DPA Microphones

Why it is renowned

DPA microphones are used for recording, theatre, broadcast and live sound around the world.¹ One of them, a 4006, recorded the first sounds from the surface of Mars on NASA's Perseverance rover.² The microphones are sold through dealers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, China, Australia and India, among other countries.³

The story

DPA grew out of Brüel & Kjær, which developed precise measurement microphones in the 1950s. In 1992 two of its engineers, Ole Brøsted Sørensen and Morten Støve, left to turn those measurement microphones into microphones for recording; the 4006 omnidirectional was one of the first.¹

To make small microphones that actors could hide on stage, DPA worked with the Danish hearing-aid maker Muphone, and the two companies merged in 2005. In 2017 DPA added CORE, a preamplifier technology for its miniature lavalier and headset capsules.¹ Design and production are in Denmark: a microphone takes up to 200 steps to assemble and can be calibrated up to 15 times before it is approved.¹

What to know it by

• 4006 Omnidirectional Microphone¹Pencil microphone adapted from a Brüel & Kjær measurement microphone
• d:facto Vocal Microphone¹Handheld vocal microphone
• 6388 CORE+ Directional Headset Microphone⁴Headset microphone for stage and speech