Unit 38

Research Notes

Microphone Polar Patterns.

Most microphones polar patterns fall into one of these categories.

 Bidirectional (Figure 8)
 Omnidirectional
 Hypercardioid
 Supercardioid
 Unidirectional (Cardioid)
 Subcardioid/Wide Cardioid
 Shotgun/Lobar
 Boundary/PZM
 Infinitely Variable

Bidirectional (Figure 8)
This has equal sensitivity from sound on the front and back and is silent at the sides due to a
small ring. Its more common for it to be called figure 8 than bidirectional due to the ease.
Common examples

 Blue Yeti
 AKG P420

Omnidirectional
Sensitive all round in all directions.

 Blue yeti (Microphone I used to record Wall-e sounds)

 Lavalier Lav Lapel

Hypercardioid
The Hypercardioid microphone polar pattern is a highly directional mic polar pattern and are
more directional than cardioids and supercardioids and have a larger back sensitive area and
a low sensitivity on the sides. Common in music productions.

 AKG D112
 Rode NT1-A
Supercardioid
This microphone is a highly directional microphone and are more directional than a cardioid
microphone and also had back/rear area of sensitivity, they are very similar to hyper
cardioid and are also popular in film and music productions.

 Shure SM87A
 Sennheiser MKH416

Unidirectional (Cardioid)
This is one of the most popular microphones to choose from and I myself have one of these,
as it is the most sensitive microphone for facing and best for vocals.

 Blue Yeti (Microphone I used to record Wall-e sounds)

 Shure SM7B

Subcardioid/Wide Cardioid
Best known for the ability to reject sound like in recording rooms and on small stages.

Shotgun/Lobar
Best known for their extremely directional pattern and commonly referred to as point and
shoot as it records what you point it at. They have small side areas of sensitivity with is
common in the film industry, so no crew is heard.

 Rode Videomic Pro+

 Shure VP83

Boundary/PZM
Best known for being used when preforming onstage with an instrument and are often used
with pianos as it captures the sound and blocks out the background noise.

Infinitely Variable
this is the knob at the rear of the microphone that allows you to precisely tailor the output
levels to your recording device.