ABSTRACT
This chapter was written as a result of numerous conversations with both microphone users and
manufacturers following the publication of the first edition of The Microphone Book.While the
list reflects our personal views 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 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 we have added the American
contributions in dynamic and ribbon technology that became the mainstay of broadcasting and
communications in this country, along with a group of fine omnidirectional condensers that
were also distinctively American.
