Sennheiser MD21, English version

The microphone that will take center stage this Vintage Friday is one that’s been made for decades: the Sennheiser MD21.

The Sennheiser MD21 was first presented at a trade fair in Hanover in 1953. Sennheiser then still operated under the name Labor W, which stands for Laboratorium Wennebostel. That was the village where the factory had it’s location. In 1958 the name changed to Sennheiser, after the founder Dr. Fritz Sennheiser. To this day, Sennheiser is still located in the town of Wennebostel. The farm, from which Fritz Sennheiser once started Labor W, is still on the factory site.

The MD21 is a dynamic omnidirectional microphone with a frequency range of 40 to 18,000 Hz. By then it was also sold under the name Telefunken MD21/6 and as Grundig GDM 121. Basically, this was exactly the same microphone.

The MD21 was, and still is, widely used by journalists and for speech purposes. A remarkable one is the speech that John F. Kennedy gave in Berlin in 1963, where the Md21 was used with windshields. But there are lots of other examples.

This microphone was also used for music productions, including by Ella Fitzgerald, Donovan and a band from Liverpool who played in a club in Hamburg for a long time, I wonder if anything has come from them…

All in all it is an exceptional sounding and very sturdy microphone that is still being made since the first presentation in 1953. This year the MD21 celebrates her 70th anniversary!

The next microphone that Sennheiser would design in 1960 is the MD421. Another long lasting classic.

Glad you read this blog. Feel free to leave a message.

See you next Vintage Friday!