MICROPHONE OF THE MONTH SEPTEMBER 2025

In August of this year, the sad news was released that PML Pearl Microphone Laboratory, the Swedish manufacturer of Pearl and Milab microphones, was bankrupted and went out of business.

The personnel, consisting of just five people, was let off. So far, there is no initiative to prolong the life of PML. It is improbable that the life-long garantee will be continuated, that PML offerd its buyers.

This meant that there came an abrupt end to a headstrong maker of quality microphones, with a history that went back to 1941, when the company's founder Rune Rosander had established the brand and made his first microphones.

Until 1980, PML was the only microphone maker in Sweden, and supplied a.o. Swedish radio and the national airline, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) with their products.

Earlier I wrote about the Pearl KM6 and Milab LSR 2000 microphones.

PML was best known for the rectangular large diaphragm capsule designs that had made the company famous and had assured it a place in microphone history, these condensers were used by Quincy Jones, Gino Vanelli and Ray Charles. Those are people that had enough money to choose exactly what they liked: Pearl microphones.

But the portfolio was much broader, lucky for me because I could not afford the high priced rectangular designs that remain in use in some of the best studios. Their great small diaphragm condensers had the usual round membranes, but also a steep price.

Among the somewhat more modest types is the modern classic of this month: the Pearl TL 66 small diaphragm cardioid pencil condenser, designed for studio use as well as musicians.

The capsule, an electret, came from another company, Pearl used it to create an interesting microphone with a clear and neutral sound and very low noise.

It was meant for use with choirs, grand piano and other acoustic instruments and especially reproduction of percussive instruments and as overheads for drums. The sound was not fat, but accurate, and to the liking of some, not all.

It was definitely not a cheap microphone, priced around $500. The grey first version of the TL66 must have been issued in the nineties, in 2004, a newly styled version in piano black lacquer was released.

For use further away from the sound source, Pearl offered the more sensitive but identical looking TL 6C. This was intended a.o. for recording audiences and discreet interrogations.

Although Pearl also mentioned an omni version of the TL66, this never came to be.

These and many more types feature in my book Witnesses of Words. More information about that can be found at www.witnessesofwords.com