Unbeknownst to Georg and Mr. Kühnast, at the conclusion of World War II, the town of Gefell would become part of the "eastern block", pretty much, if it wasn't for bad luck, seemed they have no luck at all. After World War II, Georg was invited by the French government to set up a lab in Paris where he went on to invent the gas-tight nickel cadmium accumulator, while Mr. Kühnast continued his work in Gefell. Some members of the original Neumann staff returned to their home city of Berlin and started a branch company which acted as a repair center for Neumann brand products in West Berlin. This "off shoot company" became the roots of a company which began in 1948, and was coincidentally known as "Neumann", (now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sennheiser corporation). During the early years, Neumann "Berlin" and Neumann "Gefell" worked closely together until 1961 when this wall was erected in Berlin that separated the West from the East. While key engineering staff worked at both facilities, and Georg Neumann also made regular visits to Gefell until his passing in 1976, the Gefell version of Neumann was not as well known as the Berlin version of Neumann. The first metal diaphragm microphones for precision recording were invented by the original company, Neumann Gefell, and today Neumann Gefell is the world's only manufacturer of metal diaphragm microphones (the M-294, M-295 and M-296). Some of the more famous Neumann Berlin metal diaphragm microphone models have included the KM-54, KM-56 and SM-2 (and SM-23) stereo microphones, but the diaphragms for these microphones were not made in the Berlin factory. During the next 40 years Gefell accelerated the development of tube technology which as everyone knows, continued in eastern Europe while the west developed transistors. Part of this tube development led directly to the world's only phantom powered tube microphone, the phenomenal sounding UM-900. In 1989, with the collapse of the Eastern Block and the subsequent fall of the Berlin Wall, Georg Neumann`s family saw the opportunity to regain their company in Gefell. By this time, the Berlin factory was in trouble. The company had expanded into other areas, which included disc cutting (vinyl) and custom console manufacturing, neither of which were sustainable businesses. In 1990, the Berliner Bank shut down the Georg Neumann GmbH Berlin factory, and arranged to sell the company to Sennheiser, who immediately moved what was left of the "diamond logo'ed Neumann" you know today to the Sennheiser assembly line. In 1993 'Georg Neumann & Company Gefell, GmbH' was given back to its original owners, the Neumann family. Ownership of the company today is retained by the directors of Microtech Gefell with the official name being 'Georg Neumann KG' (no relation to the Sennheiser Corporation's 'Neumann' brand name, a name which Sennheiser purchased in 1991 with the other assets of the bankrupt Neumann). Today, Microtech Gefell condenser microphones are manufactured using the original techniques and exclusive processes developed by Georg Neumann. The products they manufacture include the world's most accurate measurement microphone capsules, the world's only metal diaphragm microphones, and the venerable "M-7" capsule which saw it's rise to fame in Neumann Berlin manufactured models like the U-47, U-48 and M-49. The M-7 (as used in the UM 92.1s) is the only microphone capsule to use PVC based diaphragms which sound much sweeter and more musical than the subsequent Mylar based KK-47 capsule found in later model U-47, U-48 and M-49 microphones. Over the past five years, the Neumann-Gefell team quietly started to redefine microphone technology and adapt it to the growing demands of digital recording. Microtech Gefell has since set a new bar by lowering self-noise and increasing sound pressure handling capability beyond all others. Other innovations include the worlds only phantom powered tube microphone, a 'line array' microphone for precise signal steering, and some of the smallest and most accurate test and measurement microphones in the world. Just as they were 75 years ago, Microtech Gefell microphones are still hand built, individually tested and measured to ensure a quality level that is unsurpassed. The passion and care is evident from the moment you open a jewel box and plug in one of the world's finest microphones.

Home | Gear | This Just In! | Swag | The Black Pages Gear by Type 500 Series Modules/Frames Accessories Cables Channel Strips Combo Units Compressors/Limiters DAW Control Surfaces DAW Recorders DI Boxes Digital Audio Converters Digital Master Clocks Dynamics (Compressors) Effects Equalizers Hard Disk Recorders Headphones Instrument Tools/DI Boxes Mastering Tools Microphones Microphone Preamplifiers Microphone Stands Mixers & Summing Boxes Monitor Switchers Plug-Ins and Software Speakers T-Shirts Gear by Manufacturer 3D Audio Comparison CD's ADAM Studio Monitors AEA Microphones Alan Smart Amtec Antelope Clocks Arsenal Audio by API AMI-Tab Funkenwerk AMS - Neve API Apple Logic Systems Apogee Avalon Design Avenson Audio AxMax Brauner Microphones Burgin McDaniel Designs Chandler Limited Coles Microphones Coleman Audio Crane Song Crowley and Tripp Dangerous Music Dramastic Audio Drawmer D.W. Fearn Empirical Labs Enhanced Audio Esoteric Audio (EAR) Euphonix Control Surfaces FMR Audio Focal Monitors Funk Logic Gefell GML Great River Groove Tubes Horch Mics innerTUBE Audio iZ Technology RADAR John Hardy Josephson Microphones Kurzweil Langevin Latch Lake Music Little Labs Lynx Studio Manley Labs Martech Mercenary Audio MFG Mercenary Editions Microtech Gefell MoreMe Headphones Rupert Neve Designs Neumann Neve NPNG Palmer Pendulum Audio Portico Prism Sound Purple Audio Radial Engineering Roll Music Systems (RMS) Royer Labs Rupert Neve Designs Sebatron Smart Research Speck Electronics SPL Electronics Tab-Funkenwerk Telefunken USA THD Electronics T.H.E. Audio Thermionic Culture Toft Audio Designs Vintage Design Weiss Engineering Search for gear by name or application © 1995-2008 Mercenary Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law, subject to criminal prosecution, and just not cool. Mercenary© US Pat & TM off.