System Online
Free Tool
Module Polar Pattern Visualiser
Output Mic Patterns
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// Free Tool — Recording

Polar Pattern Visualiser

Explore nine mic patterns from omni to figure-8, drag the source around the capsule, and see how the pattern — and your sound — changes with angle and frequency.

The Polar Pattern Visualiser

See how your mic really picks up sound

Cardioid
Angle
0°
Pickup Level
0.0 dB
Status
Full pickup

Drag the sound source around the mic. Try the frequency slider.

Freq
1 kHz
Polar Pattern - Cardioid

Key Angles for This Pattern

This visualiser uses a simplified model of frequency-dependent polar behaviour based on large-diaphragm condenser characteristics. Real microphones are messier - every mic has its own quirks, and the pattern transition isn't as smooth as the maths suggests. But the principle is real and worth understanding: your mic's pattern is not the same at every frequency. Use this to build your intuition, then trust your ears in the room.

Microphone Polar Patterns Explained

This interactive tool visualises how different microphone polar patterns pick up sound from various directions and frequencies. JavaScript is required for the interactive features.

What is a Polar Pattern?

A polar pattern describes how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from different directions. The pattern determines which directions the mic picks up sound from and which directions it rejects. Understanding polar patterns is essential for good microphone technique, studio recording, and live sound engineering.

Common Polar Patterns

Omnidirectional - Picks up sound equally from all directions. Used in: Neumann KM 183, DPA 4006, most lavalier mics. Best for capturing room ambience, orchestral recording, and situations where you want the most natural, uncoloured sound.

Cardioid - Heart-shaped pattern that picks up from the front and rejects the rear. Used in: Shure SM58, SM57, Neumann U 87, AKG C414. The most common pattern for vocals, close-miking instruments, podcasting, and live sound.

Super-Cardioid - Tighter than cardioid with better side rejection but has a small rear lobe. Used in: Sennheiser MKH 50, Shure Beta 87A. Great for live sound where monitor rejection is critical.

Hyper-Cardioid - Even tighter front pickup with a larger rear lobe. Used in: Sennheiser MKH 416 (shotgun), Beyerdynamic M 201. Common in film and broadcast boom microphones.

Figure-8 (Bidirectional) - Equal pickup from front and rear, complete rejection at the sides. Used in: Royer R-121, AEA R84, Coles 4038 (all ribbon mics). Essential for M/S stereo recording and Blumlein technique.

Why Polar Patterns Change with Frequency

Most people don't realise that a microphone's polar pattern is not the same at every frequency. At low frequencies, all mics behave more like omnidirectional patterns because long wavelengths wrap around the diaphragm. At high frequencies, patterns become narrower than the spec sheet suggests, and off-axis sound is not just quieter but tonally different. This frequency-dependent behaviour is why low-frequency bleed is so hard to reject and why high-frequency bleed sounds thin and phasey.

Proximity Effect

All directional microphones (everything except omnidirectional) exhibit proximity effect - a bass boost that increases as the sound source moves closer to the mic. The tighter the pattern, the stronger the proximity effect. Figure-8 has the most, cardioid has moderate, and omni has none. This is why close-miking with a cardioid produces that warm, full sound, and why high-pass filters are essential tools for managing low-end buildup.

Why Polar Patterns Matter More Than You Think

Practical mic technique from 20 years of recording

The Pattern Is the First EQ Move

Every recording starts with a microphone pointed at something. The polar pattern decides what gets captured and what gets rejected before a single plugin is loaded. A cardioid mic aimed well in a treated room will give you a cleaner vocal than the most expensive condenser pointed carelessly. This is the part of signal flow that most home producers skip - they go straight to plugin processing and try to fix problems that shouldn't have been recorded in the first place.

The polar pattern visualiser above lets you see exactly what your mic is doing at every angle. Drag the source around and watch the pickup change. The readout tells you the dB reduction at any position - that's the number that determines whether bleed from another source is going to be a problem in your mix or not.

Your Pattern Changes With Frequency

This is the thing most people miss. The polar pattern printed on the spec sheet is only accurate at around 1 kHz. Move the frequency slider down to 200 Hz and watch what happens - every directional mic starts behaving like an omni. Long wavelengths wrap around the diaphragm and the mic can't tell where they're coming from. This is why low-frequency bleed from kick drums and bass amps leaks into everything, no matter how tight your pattern is.

At the other end, push the slider above 8 kHz. The pattern gets narrower than the spec sheet suggests, and off-axis sound arrives with a completely different tonal character - thinner, duller, and phasey. When that coloured bleed combines with the direct sound from another mic, you get comb filtering that no amount of EQ can fix cleanly.

Null Points Are Your Secret Weapon

Every directional pattern has angles of maximum rejection - null points. For cardioid, it's straight behind at 180°. Simple enough. But for super-cardioid (~125°) and hyper-cardioid (~110°), the nulls are not at the rear. There's actually a small rear lobe picking up sound behind the mic. This catches people out constantly in live sound - they point the back of a super-cardioid at the foldback wedge and get more monitor bleed, not less.

The red dots on the polar plot above show you exactly where the nulls sit for each pattern. Point those at whatever you want to reject. That's the whole game.

Choosing the Right Pattern

If the room sounds good, go wider. Omni gives you the flattest frequency response, zero proximity effect, and the most natural sound. It's not a compromise - it's the best pattern for the job when isolation isn't the priority.

If you need isolation, go tighter - but know the trade-offs. Tighter patterns mean stronger proximity effect (bass boost at close range), more off-axis colouration, and less room sound. Cardioid is the safe default. Super-cardioid and hyper-cardioid give better isolation but demand more precise positioning.

If you need side rejection, figure-8 has the strongest nulls of any pattern - theoretically infinite at 90° and 270°. Ribbon mics are naturally figure-8, and it's essential for M/S stereo recording.

Once you've captured a clean signal with the right pattern and position, shape it with compression and EQ. Get the source right at the mic. Fix the small stuff in the mix. That order matters.

Polar Pattern Glossary

Key terms for understanding microphone polar patterns and directional behaviour.

A graph showing how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from different directions. Plotted as a circle with the mic at the centre, it maps pickup level (in dB) against angle. Common patterns include omnidirectional, cardioid, super-cardioid, hyper-cardioid, and figure-8. The pattern determines what the mic picks up and what it rejects.

The angle at which a directional microphone has zero pickup - theoretically infinite rejection. Cardioid's null is at 180° (directly behind). Super-cardioid's nulls are at ~125°. Hyper-cardioid's are at ~110°. Figure-8's nulls are at 90° and 270° (the sides). Knowing your null angles is essential for pointing maximum rejection at unwanted sources.

On-axis means directly in front of the mic (0°) - where the frequency response is flattest and pickup is strongest. Off-axis is any other angle. Off-axis sound isn't just quieter - it has a different tonal character (typically duller at high frequencies), which is called off-axis colouration. This matters because bleed arrives off-axis.

The change in frequency response for sound arriving from angles other than directly on-axis. All directional mics exhibit this to some degree - high frequencies are rejected more aggressively off-axis, making bleed sound thinner and duller than the direct source. Small-diaphragm condensers generally have more uniform off-axis response than large-diaphragm models.

A bass boost that increases as the sound source moves closer to any directional microphone. Caused by the pressure-gradient component of the capsule's design. The tighter the pattern, the stronger the effect: figure-8 has the most, cardioid is moderate, omnidirectional has none. Used intentionally by radio presenters for a deep voice; managed with high-pass filters when unwanted.

A microphone capsule that responds to overall air pressure changes. Only the front of the diaphragm is exposed to sound. This design is inherently omnidirectional because pressure is a scalar quantity - it has no direction. Pressure transducers have no proximity effect and the flattest possible frequency response.

A microphone capsule that responds to the difference in pressure between the front and rear of the diaphragm. Both sides are exposed to sound, creating directional sensitivity. Pure pressure-gradient designs produce a figure-8 pattern. All ribbon microphones are pressure-gradient transducers. Most directional mics combine pressure and pressure-gradient elements in varying ratios to produce patterns from omni to figure-8.

An area of pickup behind a directional microphone. Standard cardioid has no rear lobe (null at 180°), but super-cardioid, hyper-cardioid, and figure-8 all have increasing levels of rear pickup. The rear lobe sound is phase-inverted relative to the front, which matters when combining signals from multiple microphones.

How much further a directional mic can be placed from a source compared to an omni while maintaining the same direct-to-ambient sound ratio. Cardioid: 1.7x. Super-cardioid: 1.9x. Hyper-cardioid: 2.0x. This is why shotgun mics (hyper-cardioid) are used for boom miking in film - they can be placed further away and still maintain intelligible dialogue.

A mic's ability to attenuate sound from unwanted directions. Measured in dB relative to on-axis pickup. A cardioid mic rejects sound at 90° by about 6 dB and has a theoretical null at 180°. Rejection is frequency-dependent - all directional mics lose their rejection at low frequencies because long wavelengths wrap around the diaphragm.

Sound from a source other than the intended one being picked up by a microphone. For example, hi-hat bleed in a snare mic, or vocal bleed in a guitar mic. Bleed arrives off-axis, so it's both quieter and tonally altered. Using tighter polar patterns and positioning null angles at unwanted sources reduces bleed, but low-frequency bleed is difficult to reject with any pattern.

A stereo recording technique using a forward-facing mid mic (typically cardioid) and a sideways figure-8 side mic. The two signals are decoded into left/right channels by summing and differencing: L = Mid + Side, R = Mid − Side. M/S is perfectly mono-compatible and allows stereo width to be adjusted after recording by changing the mid-to-side ratio.

// FAQ

FAQ

What is a polar pattern on a microphone?
A polar pattern describes how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from different directions. It's a map of pickup vs rejection. Omnidirectional mics pick up equally from all directions. Cardioid mics favour the front and reject the rear. Figure-8 mics pick up front and rear equally but reject the sides completely. Understanding your mic's polar pattern helps you control what gets recorded and what gets rejected.
What's the difference between cardioid, super-cardioid, and hyper-cardioid?
They're all variations on front-focused pickup with rear rejection. Cardioid has its null (maximum rejection) directly behind the mic at 180 degrees. Super-cardioid has tighter side rejection but introduces a small rear lobe, with nulls at roughly 125 degrees. Hyper-cardioid goes even tighter with a larger rear lobe and nulls around 110 degrees. The critical takeaway: with super and hyper-cardioid, the rear of the mic is not where maximum rejection happens.
Why does my mic pick up more bass when I get close to it?
That's the proximity effect - a bass boost that increases as the sound source moves closer to any directional microphone. The tighter the polar pattern, the stronger the effect: figure-8 has the most, cardioid has moderate, and omnidirectional has none. It's physics, not a flaw. Radio DJs use it intentionally for that deep, full voice. If you don't want it, either back off the mic or use a high-pass filter.
Why can't I reject bass bleed with a cardioid mic?
Your mic's polar pattern changes with frequency. At low frequencies, the wavelengths are so long they wrap around the diaphragm, and every directional mic starts behaving more like an omni. This is why low-frequency bleed from kick drums and bass amps leaks into everything, regardless of your polar pattern. It's also why high-pass filtering is essential in almost every mix.
When should I use omnidirectional instead of cardioid?
Omni is your go-to when the room sounds good and you want to capture it. Orchestral sessions, choir recording, solo acoustic instruments in a nice space - omni gives you the most natural, uncoloured sound because it has the flattest frequency response of any pattern and zero proximity effect. If isolation isn't the priority and the room is part of the sound you want, omni is often the better choice.
What is figure-8 used for?
Figure-8 (bidirectional) picks up equally from front and rear with complete nulls at the sides. It's the natural pattern of all ribbon microphones. It's essential for Mid-Side (M/S) stereo recording, Blumlein stereo technique, and recording two sources facing each other. The side nulls are the strongest rejection of any polar pattern.
Do I need to understand polar patterns for home recording?
Absolutely - arguably more so than in a professional studio. Home studios typically have worse acoustics, more background noise, and less isolation. Understanding your mic's polar pattern helps you position it to reject room reflections, computer fan noise, or sound from other parts of the house. Even with a fixed cardioid mic, knowing where the rejection is strongest means you can use your mic more effectively.
What polar pattern do I need for Mid-Side (M/S) recording?
M/S stereo uses two mics: a mid mic (usually cardioid, pointing at the source) and a side mic (must be figure-8, turned 90 degrees so the null points at the source). The figure-8 captures the stereo width, and the two signals are decoded into left/right in the DAW. M/S is perfectly mono-compatible and lets you adjust stereo width after recording.
What is a multi-pattern microphone and is it worth buying?
A multi-pattern mic has a switchable polar pattern - typically omni, cardioid, and figure-8, sometimes with positions in between. Examples include the AKG C414 (9 patterns), Neumann U 87 (3 patterns), and Audio-Technica AT4050 (3 patterns). If you can only afford one high-quality condenser, a multi-pattern mic gives you the most versatility.
What polar pattern should I use for live sound?
Cardioid is the standard starting point for live sound - it rejects the rear where stage monitors typically sit. Super-cardioid often performs better on loud stages because it has tighter side rejection. The key is remembering that super-cardioid's null is at approximately 125 degrees, not directly behind the mic. Angle your foldback wedges to hit those null points.
Why does my mic sound different when I sing off to the side?
That's off-axis colouration. Sound arriving from the sides isn't just quieter - it has a different frequency response. High frequencies are rejected more than lows, so off-axis sound tends to be duller and thinner. This means bleed from other sources leaks in with an altered tone, which can cause comb filtering and phase issues when combined with direct signals from other mics.
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