Tradition and future prospects: an exclusive interview with our partners
An exciting year is drawing to a close. In our anniversary year 2024, we took you on a journey through 100 years of company history and showed you the products and technologies that have shaped us during this time. Before this special year comes to a close for us, we would like to introduce you to our partners in an interview here on the beyerdynamic blog.
We are proud that after 100 years we remain a family-run company. In this interview, you can find out from our partners what makes it so special for them to manage a 100-year-old company and lead it into the future. They provide insights into special milestones and experiences of the past decades that are particularly memorable to them personally.
from left to right: Managing Director Andreas Rapp, Shirley Beyer & John Midgley, Carina, Matthias & Kaja Mühling
To begin with, we would like to get an insight into what it is like for you to be part of and run a family business.
Carina Mühling:The family atmosphere and the sense of community in our family business are just as special as the products. It is a great honour for me to help shape the company’s history and to be able to preserve my grandfather’s values and beliefs. And that is precisely why I am very pleased and grateful that the next generation is now also working for beyerdynamic and playing its part in developing the company into the future.
Kaja Mühling: I can only agree. I’ve only been here for six weeks, but I can already feel how important it is to find the balance between tradition and new ideas. It’s a great feeling to develop the company with my family and to see what we can achieve together.
Being part of a third-generation family-owned business makes me incredibly proud, especially of being on the board to help continue my grandfather and father’s legacies.
Shirley Beyer
It’s nice to see how you carry on the values and traditions of your ancestors while introducing new ideas. beyerdynamic has been a constant presence in the audio industry for 100 years – what characterises this market presence in particular?
Carina Mühling:Yes, exactly. As a small, medium-sized German company, beyerdynamic has managed to establish itself against international competition and even set standards with its extraordinary, innovative products for more than 100 years.
Kaja Mühling: In my opinion, beyerdynamic is characterised above all by its enduring ability to combine tradition and innovation. For 100 years, the company has been known for its high sound quality and German engineering, which makes it so special in the audio industry. My great-grandfather’s guiding principle was that the quality of his products is above all else and that this is ensured by constant innovation. beyerdynamic has a strong name, which to this day is held in high regard particularly in the professional audio industry.
That’s right. Our pro products have been used by audiophile professionals in music studios but also in the private sphere for many years. What milestones do you see in this context or in relation to the 100th anniversary?
Shirley Beyer:The first dynamic microphone was developed by my grandfather back in 1937, the 1960’s introduced the DT 100 which today is still the foundation of all of our professional headphones. Our TG wireless systems, and although no longer part of our range, we were leaders in the digital wireless conferencing technology, and we should not forget the MCD 100 digital microphone!
Kaja Mühling:The DT 48 headphones and the M 19 microphone are legends of their time. With the development of the DT 770 and the DT 990, studio classics were created that have been impressing producers and musicians worldwide for almost 40 years. These and other successful innovations characterise beyerdynamic’s long company history and allow us to reach new milestones today.
Read more: You would like to find out more about the DT 48 and our other headphone models? In this blog post, we take you on a short journey through 87 years of headphone expertise.
Read more: If you would like to find out more about the M 19 and our other microphone models? In this blog post, we give you an insight into our microphone expertise from the last 85 years.
We are slowly coming to the end of the interview. Finally, would you like to share a few personal experiences with our readers that you associate with beyerdynamic?
Shirley Beyer: I was very fortunate to have worked many years in Farmingdale, New York, heading up the marketing and advertising team there. I especially enjoyed designing our booths and assisting with the booth setup, as well as hanging out at the NAMM shows with Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain!
I spent many years in the UK heading up the advertising & marketing department there and developed our first online webshop! I think it was also the first time we setup email
communication with customers!
I also spent some time in Heilbronn working with the art department there designing brochures and adverts, preparing data sheets & manuals….there was always plenty of work! Those were fun times!
Carina Mühling:In addition to Shirley’s experiences in various departments, I can think of an example from my school days. My business studies teacher at the time told the story of a small company that gained a foothold in Heilbronn after the war under difficult circumstances and developed into a dominant medium-sized company thanks to its unique patents. He was referring to the rise of beyerdynamic and I was secretly very proud of that.
Kaja Mühling: I have also had many fun and memorable moments in this company. A special memory from my primary school days is the summer party with a band and a big stage in the car park. I thought the band and the singer were great. After almost begging him, I was allowed to screech a few flat notes into the microphone and the entire staff applauded. I would never dare to do that today, but supporting talent has always been part of the company ethos. Trips to the company with my grandmother were also always a highlight, and I still often see many faces from back then.
In addition to the anecdotes and memories of the past years that you have just shared with us, we are now looking to the future of beyerdynamic. What is your vision for the future or what do you wish for?
Our roots lie in the pro sector, as can clearly be seen in products such as the DT 770 and 990, which are still successful today. But our consumer products also offer an indispensable new mainstay. I hope that the company will continue to produce fantastic products made in Germany under this name in Heilbronn.
Carina Mühling
Kaja Mühling: I can only agree with that. I am very proud of what the company has achieved in recent years, and especially this year. We have gained an important new pillar with our consumer products. I wish for growth and development in both the pro and consumer sectors and that the unmistakable beyerdynamic sound reaches more ears than ever. Above all, however, I hope that the company remains true to its values and I plan to actively support it in ensuring this!
Shirley Beyer: My Vision is the integration with Smart Technology! A seamless system of audio products that interconnect effortlessly which could cater to the growing demand for smart homes, smart office solutions, government, entertainment, the education sector, the possibilities are endless. All it takes is creative thinking by our talented employees!
Thank you very much for the valuable insights and inspiring stories!
It was a pleasure for us to take you through 100 years of company history and to explore the interplay of tradition and innovation at beyerdynamic. The support and dedication of each individual member, from the early beginnings to the fourth generation, have strongly characterised the family business and made us what we are today.
We look forward to continuing to shape the future of the audio industry together and to writing the next chapters of this story. With the commitment and innovative spirit of the entire #beyerdynamicfamily, we look forward with confidence to the next 100 years.