
At prolight+sound a logo on the Neumann stand, visible from afar, alerted visitors to the fact that Neumann, world-famous for professional microphones, is now applying its electroacoustic expertise to the other end of the audio chain.
A few months ago it was announced that Neumann would add studio monitors to its product portfolio. This range is based on the products of the well-known Klein + Hummel company. Their monitors have an excellent reputation in German-speaking countries and a few others, but are less familiar internationally.
“That will certainly change in the near future, because the Neumann brand is well-established in the international studio world. We anticipate a strong synergy effect here,” explains Wolfgang Fraissinet, President of Marketing/Sales at Neumann Berlin. “In the history of the company, Neumann stands for far more than microphone technology. Over the decades we have also produced record-cutting equipment and studio consoles, for example. Our expertise in transformer design – for the microphone – as well as in signal processing and digital audio technology, has already been demonstrated. In addition Neumann has a leading role in the area of high technology, which is successfully implemented, for instance, in the digital microphones of the Solution-D series.”
Existing studio monitors are being incorporated into the Neumann product portfolio as the “KH Line”. Over time, new products will be developed to fullfil the needs of the most discerning customers in the market. The core concept of excellence in audio reproduction will remain and cutting edge technologies will continue to set Neuman Studio Monitoring Systems apart from the masses. Later this year, the first new studio monitors carrying the Neumann label will be launched.
Most of the former Klein + Hummel engineers continue to work for the Sennheiser Group, in support of the markets Installed Sound at Sennheiser, and Studio Monitor Systems at Neumann. Thus, for the most part, the same people still stand behind the products. Service for present and future customers is also ensured, with the accustomed Neumann quality.
Klein + Hummel has been part of the Sennheiser Group since 2005. At the beginning of 2010 it was decided that the Studio products business would be further developed by Neumann, and that the Installed Sound area would be integrated into Sennheiser.
Monday, May 3, 2010
TV & Movies Make it SOUND So Easy.
Sound for moving images is not easy. Well, let's just say if you don't notice anything un-natural when watching....it's a job well done.
Here's how one studio is handling it:
“Actors hate ADR, but they have to do it,”
Here's how one studio is handling it:
“Actors hate ADR, but they have to do it,”
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