Cardioid

The most common directional microphone pattern, most sensitive directly in front and progressively less sensitive toward the sides and rear.

The name describes the shape of the polar plot rather than any acoustic property, and the rejection at the back is what makes the pattern useful on a live stage: a cardioid mic aimed at a guitar cabinet picks up much less of the drums behind it and is far less likely to feed back from monitors. A supercardioid tightens the front lobe and adds a small rear lobe, trading off-axis consistency for even more rejection. Distance still matters, since the pattern narrows as frequency rises.

Example: a cardioid dynamic mic a few centimetres off a speaker grille is the standard live and studio choice precisely because it ignores the rest of the stage.

Cardioid

See also