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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: eclark on October 14, 2011, 10:13:37 AM
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What are the difference between these patterns, for any application. Please help me with my very incomplete list:
Hypers
Pros: Far reaching?
Cons: More susceptible to wind noise
Cards
Pros: Easy to find
Cons: ?
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What are the difference between these patterns, for any application. Please help me with my very incomplete list:
Hypers
Pros: Far reaching?
Cons: More susceptible to wind noise
Cards
Pros: Easy to find
Cons: ?
I think it's easier to look at it in terms of rejection and realism.
Normal cardioid patterns reject less off-axis material than hyper/super-cardioids do, but often sound more natural or realistic. When you need to minimize reflections (and with some capsule lines, brighten the material), you trend toward that tighter pattern that hypers yeild.
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Hypers tend to emphasize the mids and highs a bit more, too, as compared to cardioids.
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Hypers tend to emphasize the mids and highs a bit more, too, as compared to cardioids.
NOT true w/ mk41s :)
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Hypers tend to emphasize the mids and highs a bit more, too, as compared to cardioids.
NOT true w/ mk41s :)
Absolutely agreed. The most "un-hyper-sounding" hypercardioid I've ever heard and a great capsule; that's why I didn't make my statement in absolute terms. An exception to the generalization. ;)
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Best hyper I've heard is the gefels. Can't remember the model number,
210 I think.
M21's are the hypers... they rock!
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remember the rear lobe for hypers!
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Microphones that respond exclusively to sound pressure are inherently omnidirectional. Microphones that respond exclusively to sound velocity are inherently bidirectional. Most microphones use a mixture of the two principles. If you have a microphone that gets half its sensitivity from pressure actuation and half from pressure gradient (=velocity) actuation, the result is a cardioid. A hypercardioid pattern would result from a specific mixture that is nearly all pressure gradient.
Not very many actual hypercardioid microphones are made; patterns between hyper- and supercardioid are much more common (what the various manufacturers call the microphones in this part of the spectrum isn't usually very exact). Also, unfortunately, on this board and elsewhere some people call shotgun microphones "hypers," which is incorrect and confusing. If you're really asking about shotgun microphones please say so, because otherwise the answers you get are likely to mislead you.
The sonic difference between two cardioids of different design may well be greater than the sonic difference between a given cardioid and a super- or hypercardioid when the two mikes are designed as part of the same family. Directivity is one thing while the frequency response is another, and often those two fundamental attributes of a microphone depend on one another, i.e. with many microphones (particularly the more affordable ones) the frequency response may vary depending on the angle of sound arrival--or to put it another way, a microphone may be a cardioid at 1 kHz but at 100 Hz and below it may be closer to an omni or a so-called "wide cardioid" while at high frequencies, it may have a narrower pattern.
To be continued ...
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Continuing now: The only necessary difference between a cardioid and a hyper- or supercardioid is that the cardioid has more of its signal due to pressure response. Thus "all other things being equal" you could expect somewhat more extended low-frequency response from the cardioid, although the difference might not be very large.
However, especially with affordable microphones "all other things" are rarely equal. By now many manufacturers, including the low-end ones that are merely imitators, have learned how to make more or less decent cardioids. But it is apparently beyond the engineering expertise and/or manufacturing technique of many companies to make consistent, good-sounding super- or hypercardioids. There's a steeper hill to climb; folks who use mass-produced Chinese clones aren't getting a fair or realistic idea of what a good-sounding supercardioid can be like.
Also, engineers who use directional microphones for music have one set of requirements while engineers who use them for dialog and effects recording (e.g. for film, video and news reporting) have a somewhat conflicting set of requirements. The various manufacturers address those markets rather differently from one another. You may find one good manufacturer trying to split the difference between the two market segments one way, while another manufacturer may approach the same assignment rather differently. For example, one manufacturer might roll off the low-frequency response of their super-/hypercardioid microphones by 10 dB and boost the treble because broadcast studios want that characteristic. But that's not an inherent characteristic of the pattern! It really comes down to the particular make and model more than you might imagine.
--best regards
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Hypers tend to emphasize the mids and highs a bit more, too, as compared to cardioids.
NOT true w/ mk41s :)
Absolutely agreed. The most "un-hyper-sounding" hypercardioid I've ever heard and a great capsule; that's why I didn't make my statement in absolute terms. An exception to the generalization. ;)
While I agree the 41's are a great sounding hyper, they do not match the mk4's in terms of warmth, that said, i am fortunate enough to have both, and use mine based on the venue, distance and crowd as factors when picking one over the other. If one has the $$ to get shcoeps, and knows you will have a lot of crowd/mediocre venues, you might want to go with those. i also like to use my m118 in front of either my 4's or 41's, but i do not necessarily like to run the mk2s in front of the 118, cause they are at times too "bassy" my 2 cents. I also like ADK TL's and the AKG hypers. good luck with your choice.
richard
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Hypers tend to emphasize the mids and highs a bit more, too, as compared to cardioids.
NOT true w/ mk41s :)
Absolutely agreed. The most "un-hyper-sounding" hypercardioid I've ever heard and a great capsule; that's why I didn't make my statement in absolute terms. An exception to the generalization. ;)
While I agree the 41's are a great sounding hyper, they do not match the mk4's in terms of warmth, that said, i am fortunate enough to have both, and use mine based on the venue, distance and crowd as factors when picking one over the other. If one has the $$ to get shcoeps, and knows you will have a lot of crowd/mediocre venues, you might want to go with those. i also like to use my m118 in front of either my 4's or 41's, but i do not necessarily like to run the mk2s in front of the 118, cause they are at times too "bassy" my 2 cents. I also like ADK TL's and the AKG hypers. good luck with your choice.
richard
I will EVENTUALLY be getting mk22s, so I have a card/subcard pattern w/ out buying both sets of caps :)
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sneaky.......
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sneaky.......
I know, I'm BRILLIANT right? :P ;D