History

Freedman Electronics

Henry Freedman, founder of Freedman Electronics, in his electronics workshop

Parent company to R�DE Microphones, Freedman Electronics, was set up by husband and
wife Henry and Astrid Freedman. Originally from London, Henry Freedman relocated to
Stockholm and started a family. Working as a chief engineer for a
telecommunications company, Freedman would do after-hours servicing and
modifications for a local agent of German pro-audio manufacturer Dynacord.[1] In
time Henry was offered the Australian distribution rights to sell the brand,[2] and
as a result migrated there in 1966 with his family, including son Peter.[3]

Setting up a shop in the suburb of Ashfield, Freedman Electronics was one of the
first companies in Sydney to design, manufacture, install and service a diverse
range of audio products including loudspeakers, amplifiers and microphones.[4]

Henry died in 1987, and his son Peter took over the family business. In the next
few years he invested heavily in growing Freedman Electronics� sound installation
services, but his limited business experience combined with a difficult economy in
the late 1980s almost bankrupted the company and left Peter in a considerable
amount of financial debt.[5]

Origins of R�DE
With a grim outlook for Freedman Electronics, Peter was desperate for a solution to
the company's financial situation and while pursuing other ventures he recalled a
microphone he had found almost 10 years previously at a trade show in Shanghai,
China in 1981.[2] After gauging local market interest he imported 20 of them.[3]

Sales of the modified microphone began to take off in Sydney, which (in the
Australian vernacular) was likened to taking off like �a rat up a drain pipe�. This
gave lend to the unofficial title the �Rodent-1�, which was later broken up to
become the R�DE NT-1. Peter Freedman dropped in the �ؒ character as a salute to his
Scandinavian heritage and to give the brand a European flavour. The character is in
use in the Norwegian and Danish alphabet, but not used in modern Swedish.[6] In
Danish and Norwegian "r�de" is the plural of "r�d" which means "red".[7]

Following the microphone's early popularity, the company decided that it would be a
wise investment to move more of the manufacturing to Australia. This move would
improve product quality, reduce reliance on offshore contractors, and ensure that
all manufacturing knowledge developed would stay in-house.[1]

Entering the export market

The R�DE Microphones booth at Winter NAMM trade show, 1993

After an initial success in the Australian market, Peter Freedman decided to look
overseas for further business opportunities, and in 1992 he travelled to California
armed with the company's new NT2 microphone which was built using mostly Australian
components. Cold-calling a number of recording studios in the Los Angeles area
Peter was able to demonstrate what the NT2 was capable of, and after a week he
secured the company's very first international order, 100 NT2 microphones for West
LA Music.[2] With a taste for export business and an understanding of the emerging
home recording/project studio market, R�DE exhibited at the Winter NAMM exhibition
the following year, taking up a modest booth to showcase the NT1 and NT2. �We took
a little booth jammed between a guy selling steel drums and a huge garbage bin � it
was like a joke� Peter explained. �But in the first three hours we stitched up
distribution for Japan, Canada, England, France��[2]

US operations
The company's distribution network continued to grow, with a major milestone in
1994 when it secured US distribution through loudspeaker manufacturer Event
Electronics, a company that would be acquired by Freedman Electronics in 2006.
Event would remain the USA distributor until R�de established its own offices there
in 2001. The rest of the 1990s saw R�de continue its investments in vertically
integrated manufacturing, bringing more of the production processes in house as it
added the valve Classic and NTV microphones to its line-up.

Entering the broadcast market

Much like the home recording revolution of the 1990s that gave R�de its initial
success, the early 2000s saw rapid development in the area of home video recording
with technologies such as MiniDV and early non-linear editing software allowing for
high quality video production. The company quickly identified a growing demand for
high-quality microphones for these cameras at relatively low cost, and so in 2004
R�de released the VideoMic on-camera microphone. Since this time R�de has developed
a successful range of shotgun microphones (NTG1, NTG2, NTG3, NTG8) as well as
developing the VideoMic range to meet the demands of the DSLR camera market.

Event Electronics
In 2006 R�de's parent company, Freedman Electronics, purchased loudspeaker
manufacturer Event Electronics,[8] a company that had been instrumental in
establishing R�de's US distribution channel in the early 1990s.

R�deworks

Ian Murray AM (left) officially opens the R�DEWORKS studio with Peter Freedman
(right)
In March 2012 R�de opened the R�deworks design facility in the Sydney CBD to serve
as a creative studio space, nurturing the innovation of its product and graphic
design teams and allowing for future expansion plans. The studio was officially
opened on 20 March by Ian Murray AM, director of the Australian Institute for
Export. In his speech, Murray praised R�de for its approach to keeping resources
in-house and successfully leveraging significant investments in Australian
manufacturing.[9]

Aphex
Aphex Systems was acquired in mid-2015 by Freedman Electronics,[10] parent company
of R�de Microphones.

Soundfield
SoundField Limited was acquired by Freedman Electronics, in December 2016.
SoundField was the first company to commercialise 360-degree surround (with
height ) in the late 1970s. Today, the main applications for SoundField Microphones
is in 5.1 and 7.1 live sports broadcast, video game and film sound design, and in
Virtual Reality applications.

Organization
Offices

Rode Microphones' factory and corporate headquarters in Sydney, Australia

R�de Microphones is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, one of seven offices
worldwide, including the USA (Los Angeles and New York), the UK, Korea, and China
(Shenzhen and Hong Kong).[11]

Manufacturing
Since the early days of the company it has adopted a strategy of bringing most of
the manufacturing in-house, focussing on robotic automation to maximise consistency
of manufacture, as well as minimising labour costs which are relatively high in
Australia compared to other regions.[6] By adopting a strategy of vertical
integration, R�de has been able to leverage its internal production facilities for
R&D, allowing it to venture into other product areas. [1] R�de's manufacturing
success has been acknowledged by the Australian government on two occasions,
winning awards for manufacturing innovation in 2012[12] and 1999.[13]

Marketing
R�de has a strong focus on marketing and communications. Examples of this include
the VideoMic range of products, and the Soundbooth demonstration application for
web browser and iPad.

R�de University
In 2008 R�de launched a series of educational videos that demonstrated how to
achieve the best results using its microphones to record a band. Titled �R�de
University�, the series comprised 28 individual episodes, the majority of which
focused on a particular instrument (vocals, bass, drums, guitar) with a particular
R�de microphone. It was hosted by audio educator Peter Moses, and featured Sydney
band Hell City Glamours.

R�de followed up with a second series in 2010, this time focusing on audio
techniques and theory for broadcast, film, TV and electronic news gathering. The
series featured ten episodes and was hosted by professional sound designer and
author Ric Viers. Both video series are available on the company's YouTube channel,
[14] via a native app for Apple iOS devices, or on DVD from R�de's merchandise
store.

Soundbooth

Recording Soundbooth Broadcast, using 15 different microphones simultaneously

The R�de Soundbooth is an application that allows users to hear real-life
recordings of the company's microphones in different recording scenarios. To date
the company has released two versions of the application; the first (titled
�Soundbooth Studio�) highlights vocal and instrument recordings for music, and the
second (�Soundbooth Broadcast�) focuses on location and field recording for film,
television and broadcast production. Soundbooth Studio was recorded by engineer
John Merchant, at Red Door Studio, Nashville, The Steinway Gallery, Nashville and
Middle Tennessee State University. It comprises close to 400 individual tracks.[15]

Strategic alliance with Rycote

R�de announced a strategic alliance in early 2013 with UK microphone accessory
manufacturer Rycote, that would allow R�de to utilise Rycote's patented Lyre shock
mounting system in future microphone and accessory products.[16] An updated
VideoMic was announced at the same time, featuring a single-piece red Rycote shock
mount in the place of the original rubber band suspension.

Products
Large-diaphragm condenser microphones

The Classic II limited edition large diaphragm valve condenser microphone

R�de is traditionally known for its large diaphragm (1�) condenser microphones, as
it was the area that the company specialised in exclusively for its first ten years
of operation [ref]. The company manufactures both valve/tube and solid state
varieties, as well as models that offer variable polar patterns and equalisation
filters. The NT1-A is R�de's biggest selling microphone, and the company claims it
to be the world's quietest studio microphone [ref website] with a published self-
noise of 5dBA.[17] The company has retired the NTV, Classic, NT1 and NT2
microphones from production. The Classic II microphone was announced as ceasing
production in October 2011.[18]

Small-diaphragm condenser microphones

R�de first introduced small diaphragm condenser microphones into its product range
in 2000 with the NT3, which featured an end-address �� cardioid condenser capsule.
It was followed closely by the NT4 stereo microphone and the NT5 �pencil� condenser
microphone. Both featured �� cardioid true condenser capsules, with the NT4 having
a matched pair fixed in 90 degree alignment for XY stereo recording and the NT5
capsule being interchangeable with an omnidirectional version. The NT5 (and later
NT55) are available as an acoustically matched pair, a common practice that
involves matching the sensitivity of two individual microphones to within a very
small sensitivity tolerance, and selling them as a pair to be used for stereo
recording techniques. R�de entered the live vocal performance space in 2006 with
the S1 (and black S1-B variety) microphone. It features a �� super-cardioid
condenser capsule, designed for feedback rejection in live situations. In 2009 R�de
released the M2 and M3 microphones that featured permanently polarised condenser
capsules, a more cost effective solution to the true condenser capsules found in
other R�de studio microphones.

Dynamic microphones

The R�de Podcaster USB dynamic microphone

R�de produces a select range of dynamic microphones for sound reinforcement and
broadcast audio. The M1 is a handheld live vocal performance dynamic microphone
that the company claims is "designed to provide the very best performance night
after night, while taking all the abuse expected of a microphone with the rock 'n'
roll credentials of R�de".[19] The M1 is also available with a lockable switch (M1-
S). It features a high-output dynamic capsule and on-board headphone monitoring.
The Podcaster was awarded an Australian International Design Award in 2007,
recognising the product as an example of good design.[20] The Podcaster and NT-USB
microphones are R�de's only microphone with USB output. The Procaster microphone
has similar specifications to the Podcaster but with XLR output, the professional
standard output connection for audio. In late 2012 the Reporter, a handheld
interview microphone with an omnidirectional dynamic capsule was released.[21]

Shotgun microphones
R�de entered the shotgun microphone market in 2005, with the NTG1 and NTG2
microphones. Both feature a permanently polarised �� condenser capsule, with the
NTG2 accepting a battery power source in addition to phantom power. The NTG3 was
released in 2008, providing R�de with a premium true condenser shotgun microphone,
featuring RF bias technology to allow the microphone to continue operation in humid
and cold conditions where traditional microphones could fail. In 2012 R�de
announced the NTG8, a long shotgun version of the NTG3 which features enhanced
directionality across all frequencies.

VideoMic range

The Rode VideoMic with integrated Rycote suspension (shown atop a Canon EOS DSLR
camera)
The original VideoMic was released by R�de in 2004, after founder Peter Freedman
was unable to find a suitable microphone for his home MiniDV camera. Two years
later the company released a stereo version of the turnkey microphone system for
camcorders and consumer video cameras.

Following the introduction of high definition video on DSLR cameras such as the
Canon EOS 5D MkII R�de further developed the VideoMic concept to reduce the size,
and incorporate a 20dB level boost, which is intended to allow the user to decrease
the level of the camera preamp, thereby reducing the noise floor of the recording.
In 2012 the Stereo VideoMic Pro was released, providing a stereo option for DSLR
filmmakers. It was recognized with a Design Award from the Australian International
Design Awards program.[22]

With the announcement of R�de and Rycote�s strategic alliance the company revised
the original VideoMic to incorporate the Rycote Lyre one-piece shock mount.

Mobile, Smartphone, and tablet microphones

At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas R�de announced that it had
commenced producing microphones for consumer smartphones, tablets and mobile
devices. The first of these products was the iXY, a stereo microphone designed for
Apple Inc.�s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. It features two �� cardioid
condenser capsules, fixed in a 90 degree alignment to allow for XY stereo
recording. Using the R�de Rec app the microphone is capable of recording at
resolution of up to 24-bit/ 96 kHz, which at its launch is the only microphone for
Apple Inc.�s portable devices capable of such a high sampling resolution.[23] The
iXY was recognised as a product of high quality design in 2013 with a Red Dot
award.[24] A month after the release of the iXY, R�de announced the smartLav
lavalier microphone for smartphones and mobile devices. With a TRRS output
connection, the smartLav connects to Apple and Android based smartphones and
tablets.

Compact wearable microphones

R�de offers a range of compact condenser microphones, designed for close miking
applications including a headset and two lavalier microphones. The HS1 headset
microphone, released in 2010, is constructed from lightweight aluminium and is
available in both pink and black versions. In addition to its standard Lavalier
microphone, R�de also offers the PinMic lavalier which is designed for discreet
miking of subjects. It features a removable capsule head that is connected to the
wired base via a trio of pins, which can be placed through fabric to allow the
microphone to be placed anywhere on the subject, as opposed to the limited mounting
options of a traditional lavalier. R�de supply an unpainted capsule head mesh with
the PinMic (in addition to selling separately) for the user to paint or camouflage
as required. R�de's range of compact wearable microphones all use the company's
proprietary MiCon connection system, which allows for the connection of a range of
different output adaptors. R�de currently offers nine MiCon adaptors making the
microphones compatible with 3.5mm stereo and XLR standard output as well as
wireless transmitters from Shure, AKG Acoustics, Audio Technica, Sennheiser, MIPRO,
Audix, Sony and Lectrosonics.

Custom microphones
Podium mic
In 2006 R�de was approached by sound engineer Bruce Jackson to design a microphone
system that could be used as the primary podium microphone for the Asian Games that
year in Doha. The microphone has since appeared at the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver,2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in
Singapore, 2011 Pan-Arab Games in Doha, 2011 Rugby World Cup in Auckland, 2011
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics
in London, and at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio in 2016. R�de's engineers
designed the microphone system with two discrete microphone capsules in order to
offer a high level of redundancy. The first capsule in the microphone stem sends
audio directly to the broadcaster's main digital audio network, using R�de designed
preamps that are fed phantom power from an Optocore fibre network device. The
second capsule is connected to a custom wireless system that is housed inside the
actual lectern. This wireless system contains an RF transmitter, phantom power
supply and transformer coupling amongst other components. The output is available
both in analogue form, and sent to the analogue backup portion of the main audio
system. It is also available in modulated RF format that is received by a radio mic
receiver (or receivers) beneath the stage, and at the front-of-house (FOH)
position. Originally three microphones were built, with one of these later being
converted to a floor-standing unit.

Custom microphone for Barbra Streisand

Following the success of the Podium Mic project in 2006, Bruce Jackson again
approached R�de with a special request, this time to create a custom microphone
that would be used by singer Barbra Streisand on the European leg of her Streisand
tour. Jackson saw room for improvement with the microphone used during the North
American phase of the tour and approached R�de's engineering team with the brief to
provide a smoother high frequency response, in addition to a tailored polar
response with greater side rejection. R�de successfully modified its S1 microphone
capsule to meet Jackson's needs for the tour.[25]

Chrome M1 microphone
R�de has produced a very limited number of chrome plated M1 microphones, for use by
R�de endorsees. The microphones were originally created at the request of Pelle
Almqvist of The Hives to match their on-stage attire.[26]

Microphone accessories
R�de offers over 60 different microphone accessories, including the R�de Blimp
microphone suspension system in addition to other wind shields, shock mounts, stand
mounts, cases, and stands.

a 'dead cat' R�de Blimp and a 'dead kitten' R�de X/Y Stereo mic for DSLR cameras
Software
R�de entered the software market in 2013, releasing the R�de Rec (and free R�de Rec
LE) app for Apple's iOS devices. The application allows the user's device to
operate as a professional field recorder, with a key feature being that it allows
for editing of the recording and publishing to a number of cloud-based platforms as
well as email and desktop.

Warranty
R�de offers a free extended warranty on most of its products, available via
registration of purchase on its website. Company founder Peter Freedman states that
after-sales service and customer care is one of the fundamental strengths of R�de's
business model: �Never mind good business, it�s what [you] should do� I�ve done
that since day one. You buy a mic and have a problem with it and [we] will sort it
out.�[27] �We have never ever charged for service and repairs.� Mr Freedman told
AudioTechnology magazine in 2004. �We don�t make a song and dance of the fact, but
it�s true. And I love it�[2] The majority of microphones offer a ten-year extended
warranty while some offer a five year. The M1 live dynamic microphone and the
Classic II limited edition both offer a lifetime extended warranty upon
registration.