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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.
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 | | The C-37A condenser microphone. |
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.
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."
Conductor Bruno Walter was by then 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.
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