About The Collection
Hello and welcome to MoMics, the Museum of Microphones.
The museum contains an assortment of antique microphones as well as a few new ones. I have been fascinated by sound recording equipment in general and microphones in particular since I was a teenager and have been collecting them for around 40 years. Microphones are especially fascinating because they are the point at which sound waves are converted by different methods into electrical energy, to be transmitted, amplified or recorded. There are many ways to build a microphone, and this variety of mechanism and physical form gives endless possibilities.
The exhibits in this museum website are either from my own collection, borrowed from friends, or else they have passed through the Xaudia workshop to be repaired.
In many cases we have good documentation for production dates and manufacturers’ technical specifications. But for other microphones we cannot be certain about the dates and specs, in which case an age estimate may be given based on comparison of the technology with other mics of the same era. Technical data is sometimes based on our own measurements - for example impedance is simple to measure if we have a working example to play with.
A few microphones in the collection have no maker's mark. Perhaps you recognise them. if you have better information on dates and other parts of the description then do please share with us. We are also looking for original manuals and documents for microphones in the collection.
You can contact the museum via the form at xaudia.com/contact
AboutTheMusEum
Example voice recordings were made by plugging the microphone directly into Universal Audio Volt or Apollo 8 preamps, using Logic Pro software. No processing was used on the recordings unless otherwise stated.
The guitar recordings were mostly played by Stewart on a Dowina nylon string HC model, again using Universal Audio Volt or Apollo 8 preamps into Logic Pro software.
Other recordings are described in their captions.
frequency sweepsand impulse response files
These were recorded in a small isolation booth, approximately 3m x 2m x 2m in size, lined with rock wool and acoustic tiles. The recordings were made with FuzzMeasure Pro software and referenced to a SoundID measurement microphone.
This is a subjective estimate of how rare or common a microphone may be. It is almost impossible to do this in any kind of scientific manner, so we have based this broadly on how often we see the microphones in the repair shop and/or how frequently they come up for sale. Our perspective is from living and working in the United Kingdom, so, for example. here we see a lot of Reslos and other British mics. Someone based in the USA or Germany may have a different impression.
Please note that scarcity and value are unrelated. Some of the rarest models often have little value because nobody knows what they are or if they are worth much.
Very Common
We see these microphones weekly.
Common
We might see them on a monthly basis
Uncommon
Perhaps a few pop up each year
Rare
These mics are out there but we see one per year or less
Unicorn
Vary rare microphones. We have only seen three or less in the past 15 years.
Other notable collectionsand websites
The Science Museum (UK)
The British Science Museum has over 500,000 objects in their collection including several microphones dating back to the invention of the telephone.
The James Steele microphone collection.
A collection of 226 vintage microphones hosted by the Special Collections Library of the University of Georgia, along with several articles on the history of microphones.
Prof. Stanley Coutant’s amazing microphone website
Probably the best resource for vintage microphones on the internet with detailed descriptions, user anecdotes and links to original documents.
Vintage Microphone World (hosted by Marco van der Hoeven)
A site about history and development of microphones, regularly updated with Marco's 'microphone of the month' posts, which have been running since 2013!
Vintage Microphone Gallery, Netherlands
The collections of Hans Ettema and Rinus Meijer, with some nice photographs.
Hollywood Sound Microphone Collection
Les Harrison's collection of over 500 vintage microphones from the USA and around the world.
RTP Virtual Museum in Portugal.
A large collection of the Portuguese national broadcaster. (Use the drop-down and scroll down to microphones)
Echoschall in Berlin, Germany
A huge library of documents about vintage microphones and other studio equipment.
Old Mics in Poland
A large collection of rare and vintage microphones of all types.
MikroSammler Website.
An excellent source of information, especially for old East German microphones including Thiele and Reissmann.
Acknowledgements
The majority of the original photographs on this site were taken by Sam Fitzgerald Kay, who also did much of the background research and writing. Thanks also to Paul Elliott and Adam Watson at Extinct Audio for additional content and proofreading. This website was designed and built by Ant Pearson. Other credits are given on individual microphone pages. Thanks to everyone who helped.
