MICROPHONE OF THE MONTH AUGUST 2016

The Lomo 82 a 5 is a cardioid dynamic, produced in
the Soviet Union from around 1960 till into the Eighties.

It was used for speech and music, in both live sound, and in studios. It has a pretty large diaphragm and is useful for bassy instruments, like floor toms, kick and bass-guitar. The higher frequencies around 10.000 Hz are also accentuated, like in the modern AKG D 12 VR, intended for kick-drum.

Some of these microphones made it to the West in the Seventies; rumor has it that Pink Floyd used it for their recording of 'Dark Side of the Moon', at Abbey Road Studios, as a drum and guitar microphone.

The 82 A 5 can still be found in vintage studios today, like Lomo's top model; the 19 A 19 tube microphone, which is as good as the Neumann condensers. They are often offered second-hand, for instance on Ebay, for around a 100 $.

Lomo is a St.Petersburg giant, manufacturing optical and opto-electronic devices. The factory was established in 1916, the best known Lomo product is the enormously popular point-and-shoot camera (produced until 2005), which is so unique users started a 'Lomography' movement.

In the Fifties Lomo began producing professional micro-phones for KINAP, the Russian supplier of cinematographic products (Leningrad, since 1926). In the Eighties Lomo employed 30.000 highly skilled workers and engineers. Nowadays it has 8.000 employees, producing missile guiding systems and scientific equipment.

In 1991 Lomo was restructured, microphone production ended, and their production lines were destroyed. Not all know-how was lost, a few engineers started a new company: Nevaton, which now produces great condenser microphones.

This is one of the types that feature in my book Witnesses of Words, which was recently released. More information about that can be found at www.witnessesofwords.com