Microphone Polar Patterns

Our polar pattern choice depends on what we’re recording and where we need to place our microphones. Here are the most commonly used polar patterns in the studio.

Omnidirectional it picks up the same amount of sound around the entire microphone.

Cardioid is the most popular polar pattern. Its picks up sound mostly from the front of the mic and sometimes a small amount of sound directly behind the mic. This is a great way to record an instrument without picking up too much of the room.

Hypercardioid is a variant of cardioid which is more directional. Like cardioid it picks up sound mostly in front of the mic but in a tighter more focused pattern.

Bidirectional or more commonly known as figure eight, because the mic picks up sound from both the front and back equally while rejecting sound from the sides, thus creating the look of an “eight”.

Our goal in this session is to record a singer/songwriter playing the acoustic guitar. So we’re looking for a step-up that give us the ability to record the acoustic guitar and the vocals at the same time while giving us the maximum amount of separation between the two tracks.