Different Polar patterns of Microphones

What are microphone polar patterns?

Microphone polar patterns describe the way a microphone’s element picks up sound from sources positioned around it. There are mainly three types of polar patterns of a microphone. They are cardioid, omnidirectional, and figure-8, also known as bidirectional.

Let’s get into each of these types in more detail.
As one leader of microphone manufacturers, we provide various microphones with different polar patterns.

First type: cardioid

Microphones with a cardioid polar pattern pick up quality sound in a heart-shaped pattern in front of the microphone. The sides of the microphone are less sensitive but will still pick up a usable degree of sound at a closer range, while the rear of the microphone is entirely out of range. A cardioid microphone is very efficient in isolating unwanted ambient sound and focuses on the main source – this is suitable for loud stages. However, also makes it a lot more susceptible to live feedback compared to other polar patterned microphones.

bkd-11 is one of our best-selling microphones whose polar pattern is cardioid. Below is the picture.

Second type: omnidirectional

Microphones with an omnidirectional polar pattern pick up audio equally throughout a 360-degree space. The range of this sphere-like space can vary from microphone to microphone. But the shape of the pattern will hold true and the audio quality will remain consistent from any angle when using an omnidirectional microphone. A microphone with omnidirectional polar pattern does not have to be positioned or directed a certain way to capture sound because it is designed to capture both the direct feed and the ambient sound thus making it very helpful especially in the case of lavalier microphones.A downside to Omni, however, is that they cannot be aimed away from undesired sources like Public Address speakers and this would cause feedback.
BKM-10 is one of our best microphone for zoom meetings.

Third type: bidirectional

The bidirectional polar pattern is also known as the figure-8 polar pattern because the shape of the pickup area forms the outline of a figure-8. A bidirectional microphone records audio directly in front of and directly behind the capsule without picking up sound from the sides.

Angie
April 9th，2024