Microphone Patterns
What are polar patterns?
It is essential to understand the basic principles of polar patterns to get the best out of every recording. The polar pattern of a microphone determines the sensitivity at different angles.
A polar pattern defines how much of the signal will be picked up by the microphone from different directions.
By selecting the right pattern, you can avoid unwanted sound sources to bleed into your signal, adjust the mix between dry and room sound, or change the frequency response, and influence the proximity effect.
Polar patterns are also sometimes called pickup patterns.
A polar pattern defines how much of the signal will be picked up by the microphone from different directions.
By selecting the right pattern, you can avoid unwanted sound sources to bleed into your signal, adjust the mix between dry and room sound, or change the frequency response, and influence the proximity effect.
Polar patterns are also sometimes called pickup patterns.
How to read a polar pattern...
Think of a 360° field surrounding the microphone. 0° is the front of the microphone and the angle where the microphone has its maximum sensitivity. The scale of the circle consists of smaller circles, each representing a 5 dB decrease in sensitivity.
In the example below you can see that the cardioid polar pattern is least sensitive to sound coming from the back of the microphone.
In the example below you can see that the cardioid polar pattern is least sensitive to sound coming from the back of the microphone.
The cardioid pattern
3d diagram of the cardioid pattern
(for a Condenser Microphone)
What is a decibel (dB)?
The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit to compare two values. If the specification of a cardioid pattern microphone states it has a rear rejection of 25 dB, it means that the most sensitive part (0°) and the least sensitive part (180°) are compared.
For (sound) pressure, current and voltage +6 dB is double the signal strength, +20 dB leads to 10 times the signal.
A typical rear rejection for a cardioid pattern is about -20 dB. The sound coming from behind the microphone is picked with 1/10th sensitivity relative to the front signal. That is great if you want to record only the sound coming from the front of the microphone.
For (sound) pressure, current and voltage +6 dB is double the signal strength, +20 dB leads to 10 times the signal.
A typical rear rejection for a cardioid pattern is about -20 dB. The sound coming from behind the microphone is picked with 1/10th sensitivity relative to the front signal. That is great if you want to record only the sound coming from the front of the microphone.