NeumannBerlin Microphone SM 2 User Manual

neumann.berlin  
the microphone company  
SM 2 -The First Neumann Stereo Microphone  
In the mid 1950’s, the recording and broadcasting indus-  
tries made major breakthroughs in the development of  
stereophonic sound recording and transmission. Neumann  
has supplied technical equipment to the recording indus-  
try since 1928, and in 1955 introduced a novel editing  
device for their industry standard disc cutters. In 1956, a  
cooperative venture with the record label TELDEC re-  
sulted in the first stereo disk cutter head ZS90/45. Al-  
though stereo records could not be made with two mon-  
aural disk cutter heads, the stereo program material, how-  
ever, could be captured with two monaural microphones.  
For example, for A-B stereo recordings two cardioid mi-  
crophones can be set up at some distance from one an-  
other to record the left and right channels. When “Sen-  
der Freies Berlin” (Radio Free Berlin) conducted their first  
stereo test broadcast on December 26, 1958, the right  
and left channels were transmitted on two different FM  
frequencies, which could then be heard on two separate  
monaural FM receivers. Mono compatibility with stereo  
broadcasting was not achieved until 1963 with the intro-  
duction of the multiplex pilot tone system.  
Full mono compatibility of recordings is only possible with  
intensity stereophony, where identical microphones are  
placed at virtually the same location, thus avoiding phase  
differences caused by different distances to the sound  
sources. In some of these coincident techniques the mi-  
crophones may have different directional patterns. In oth-  
er cases they have the  
same pattern, but are set  
up along the main axis  
pointing in different di-  
rections. To simplify this  
The power supply for the SM 2 features two rotary switch-  
es for adjusting the directional patterns of both channels  
independently to any of the three main patterns: omnidi-  
rectional, cardioid or figure-8. A further three intermedi-  
ate settings can be selected, for a total of nine different  
patterns per element. In addition, the upper transducer can  
be rotated over a range of 270 degrees referenced against  
the lower capsule. The resulting microphone is ideal for  
the various types of intensity stereophony. For use as an  
X-Y microphone, identical (unidirectional) patterns are  
selected for both channels, and the recording ‘aperture’ is  
controlled by the angle between upper and lower capsules  
against the main axis. In M-S technology, the capsules are  
positioned with the patterns for the M-channel set to car-  
dioid and on axis, while the S-channel is set to figure-8  
and offset by 90 degrees. The cardioid microphone thus  
picks up the complete sound event exactly like the princi-  
pal microphone for a monaural recording. All directional  
information is captured by the figure-8 pickup. In M-S ster-  
eo recording technology the two microphone outputs are  
combined in a matrix to form the sum and difference sig-  
nals, which become the left and right channels.  
recording process, Neu-  
mann developed a single  
appropriate microphone.  
Their latest miniature  
microphone at that time,  
the KM 56, possessed  
many features readily  
adaptable for use in the  
first Neumann stereo mi-  
crophone. It has a small  
dual-diaphragm capsule,  
switchable to any of the  
three main directional  
patterns: omnidirection-  
al, cardioid, or figure-8. In a stereo microphone two cap-  
sules of this type are mounted one above the other in a  
single head. Combined with two microphone amplifiers,  
placed alongside one another in a tube measuring only  
30 mm in diameter, the SM 2 was created.  
True to its pedigree, the sound quality of the SM 2 is very  
similar to that of the KM 56. It was produced between  
1957 and 1966. Even today, audio professionals consider  
it a “secret weapon” for piano recordings.  
 

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