Our story
What is "Soyuz"?
A classic
Not a clone
Most new, high-end microphones are direct copies of a few classic German or Austrian designs. Usually, they’re manufactured using modern CNC technology and thus rarely sound like the originals.
At Soyuz we use our own, original microphones designs drawn from the best that both the Russian and German microphone traditions have to offer.
We manufacture them by hand in our own facility using only manual equipment and master machinists. In this way we create microphones that are unique, with their own personalities but which have that “classic” sound that engineers and artists so value. At Soyuz we strive to create “modern classics”.
The Base
The manufacturing techniques used in that era created a sonic character that is impossible to achieve using modern, computer-controlled techniques. In the same way that the finest violins are all handmade, great microphones require that “human touch”. We do virtually 100% of our production in-house including making our capsules, building our power supplies and winding our transformers.
Tula, the perfect city for Soyuz
Located just 2 hours south of Moscow, Tula has long been famous for being the home of Russia’s top machinists. It’s long history of metalworking began in the 1700s when the Demidov blacksmiths were commissioned by the Tsar to build Russia’s very first weapons factory. Since then, Tula has remained a center of weapons production and machining. Tula is also famous for producing samovars and gingerbread (prianiki). Russia’s oldest microphone factory, Oktava, was founded in Tula in 1927 and Soyuz has benefited greatly from hiring former engineers, assemblers and machinists who were trained there.