The Sony C-37A Condenser Microphone Was One Of A Kind

The term “hi-fi,” short for high fidelity, became popular in the late fifties. In February 1958, a Hi-Fi Show was held in Los Angeles. Sony, through Superscope, exhibited the TC-555 home-use “Sterecorder,” the CP-13 three-channel deluxe recorder, and the C-37A condenser microphone. The tape recorders were hailed as the “Rolls Royces” of the trade, while the C-37A was considered to have overtaken Germany’s Neumann microphones, which until then had dominated the field of condenser microphones.

Neumann’s previously unrivaled products had been coveted around the world. Their outstanding characteristics in term of sensitivity and frequency were proven, but they had one shortcoming. Over time they would give rise to noise.

The first condenser microphone made by NHK’s Nakajima was a copy of the Neumann product. In 1951 Nakajima had attended a research conference in northwest Germany, and there he saw the Neumann microphone for the first time. He brought back the technology and worked hard on a prototype. Following that, world-famous conductor Herbert von Karajan was in Japan to conduct the NHK Symphony Orchestra. While Karajan rehearsed with the orchestra in NHK Studio 1, Nakajima’s sound engineers obtained an excellent recording with the prototype microphone. Director Shima of the NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories suggested they tell Ibuka of their progress, and Nakajima was sure he would be astonished when he heard the sound quality.

With this background, Ibuka and Nakatsuru were overjoyed at the news that the C-37A was considered to have surpassed the Neumann.

“Never before have I seen such a wide frequency band or such a smooth response in the upper range.” This praise came from William Robinson, chief recording engineer for Capitol, America’s leading record company — a man recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on recording technology.

Many musicians and singers preferred the microphone, too. Here are a few examples:

Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole both demonstrated the advantages of the C-37A. If Sinatra did not like what he heard played back, he would walk out of the studio leaving the record company to foot the bill for the session. This tended to happen two or three times before he was satisfied and re-recording was expensive. When studios introduced the C-37A, they would “get it in one take,” and Sinatra would go home happy. Capitol’s experiences led them to install the C-37A in all their studios. They were so proud of recording with the C-37A microphone that they even had it featured in photos on their album jackets.

Singer Izumi Yukimura, after a series of appearances on U.S. television, had this to say: “When RCA Victor heard me sing Love Is a Many Splendored Thing on TV, they signed me to record. I sang fifteen numbers in all. The accompaniment and everything else was superb. The recording was 3-D stereo, and although the studio equipment was basically the same as we have in Japanese studios, there was one difference — the microphone. Over there they nearly always use the Sony C-37A from Japan. When the microphone descended in front of me I was surprised to find the name Sony before my eyes. In the U.S., Sony’s microphone is considered superior to the Neumann or the Telefunken, yet here in Japan we’re still using western-made products. We don’t really appreciate what our own manufacturers can do.”

In another related note, one of the most famous conductors of the 20th century, Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962) was in his eighties and had retired from his active career. But after hearing stereo recordings made with the C-37A, he took up the baton once again and actually re-recorded all of Beethoven’s Symphonies with the Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra. The picture above is Bruno standing at a podium and using baton during performance with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1930 a few decades before.

Text from the story “The Day Sony Outold Neumann” from Sony History.