issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . may 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message this article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on wikipedia . see wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions . may 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message r de microphones ro d is an australian based designer and manufacturer of microphones related accessories and audio software . its products are used in studio and location sound recording as well as live sound reinforcement . rode microphones type private industry consumer and professional audio equipment founded 1967 as freedman electronics founders henry freedman peter freedman headquarters silverwater sydney australia area served global key people peter freedman am president damien wilson global marketing & sales director products microphones number of employees 200 approx website http www.rode.com contents 1 history 1.1 freedman electronics 1.2 origins of r de 1.3 entering the export market 1.4 us operations 1.5 entering the broadcast market 1.6 event electronics 1.7 r deworks 1.8 aphex 2 organization 2.1 offices 2.2 manufacturing 2.3 marketing 2.3.1 r de university 2.3.2 the r de difference 2.3.3 soundbooth 2.3.4 r de rocks and r de rockumentary 2.3.5 strategic alliance with rycote 3 products 3.1 large diaphragm condenser microphones 3.2 small diaphragm condenser microphones 3.3 dynamic microphones 3.4 shotgun microphones 3.5 videomic range 3.6 mobile smartphone and tablet microphones 3.7 compact wearable microphones 3.8 custom microphones 3.8.1 podium mic 3.8.2 custom microphone for barbra streisand 3.8.3 chrome m1 microphone 3.8.4 i16 surround sound microphone 3.9 microphone accessories 3.10 software 3.11 warranty 4 awards 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit freedman electronics edit 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 edit with a grim outlook for freedman electronics peter was desperate for a solution to the company s financial situation and amongst 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 they were shit ... two out of the 20 weren t working at all peter recalled in an interview . i opened them up and saw they d used inferior components and the soldered joints were bad . so i fixed up the parts made a board mod here and there and got them to a point where we could sell them . they weren t super quiet compared to what we re doing now ... but they worked . 2 sales of the modified microphone began to take off in sydney which in the australian vernacular was likened to 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 . the character is in use in the norwegian and danish alphabet but not used in modern swedish . 6 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 edit 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 edit 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 edit 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 edit in 2006 r de s parent company freedman electronics purchased loudspeaker manufacturer event electronics 7 a company that had been instrumental in establishing r de s us distribution channel in the early 1990s . r deworks edit 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 . 8 aphex edit aphex systems was acquired in mid 2015 by freedman electronics 9 parent company of r de microphones . organization edit offices edit rode microphones factory and corporate headquarters in sydney australia r de microphones is headquartered in sydney australia and has five offices worldwide across australia usa and hong kong . 10 manufacturing edit manufacturing is considered one of r de s core competencies and the centre of its competitive advantage a concept that r de refers to as the r de difference . 11 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 . that s the thing with r de we buy all the gear explains peter . the machining gear the test gear ; machinery that we invest in lets us do what we want to do . it s like the transformer we re talking about one type but we could make any type of audio transformer because we have the machinery now . 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 edit r de has a strong focus on marketing and communications continually striving to innovate both in the products it offers to customers and in the ways it communicates its product offering . examples of this innovation include the videomic range of products and the soundbooth demonstration application for web browser and ipad . r de university edit 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 . the r de difference edit in 2011 r de launched a website under the title the r de difference which detailed five areas in which the company believes it offers an advantage over other microphone manufacturers . these areas are precision passion community value and customer support . the website was accompanied by a factory tour video hosted by founder peter freedman . 15 soundbooth edit 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 grammy nominated engineer john merchant at red door studio nashville the steinway gallery nashville and middle tennessee state university . it comprises close to 400 individual tracks . 16 it is available on the r de website and also for download as a native app for