The Neumann Model TLM 103 cardioid capacitor microphone, 1997
The Matte Black version is a 25th Anniversary Edition that was manufactured only in the year 2001. Gifted to this site by Mr. Marc Urselli.
The Stars and Stripes Forever march was written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896. This rendition, which can be heard by using the audio controller above, was recorded on September 25, 2025, performed upon a 1921 Story & Clark upright player piano in Tehachapi, California. A stereophonic digital transcription was obtained by using the Anniversary Edition TLM 103 above to capture the left channel, while an AKG C 451 B Studio Cardioid Capacitor Microphone picked up the right channel. Our hopes ran high that the TLM 103’s tendency to favor bass notes would contribute to the grandiosity of Sousa’s work. It did not disappoint.
Pressure-gradient Microphone A microphone in which both sides of the diaphragm are exposed to the incident sound, and the microphone is therefore responsive to the pressure differential (gradient) between the two sides of the membrane. Incident sound parallel to the plane of the diaphragm produces no pressure differential, and so pressure-gradient microphones have characteristically figure-of-eight directional characteristics. Also called velocity microphone, since the output voltage is proportional to the air particle velocity.
The TLM 103 diaphragm.
Georg and Elly Neumann with Jerry Graham at the 1967 AES Convention. Mr. Neumann died on August 30, 1976.
