Microphone Polar Patterns Explained: Cardioid, Omni, Figure-8

What is a microphone polar pattern?

A polar pattern is a map of how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from each angle around its capsule, with 0 degrees pointing straight at the source. It decides how much of your room, your neighbor's TV and your own headphone bleed ends up on the track.

Manufacturers draw it as a circular plot. The outer ring is full sensitivity and each ring inward is quieter. Read it as a level chart, not a floor plan. DPA's reference figures put a cardioid 3 dB down at 66 degrees and 6 dB down at 90 degrees^[2], so a voice coming from the side is still recorded, just quieter and usually duller.

Spec sheets often hide one detail: the pattern is not identical at every frequency. Shure notes that polar patterns can change across the frequency range and that off-axis high frequencies are typically the most affected^[1]. That is why sound leaking in from the side of a budget cardioid tends to sound muffled rather than simply quiet.

How do cardioid, supercardioid and hypercardioid differ?

All three reject sound from behind, but they trade front width for side rejection. Cardioid has the widest front and a single null straight behind it, while supercardioid and hypercardioid narrow the front and move the quietest points out to the rear diagonals.

Shure lists maximum rejection for a cardioid at 180 degrees, for a supercardioid at 125 degrees and for a hypercardioid at 110 degrees^[1]. The price of the tighter front is a small lobe of pickup directly behind the capsule. Sound On Sound describes a hypercardioid as least sensitive 30 to 45 degrees off its rear axis rather than dead behind^[3].

That changes where you put the noise. With a cardioid, point the back of the mic at the problem: the door, the computer fan, the window. With a supercardioid or hypercardioid, aim the problem at one of the rear diagonals, because straight behind is no longer the quietest spot.

Why tighter patterns are harder to sing into

Narrow patterns punish movement. Shure points out that supercardioid and hypercardioid mics require the user to keep a more consistent position^[5]. Turn your head a few inches and the level drops and the top end thins out. A cardioid is more forgiving for singers who move, which is one reason it stays the default in home studios. Shure also credits cardioids with reducing ambient noise by approximately two-thirds compared with omni mics^[1], so you rarely need to go tighter unless a specific noise source keeps leaking in.

When should you use an omnidirectional mic?

Use omni when the room sounds good or when you actually want the room: a group around one mic, piano, acoustic instruments, or a vocalist who cannot stay still. An omni captures the same tone from every angle and has no proximity effect.

Sound On Sound lists the practical advantages: no proximity effect, the same tonal balance on-axis and off-axis, and less sensitivity to handling and wind noise^[3]. The same article notes you can place an omni 30 to 40 percent closer to the source than a cardioid without compromising the sound^[3]. That closer position keeps the direct signal loud relative to the room, which partly makes up for the lack of rejection.

The catch in a bedroom is obvious once you hear it. An omni picks up your bare walls, the desk surface and the fridge down the hall just as readily as your voice. If the space is untreated, work close, or fix the reflections first with the steps in treating a bedroom for recording. Shure suggests omni for picking up a group of people sitting around a table^[5], which is a good mental model: omni is for capturing a space, not for hiding from one.

What is a figure-8 mic good for?

A figure-8 mic picks up sound equally from the front and back and rejects sound arriving side-on, at 90 degrees. That side null is deep and predictable, which makes it the most useful rejection tool of any pattern.

Sound On Sound describes the classic singing-guitarist setup: two figure-8 mics, with the dead side of the vocal mic facing the guitar and the dead side of the guitar mic facing the singer's mouth^[3]. Shure suggests the same pattern for two background singers sharing one microphone^[5]. In a home studio that means one good multi-pattern condenser can handle a duet without two channels of bleed fighting each other.

1. Face the singers across the mic
   Place one singer on each side of the capsule, both on the 0 and 180 degree axis. Start around 20-30 cm each, as a starting point.
2. Balance with distance, not gain
   Both voices share one channel, so move the louder singer back a step instead of reaching for the preamp. Small moves of 5 cm are audible.
3. Find the side null
   Talk into the side of the mic while watching the meter. Point that silent side at the monitors, the computer or the door.
4. Watch the low end
   Figure-8 has the strongest proximity effect, so close singers get boomy fast. Back off before you reach for EQ.
5. Record a test and listen on headphones
   Check that neither voice sounds hollow or off-axis. If one does, rotate the mic a few degrees toward that singer.

How does proximity effect change with polar pattern?

Proximity effect is the low-frequency boost you get as a directional mic moves closer to the source. Omni mics have none, cardioids have a clear amount, and figure-8 mics have the strongest.

Neumann explains why: the effect only happens in pressure-gradient designs, omni capsules are pure pressure transducers, and a cardioid is a 50:50 blend of the two^[4]. The boost is most noticeable below 200 Hz, so it hits male voices and guitars hardest; Neumann uses the low E string around 80 Hz as the example^[4]. Supercardioid and hypercardioid contain more of the gradient component than cardioid, so expect them to get bassy faster when you lean in.

Treat proximity effect as a free EQ knob. A rapper at 3-5 cm from a cardioid gets thick and boomy; at 15-20 cm the low end evens out. Neumann even suggests switching a multi-pattern mic to figure-8 to add weight to a thin voice^[4]. Distance control like this is a core part of microphone technique for vocalists, and it matters more than the pattern switch for most sessions.

Which polar pattern is best for vocals, rooms, duets and noisy apartments?

For most home vocals, cardioid is the right answer. Switch patterns only when you can name the specific problem the new pattern solves.

• Solo vocal, untreated bedroom Cardioid at 10-20 cm. The mic hears what is behind the singer, so hang a blanket or put absorption there rather than behind the mic.
• Rap and ad-libs, close and loud Cardioid, with a pop filter between mouth and capsule. Stay at a steady distance so proximity effect does not change from line to line.
• Noisy apartment with street or neighbor noise Cardioid or supercardioid, worked close, with the quietest angle aimed at the window or shared wall. A dynamic mic often helps more than a pattern change; see condenser vs dynamic microphones.
• Duet or two backing singers Figure-8, with the singers facing each other through the mic.
• Singer who plays guitar Two figure-8 mics with each side null aimed at the other source.
• Room tone, choir, group vocals Omni, placed where the room sounds best, which you find by walking around and listening.
• Acoustic guitar in a good-sounding room Omni or wide cardioid for a natural tone, cardioid if the room is boxy.

No pattern fixes a loud, reflective room on its own. Distance, soft furnishings and a quieter time of day do more. If you have a closet full of clothes, a cardioid in there often beats any pattern trick in an empty bedroom; the setup is covered in recording vocals in a closet or budget booth.

How do you find your mic's null in your own room?

Walk a steady sound source around the mic at a fixed distance and watch the input meter; the angle where the level drops furthest is your null. Real rooms and real capsules never match the ideal plot on the box.

1. Pick a steady source
   Play pink noise or a spoken podcast from a phone speaker at a fixed volume.
2. Confirm the front of the mic
   Side-address condensers are easy to use backwards. The front is usually marked, but check the manual rather than guessing.
3. Circle at a fixed distance
   Hold the phone about 50 cm away and move it slowly through 0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees, pausing at each angle.
4. Note the quietest angle
   Write down the meter reading at each stop. On a cardioid it should be at the back; on a super or hypercardioid it sits toward the rear diagonals.
5. Aim it at your worst noise
   Rotate the stand so the quietest angle faces the window, fan or door, then record a test take and compare it with the old position.

Repeat the test when you swap mics. Two cardioids can behave quite differently in the low end, and capsule size is part of the reason; large vs small diaphragm condenser mics covers how the capsule shapes off-axis tone.