Polar Pattern

The shape that describes which directions a microphone picks up sound from.

A polar pattern describes the directions from which a microphone is sensitive to sound — essentially its 'field of hearing'. The most common is cardioid, which picks up mainly from the front and rejects sound from behind, making it ideal for isolating a single vocalist or instrument and reducing unwanted room noise. Other patterns include omnidirectional, which captures sound equally from all around, and figure-of-eight, which picks up from the front and back but not the sides. Some microphones can switch between patterns. Understanding polar patterns helps you position a mic well and choose the right one, which has a big effect on how clean and focused a recording sounds.

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