Microphone Polar Patterns – Video Examples to learn from
Omni directional Microphone Pickup pattern
Cardioid Microphone Pickup pattern
Super Cardioid Microphone Pickup pattern
Shotgun (Lobar) Microphone Pickup pattern
Summary of Polar Patterns
For more in depth reading, download this PDF from Neumann http://www.neumann.com/?lang=en&id=company_publications_mic_book
21 Comments
-
Guy, thank you for a very clear and instructive demonstration.
-
Very good and imformative
-
That was the most helpful explanation about polar patterns I’ve ever seen. Thank you!
-
Hi
I was wondering, which microphones have you been using for the test.
thanks
-
Those are the top of the line Sennheiser 8000 series along with the Sennheiser 416 shotgun. There are less expensive options out there. We’re just testing the pattern here so you can make an informed decision as to what pattern will work best for your application.
-
-
Hi, Enjoyed your video. A very clear and straight forward explanation of microphone polar responses. Great teaching demo. Thank you
-
Hi there!
Excellent explanation/presentation on microphone’s polar pattern. Thank you!
-
Of great help!!
-
This “visual” demonstration really explained tons to a sound novice as I am. I now understand what it is I’m looking at on those heart shaped graphs. Most helpful. Thanks.
-
Thank you for making these movies.
My students will love them!-
You’re welcome 🙂 It’s great to hear a “thank you” and that your student will find the demonstrations to be useful – that is *exactly* why we produced these videos – to share knowledge.
-
-
Thanks a lot for visualizing the different audio patterns, it makes it all much clearer to me now.
-
This is fantastic! Is it possible for you guys to do this with a PCC and PZM mic as well?
-
Nice work! I have been in the av industry for 10 years and there has yet to be a more clear way of showing how these patterns work. I’m going to show this to everyone I know! Thank you.
-
thank you for the great videos! they are really appreciated 🙂
-
Much more meaningful than diagrams, thanks.
Can I second what Matt said about PZM and boundary mikes. I would like to see them illustrated in similar fashion. -
If you watch Manhattan, one of the Woody Allen movies where a group sits around a table in a restaurant, the whole scene is recorded with an omni directional microphone fixed above the table. The microphone can be seen at the top of the frame and it appears to be a Schoeps. For what it was, the sound was great for those scenes.
-
Woody loves the real location sound, no looping!
-
-
Thanks for the video’s, they explain the various mike patterns in a very practical way.
-
Great demo.
One thing to add: supercardioids (also known as hypercardiods) are often used for interior dialog.
-
Actually just discovered that hypercardiods aren’t quite the same as supercardioids:
Hyper-Cardioid
The hyper-cardioid microphone has it’s angle of maximum rejection at 109.5o. It is optimised for the maximum directivity coefficient of 4.0.
Rejection at 90o is -12dB
Rejection at 180o is -6dB
Super-Cardioid
The super-cardioid microphone has it’s angle of maximum rejection at 125.3o.
It is optimised for the maximum front to rear index and has a directivity coefficient of 3.73. Rejection at 90o is -8.7dB
Rejection at 180o is -11.6dB
Sennheiser Super-Cardioid
The Sennheiser super-cardioid microphone has it’s angle of maximum rejection at 120o.
It is optimised for equal attenuation at 90o and 180o, it has a directivity coefficient of 3.86. Rejection at 90o is -9.5dB
Rejection at 180o is also -9.5dB
-
