Pictured at Dave Matthews' Haunted Hollow Studios is engineer Steven Miller with the Telefunken | USA R-F-T M16 MkII large diaphragm tube microphone.

Charlottesville, VA, February 2007 — Engineer and producer Steven Miller chose a matched pair of Telefunken | USA's R-F-T M16 MkII microphones for the recording of the upcoming studio album from The Dave Matthews Band. Sequestered at Matthew's Virginia studio, the band has been tracking the follow-up to 2005's hit album, "Stand Up."

"I've known Telefunken | USA's founder Toni Fishman since he started the company six years ago," recalls Miller. "I met him at Ocean Way Recording when he was working with Allen Sides to research the recreation of prized microphones from Allen's extensive collection."

Since then, Fishman and his team have reverse engineered and recreated some of the industry's most valuable microphones, including their Ela M 250, U 47M, and the rare and legendary stereo Ela M 270. The M16 MkII is one of a new line of affordable microphones which faithfully recreate the legendary vintage Telefunken sound. The microphone features a dual-sided center-contact gold sputtered capsule and the same vintage tube used in the Telefunken Ela M 251.

"Before we started recording, I went through all the mics we had, including some very rare mics from Dave's collection," explained Miller. "But when I put up the pair of M16s as room mics, it was the perfect sound. Less cymbal splash, more low end and a rock bottom that worked exactly the way I wanted in that room. I immediately knew I had it."

After completing four tracks with the Telefunken | USA stereo matched pair, Miller brought the band in for playback. "There was one tune that really needed a rock drum sound," he continues, "and when I brought up the sound of those two mics, the band was amazed at the sound we got in their studio. 'Whoa, what's that? How did it turn into a rock sound,' they asked. I pointed out into the room at the two mics -- which ended up giving me about 80% of the total sound I wanted for the record."

ABOUT TELEFUNKEN ELEKTROAKUSTIK

TELEFUNKEN | USA acquired the TELEFUNKEN Trademark for North America in 2001, and in 2009 the company was named the Elektroakustik (translation: Electrical Acoustics) arm of TELEFUNKEN and awarded the exclusive rights to manufacture a wide variety of professional audio products and vacuum tubes bearing the TELEFUNKEN name, in over 27 countries worldwide. Recreating the classic TELEFUNKEN microphones has been a labor of love for the company CEO, Toni Fishman and the pursuit of that dream has culminated in the manufacture of what we at TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik believe are the finest microphones currently available in the world today.

Along with meticulously manufacturing historic replicas of classic microphones by hand in the USA, TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik is now marketing the R-F-T series of microphones that take advantage of the globalization of technology, in order to offer recording microphones with professional sonic performance at reasonable prices.

Our latest additions to the TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik product line include a revolutionary new capsule design based on Alloy 2213™, an exceptional dynamic microphone [the M80], and a vacuum tube replacement for the original TELEFUNKEN VF14 which offers comparable performance in our U47 and new U48 microphones.

TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik continues to expand, and research and development of new products is an ongoing process. Although based firmly on classic designs, TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik is continuously looking forward. Important changes in our company and further expansion of our product line are slated for the immediate future.

For more information about TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, call 860.882.5919 or e-mail info@t-funk.com.