I think people would be amazed at how much of the quality of microphones from central Europe (I'm talking about your Neumanns, your Schoepses, your Sennheisers, your AKGs and Beyers among other brands) and even the particular models and designs that were built, was influenced by the research and development done at the state-financed broadcasting organizations over there.
European broadcasters for decades focused much more on live broadcasts of musical and other events in the field rather than just playing a playlist of available commercial recordings, so their technical interests actually came fairly close to ours. In this country, the public radio organizations offer a counterpart to that tradition although they are not as lavishly funded.
In some very famous cases, microphones have been designed at the broadcast organizations, were patented by them, and then were licensed to the above companies for manufacture. They then sold to recording studios as well, and have since become classic "vintage" microphones that are among the most sought after today, and that some people say have never been equalled since.
(Just thought I'd mention that.)
There used to be a microphone boutique here in the states you may have heard of: Radio Corporation of America. They made microphones in collaboration with another outfit you may have heard of as well: National Broadcasting Company. Their emphasis was on ribbon and moving coil mics.
Topic: Best mics for field interviews (Read 12496 times)