Company History

But already in the early years, the company also built the first SCHOEPS con­denser micro­phone, the CMV 50/​2 (con­taining two of the well-​known RV 12 P 2000 vacuum tubes). The capsule and the micro­phone body (whose size, unimag­inable in today’s con­di­tions, was ca. 13″ tall and 3″ in diameter), were still con­nected together in a fixed manner.

Due to Dr. Schoeps’ friendship with a com­mercial rep­re­sen­tative in France who had excellent contacts among French radio broad­casters, a con­sid­erable market position (which still endures today) could already be achieved there in the 1950s. Far more than half of SCHOEPS pro­duction at that time was exported to France.

Dr. Küsters was respon­sible pri­marily for tech­nology and pro­duction; Dr. Schoeps directed the company and rep­re­sented it to the outside world.

In 1970 Jörg Wuttke joined the company.

He was a student of, and assistant to, the inventor of the inter­ference tube (“shotgun”) direc­tional micro­phone — Prof. Günther Kurtze, who taught in Karl­sruhe. When the technical director Wilhelm Küsters died at the end of 1971, Wuttke took over his position. In 1973, he was instrumental in developing the well-known Colette series, which has been on the market for more than 50 years now and is the most comprehensive and versatile microphone system.

In 1980 Ulrich Schoeps, the son of the founder, joined his father's company. Employees and cus­tomers under­stood this as a hopeful sign that the SCHOEPS company would continue to be a family enter­prise, which is still the case today. In 1986 Ulrich Schoeps became business director. At the end of 1993. Karl Schoeps, who visited the company until the last day, died. His son took over the sole management with the assistance of Jörg Wuttke, who in 1997 became second shareholder of the corporation.

The company’s founding and its initial pro­duction had taken place in private apart­ments, but soon the company moved into an initially rented building of a former Durlacher brewery, which was acquired in 1965 together with the neighboring house. This doubled the available space. Along with the cellar vault, many parts of the building’s foun­dation walls date back to 1662, making it among the oldest still pre­served in Durlach. Over the years, the space became too restrictive, and thus in 1990 a former dance hall was obtained and rebuilt as a pro­duction area for mechanical parts.

After almost 37 years at SCHOEPS, Jörg Wuttke retired in February 2007. As a shareholder, however, he remains associated with the company. Mr. Wuttke has become the epitome of a micro­phone expert, and he enjoyed great pop­u­larity among recording engi­neers, since he knows so well how to explain the prin­ciples of acoustical physics in a straight­forward and prac­tical manner.

His successor as technical director was Dr. Helmut Wittek, a trained sound engineer, who previously had contact with the company in some research projects. He continues the tradition of his predecessor with his numerous technical lectures in public. Wittek also joined the management in March 2009.

After more than 28 years as CEO, Ulrich Schoeps retired from the management in January 2015. He can look back upon a life’s work encom­passing the devel­opment of this small company into one of the world’s most respected man­u­fac­turers of high-​quality studio micro­phones. Under his lead­ership, Schoeps micro­phones have become the standard on the concert stage.

Thereupon, in addition to Wittek, Karin Fléing was also appointed co-CEO. Karin Fléing, a graduate in media man­agement, joined Schoeps in 2007. She formerly served as Director of Sales and Marketing. The leadership couple tackle the new challenges with a team of young people who are highly motivated and proud of their company with its unique capabilities and properties.

The company remains pri­vately owned, with Ulrich Schoeps as the majority share­holder.

Today approx. 50 employees develop, produce and distribute the entire product range on an area of 1,500 square meters. The biggest markets today are Germany, USA, China, England, and still France. Schoeps has about 40 distributors worldwide. The Colette system will continue to be maintained and expanded, but also new microphone types (shotgun, studio microphone) and new applications were added. In the past, Schoeps was only found in the orchestra pit; today, film, sports and the conference market also play a major role.