The MÉLODIUM Type 42 B
bi-directional velocity microphone (1940)

The following text is from a MÉLODIUM publicity release published during the forties. References to dates and terms such as “modern” should be taken in this context.

If there’s equipment that can be manufactured only by firms with a perfectly equipped laboratory, it’s good microphones. Indeed, tackling the problems of electroacoustic place­ment requires some of the boldest modern techniques.

In the past, only the largest foreign corporations could have done this kind of manufacturing successfully. In this discipline, the MÉLODIUM Company was the first in France to solve the problem of researching and manufacturing microphones using modern methods and tech­nical equipment under the control of its electroacoustic laboratory.

It’s ten years ago today that the MÉLODIUM Company made this effort, and thanks to its research the MÉLODIUM Company can put on the French market equipment likely to com­pete with the best known foreign models. In addition, so much was learned making the MÉLODIUM laboratory equipment that it was reproduced in quantity with the majority of the units destined for the RDF (French National Broadcasting).

The MÉLODIUM lab equipment provides instantaneous documentation of each microphone’s performance curves compared to a standard microphone. Thanks to its laboratory and their technicians’ ten years of dedicated research, the MÉLODIUM Company no longer makes average equipment based on out-of-date empirical methods. Today the MÉLODIUM Company manufac­tures very high quality equipment using the best technical methods and continual quality control.

The French MÉLODIUM microphones compete with the best foreign manufacturers on all points of comparison: sensitivity, frequency response, isolation, dielectric rigidity, loss of balance and security coefficient. Thousands of MÉLODIUM microphones are used daily in broadcast studios, recording studios, motion picture studios, the French broadcast media, and both interior and exterior live performances.

Images above are provided via the courtesy of Pro Audio Heaven.

Images below are provided via the courtesy of Patrice D’hautcourt.

Hear the sound of the MÉLODIUM 42 B with its bass roll-off filter set to MUSIQUE.

Hear the sound of the MÉLODIUM 42 B with its bass roll-off filter set to VOIX.

Sound samples are provided in French by Patrice D’hautcourt.

Visit the ARG Audio page. Learn more about the 42 B.
Visit the Vintage Mics page. Scroll to the bottom.

Download the specification sheet for this mic.
This document is in English.

Download the specification sheet for this mic.
This document is in French.