Microphone Directionality
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- Omnidirectional Microphone
Omnidirectional mic. It is sensitive to sounds from all directions.
- It's unlikely you will use an omnidirectional microphone in a live performance setting. You will pick up too much ambient noise from the room, the audience, and the loudspeakers (leading to feedback).
- Use omnidirectional microphones when the sound source could be anywhere around the microphone. This picks up a lot of room ambiance, which sometimes is the goal. Direct and ambient sound can be adjusted by moving the microphone closer to or further from the sound source.
- Unidirectional Microphone
Unidirectional microphones are sensitive to sound coming from only one direction. Examples:
- a vocalist singing directly on axis directly into the microphone
- a guitar amplifier with the microphone aimed directly at the speaker cone
All of the following types are unidirectional
- Cardioid
The most common type of unidirectional microphone is called a “cardioid” because its pickup pattern is heart-shaped. It picks up most sound from the front of the microphone and some from the sides.
Although you will get better gain-before-feedback from a cardioid microphone than an omnidirectional microphone, you will get better gain-before-feedback from a supercardioid or hypercardioid microphone (see next section).
Examples of common cardioid microphones (good to great microphones but not necessarily the best for gain-before-feedback with Bose L1 systems)
- Sennheiser e 835, e 935, MD 935
- Shure SM 58, SM 57, Beta 87C
- Supercardioid / Hypercardioid
Supercardioid or hypercardioid microphones offer even greater sound isolation through narrower pickup patterns.
Examples of common supercardioid/hypercardioid microphones
- Audix OM 5, OM 3b, OM 6, OM 7, VX 5
- EV N/D 767A
- Neumann KMS 105
- Sennheiser e 845, e 865, e 945, e 965, MD 441, MD 945,
- Shure Beta 58A, Beta 87A