Shortly after inheriting Freedman Electronics, the pro-audio business he’d grown up in, Peter Freedman nearly ran it into the ground. He lost his home and family cars, and was over a million dollars in debt. Now, over 30 years later, Peter has rebuilt the company into an Australian manufacturing-exporting powerhouse that delivers peerless studio, broadcast, performance and filmmaking microphones to 111 countries, including – yes – China. How he and the team at RØDE Microphones accomplished this is a story of determined success through innovations in design, process and marketing, and of bucking then resetting the received wisdom of the day.
Now, RØDE employs over 150 people in many disciplines, is the envy of the industry and has just recorded its most lucrative year.
Peter is a natural communicator and speaks with wit and authority on manufacturing, technology, leadership, embracing opportunity and carving a successful enterprise, lesson by lesson. Among many awards, he was E&Y’s Entrepreneur Of The Year: National Industry category in 2014 and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2016, for services to export and philanthropy in the arts. RØDE celebrated its 50th year in 2017.
Peter has created a world-class microphone and related-audio manufacturing company in Sydney where products are made and exported to the world.
RØDE products are known and respected across a range of audio segments including recording studios, broadcasters, videographers, and podcasters.
Peter has revitalized audio manufacturing in Australia with his emphasis on tooling for cost-effective local manufacturing to offer innovative products at a keen price.
In October 2016, Peter presented an entertaining and inspirational account of his experiences taking RØDE from a failing business to international success.
The full meeting report is at:
https://www.aesmelbourne.org.au/meeting-report-oct2016-rode/
Here is the video of that talk.
You can view this directly on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJssIQEhMCs
Since that evening in 2016, Peter has navigated RØDE to greater heights with new audio products.
The full RØDE journey is documented on their website at:
https://rode.com/en/about/about-rode