Nazi and East German Propganda Archive

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

"My impression is that there's little sinister ideological component to it --
but at least a hint that somehow Die Leuchtende Stadt was even better for
technological progress than the Radiant City..."

I realise that this is coming from way off in left field, but thinking of weird
technological developments of WWII my mind wanders off to the 
Neumann U-47 Microphone. It's the classic microphone---our 
electronic psycopomp into the realms of Sinatra and the Beatles---
and thus is an unintended technological consequence of World War II 
that has artistic---one might even say "spiritual"---implications. The u47 
is either the child or the grandchild of the "Hitler Mike", the original 
large diaphram condenser microphones developed by Georg
Neumann. The combo of the early Neumann designs and the first tape 
recorders (from Magnetophon) resulted in Hitler speeches being 
recorded in Berlin, but played back in some remote Balkan outpost at 
such a high level of audio quality that U.S. intellegence assumed that 
Der Fuhrer must have been in the town that provided the broadcast. 
The electronic tube the "gearslutz" discuss (below) was designed for 
a portable shortwave radio, to be used in battlefields. Attempts to 
replace the tube have not worked out so well, thus the ressurection 
of the original design.

I find the side by side development of recording devices and spiritualism
in the late 19th century very intriguing, and notice that there's a scene
coming up in Against the Day featuring a device for recording the 
spiritual developments of a seance, similar to the first acoustic recording 
devices but apparently picking up different sorts of vibrations.

Here's some interesting/odd links about the u47:

Georg Neumann manufactured condenser microphones that became 
famous world-wide for quality. The CMV3 was the first model sold by 
his company that started in Berlin in 1928. The "bottle" microphone 
was used by the German radio and recording industry in the 1930's, 
and was used to broadcast the speeches of Nazi leaders and the 
Olympic games from Berlin in 1936.

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/microphones2.html

As a result of listening to a few EF 14 retro-experiments and to quite a few 
customer mics where that tube was installed, and where I then yanked it 
out and replaced it with the real thing, I have come to the firm conclusion 
that the EF14 is no substitute for the VF14 in a U47, whatever merits it may 
have without a direct comparison. 

Its dynamic behavior is sluggish, somewhat whimpy, the characteristic 
compression that normally happens on the mic with high SPLs is gone, 
and, overall, the EF14 tube used in the U47 reminds me a bit of using a 
cathode follower ciruitry in a mic: clean but boring, no fire, sex appeal kaputt.

The big question for me then is: what exactly in the emission from a 36V 
heated filament and a premium-wolfram coated cathode accounts for the 
different timbre and sex appeal of the VF14? 

If that tube were ever resurrected from the past, these questions could 
maybe find a technical answer.

Kind regards,
Klaus Heyne

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=13612

Telefunken develops new VF14K valve for U47, announces ship date 
of RM-5C Ribbon Microphone
South Windsor, CT, January 2007 – In Berlin, Germany 53 years ago, 
production of the rare VF14 tube was discontinued. After several years 
of research, design and prototype development, Telefunken USA is 
proud to announce that they have completed the first 100 test tubes of 
the new VF14K. Each tube has exceeded the 10000 hour long test time.

http://www.telefunkenusa.com/

http://www.telefunkenusa.com/products/show_product.php?item=7&cat=mics

The neat subjective things about these U47s is that they go off like a 
Howitzer. I mean, we are talking about serious pressure-gradient 
proximity effect here; only the true “size” junkies need apply. If that 
last statement sounds odd coming from a more-or-less scientific 
kind of guy, I think a little elucidation is in order.

http://mixguides.com/microphones/vintage_products/audio_vintage_microphones_part/

> Oh, and here's the reverse side of that V1-leaflet:
> 
> http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/images/leaflet/v1f.jpg
> 
> Pretty scary, clunky grammar aside....

Indeed - thanks for highlighting those, and kudos to Penguin's designer for
the choice.

"How about V Number 2 to V Number X [?]" hints at the remote but routine
explosions of the permanent war in _1984_.

Among aircraft and rocketry enthusiasts, there's a small subset who are
especially fascinated with zoomy, never-built Third Reich hardware such as

http://www.luft46.com/

My impression is that there's little sinister ideological component to it --
but at least a hint that somehow Die Leuchtende Stadt was even better for
technological progress than the Radiant City...