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In 1954, engineers at Decca Records developed a novel recording technique to capture the expansive soundstage of a symphony orchestra with unparalleled fidelity. Using state-of-the-art Neumann microphones in a unique three-mic array, they devised a setup capable of translating the orchestra’s massive width and spatial detail from the conductor’s podium to home stereos and movie theaters everywhere.
This is the story of how the Decca Tree transformed stereo sound, the Neumann M 50 microphone that made it possible, and the newly reissued Neumann M 50 V that brings that legendary sound to the new era of immersive recording.
In the early days of recorded sound, classical records and film scores benefited from the biggest budgets and most cutting-edge technology available. Some of the earliest experiments in stereo sound include Bell Laboratories’ 1932 recording of Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Alan Blumlein’s 1934 recording of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, and the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia. Classical music had yet to be overtaken by folk and rock, and the sonic richness of the orchestra just happened to be a perfect proving ground for new recording techniques.
One of the biggest labels at the time was Decca Records, a British company that started off as a gramophone manufacturer and helped develop recording equipment to detect German submarines in World War II. After the war, Decca emerged as a leading publisher of classical music, buying up other labels’ catalogues and researching new ways to make higher-fidelity recordings. Key to this effort were Decca engineers Roy Wallace, Arthur Haddy, and Kenneth Wilkinson.
While 20th-century innovations like the Blumlein Pair (two bidirectional mics with a 90° offset) and the Jecklin Disk (a sound-absorbing barrier separating two microphones) produced fairly convincing binaural sound, these techniques weren’t quite capable of capturing the scale and dynamics of an 80- to 100-person orchestra. Always in search of better ways to record and reproduce the complexities of sound, Decca’s engineering department began research and development on a new technique.
In their experiments, Wallace and Haddy found that increasing the space between a stereo pair of microphones helped to decorrelate the left and right signals by increasing the differences in time and frequency response of sound waves arriving at each microphone. This helped prevent phase cancellation and improve playback on stereo speakers, but it also created a “hole” in the center that made recordings feel unnaturally wide. To solve that problem, they added a center mic and moved it forward to form a triangle shape. “It looks like a bloody Christmas tree,” Haddy commented, giving the Decca Tree its name.
Over the next decade or so, Decca’s engineers continued developing the technique by experimenting with different mic spacings, height, and positioning, and additional “outrigger” mics for even wider capture. Kenneth Wilkinson is credited with officially standardizing the technique in order to achieve repeatable results from session to session. In its final form, the Decca Tree followed these specifications:
At the time, Neumann microphones were considered the state of the art, so it’s no surprise that Decca chose Neumanns for their cutting-edge stereo experiments. Early iterations of the Decca Tree used the Neumann M 49, a large-diaphragm tube condenser which was the first to offer continuously variable polar patterns, making it perfect for trying out different setups. However, Decca engineers soon switched to the Neumann M 50, a unique mic with a few design quirks that made it ideal for Decca Tree recording.
Although technically an omnidirectional microphone, the M 50’s capsule was flush-mounted in an acrylic sphere that influenced the way sound waves reached the diaphragm from different angles. As a result, the mic exhibited a semi-directional frequency response with a +5 dB shelf above 2 kHz from the front and a slightly darker tone from the sides and rear. The M 50 also featured a smaller and lighter diaphragm than the M 49, improving its transient response.
The M 50’s increased on-axis presence highlighted the overtones of the instruments in front of each mic, while the darker off-axis response provided additional decorrelation and tamed room reflections for smoother reverb. The sensitivity of the diaphragm ensured that transient details of percussion instruments, piano, and pizzicato were preserved with pinpoint spatial accuracy. Combined with the mathematical precision of the Decca Tree array, the M 50 delivered recordings that leapt out of the speakers and became known as “the Decca sound.”
Just like the Decca Tree evolved over time, Neumann continuously made improvements to the M 50. Over the years, the mic received a series of upgrades, including different diaphragm materials, better vacuum tubes, and various circuit tweaks to achieve lower noise and increased sensitivity. Here’s how the Neumann M 50 evolved over time:
At The NAMM Show in January 2026, Neumann unveiled the new M 50 V: a faithful reissue of the classic M 50 microphone with a few modern enhancements. Built to original specifications with the exact same internal circuitry as the M 50 c, the M 50 V delivers the same sonic signature and directional characteristics with even lower noise, better RF shielding, and increased long-term reliability.
Since the Telefunken AC701k tube is no longer available, the M 50 V features a new 5703 tube with even lower self-noise. Additionally, a new K 33Ti capsule with an ultra-thin titanium diaphragm provides better temperature stability and reliability. A modernized power supply provides optimized performance for the new tube, better shielding from today’s increased RF emissions, and automatic voltage-switching to adapt to local mains voltages. Even the yoke-style swivel mount has been improved for better isolation from mechanical vibrations.
The Neumann M 50 V arrives at an exciting time in recording history, when immersive recording is on the rise and new microphone techniques are being developed for spatial sound capture. The concepts introduced by the Decca Tree have led to innovations like Dr. Hyunkook Lee’s PCMA-3D technique, the Grace Design SB-3D11 array developed with Morten Lindberg, and similar arrays from companies like Immersive Design Labs. Most of these configurations call for small-diaphragm omnidirectional microphones, making the M 50 V an ideal choice for large-format immersive recording.
If you record large ensembles, live performances, or anything immersive, the Decca Tree and the Neumann M 50 V can take your recordings to the next level. Through the Vintage King Demo Program, you can book an in-studio or virtual demo with a VK Audio Consultant and try out the new Neumann M 50 V on its own, in a Decca Tree configuration with the Grace Design SB-DT Spacebar, AEA Decca Tree, AEA Mini Decca Tree, or in an immersive configuration with the SB-3D11 array. Try it for yourself and see why the Decca Tree and Neumann mics changed the art of recording forever!
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