Microphone polar patterns: what cardioid, hypercardioid and figure of eight really do

A polar pattern describes how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from each direction. It is drawn as a circle, but what you should read in it is the rejection: the angles where the mic hears least.

Omnidirectional

Equal sensitivity in every direction, no proximity effect, the flattest low end and usually the lowest self noise. This is why lavaliers are almost always omni: they are close to the source, and their placement is fixed relative to the mouth even when the head turns.

Cardioid

Maximum rejection directly behind the mic, roughly 6 dB down at 90 degrees. Forgiving, natural sounding off axis, and the safe default indoors when the room is decent and the source moves.

Supercardioid and hypercardioid

Narrower front lobe, but with a rear lobe that hears behind the mic. Hypercardioid is the classic interior boom pattern: tighter than cardioid, but you must remember it is listening to whatever is directly behind you, often a noisy crew corner.

Figure of eight

Equally sensitive front and back, deeply rejecting at 90 degrees. Used for two person interviews across a table, and as the side element of a Mid Side pair, which is the practical way to record stereo ambience you can rebalance later.

Lobar, the shotgun

An interference tube narrows the pickup above roughly 1 kHz. Excellent outdoors where reflections are few, unpredictable indoors because low frequencies are not directional and reflected mid frequencies arrive through the side lobes.

What this means for your files

Pattern choice shows up in post as channel content. A hypercardioid boom and an omni lav on the same actor will phase differently and sit at different levels, which is exactly why they should be split into separate mono tracks rather than summed. Split the poly file, audition each track, and pick per line.