Microphones contains an extensive and deep collection of pictures, data, and personalities related to professional microphones. It was put together by Prof. Stanley O. Coutant, now retired, of Pasadena City College as a supplement to his course work. He has gotten great cooperation from manufacturers and collectors in collecting data, photos and anecdotes. Most of the famous microphones from the 1930s to the 60s are described, and many have sound clips to highlight their sound. There is an extensive collection of pictures of famous radio and recording personalities as well as a brief biographies of those involved in microphone development. There are also additional resources ranging from descriptions and schematics of RCA mic preamps to radio station studio tours to the 2004 Arctic Transect Expedition to the complete Eimac “Care and Feeding of Power Grid Tubes”.
The coverage of Microphones is purely from an American perspective, but it includes foreign microphones that were commonly imported into the U.S. The pages can be quite long with many pictures - not so good for dial-up access, but the production quality and attention to detail is very good. As the first step in the electronic audio chain, microphones are crucial to the sound quality, and Stan Coutant’s fabulous site pays respect to the historical aspect of microphones as well as their technical aspects.
