The vast selection of microphones found in the average music store can seem mind boggling even to the seasoned professional. The following guide will help make choosing the right mic a lot easier.
Directional Properties
Every microphone has a property known as directionality . This describes the microphone's sensitivity to sound from various directions. Some microphones pick up sound equally from all directions; others pick up sound only from one direction or a particular combination of directions. The types of directionality are divided into three main categories:
- Omnidirectional
Picks up sound evenly from all directions (omni means "all" or "every").
- Unidirectional
Picks up sound predominantly from one direction. This includes cardioid and hypercardioid microphones (see below).
- Bidirectional
Picks up sound from two opposite directions.
To better understand directional properties lets take a look at the graphical representation of these patterns.
