best polar pattern for over heads?

SuaveRecords

SuaveRecords

Ninja kick the dam rabbit
cardioid, hypercardioid or omni? im buying some new SDC and im not sure what would be my best bet. i want a nice clear stereo image. probably spaced pair.

what do you guys use? cardioid, hypercardioid or omni?:)
 
Almost always cardoid.. unless your in a big big room you can try omni but you'll probably still like cardoid..
 
SuaveRecords said:
cardioid, hypercardioid or omni? im buying some new SDC and im not sure what would be my best bet. i want a nice clear stereo image. probably spaced pair.

what do you guys use? cardioid, hypercardioid or omni?:)
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Lots of room, less room...? Omni will get you lots of room sound...cardioid will get you less. Any chance you could get a multi-pattern pair?

Frank
 
ymwv . . . depends on room one how material will be edited for final distribution, even to an extent on material

never been a fan of hypercardioid for general use

never been particularly pleased with paired omin's for stereo imaging

(though there are instances in which I used each)

but there are lots of situations in which a single omni can be a very effective overhead

for paired, stereo imaging SDC I would tend to default to cardioid for percussion overheads
 
I would probably avoid the supercardiods altogether for drum overheads. They will get a very focused image, but will reject most off-axis noise, which likely will yield bad results for drum overheads. As previously stated, the cardioids will lend ideal stereo imaging in this application, but will pick up little ambience and room sound. they'll pick up just enough off-axis sound that they can pick up an entire drum kit if placed correctly. The omnis can be very good if you want to pick up the room ambience, but will yield an extremely unfocused stereo image. Basically, your left and right overhead will sound nearly the same, so even hard panned, they won't give much stereo image. One trick I use sometimes is to use one omni and one cardioid. Hard pan left and right, and you get a very different stereo image. The side the omni is panned too will have a ton of room sound to it, the cardioid will have almost none. The effect it simulates is almost like a stereo reverb with the dry signal on one side, and the verb coming from the other.
 
awesome guys thanks a lot. im getting some pricey mics and i don't wanna mess it up and get some that wont even work as over heads.

will they work well for stereo acoustic guitar micing as well? or would 2 supercardio's work better?
 
89gtsleeper said:
.. The omnis can be very good if you want to pick up the room ambience, but will yield an extremely unfocused stereo image. Basically, your left and right overhead will sound nearly the same, so even hard panned, they won't give much stereo image. ..
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Hmm, that would only be true for a coincident pair that rely on directional volume differences only. A spaced pair omni will do time and volume difference just fine like a card', but with the added background'. Pan wide, pan narrow, as long as the target’ (snare typically) is time aligned it’ll zero in dead center just like a directional.
I use a low-to the rear left/right pair of omnis, but cardioids would likely be the more versatile fit in general for kits'.
 
It depends so much on the room and the sound you want. Heck, you can also add a figure 8 to the pile for mid side, etc.

Cardioids will probably be the most flexible in terms of patterns you can use; Coincident, near-coincident, spaced methods like recorder-man, etc. They come with the drawback of usually not having as flat of a response as omnis and possibly wonky off-axis pickup. Also, the bass rolls off quickly at a distance and gets boosted when they are close. Most have a high-end boost somewhere too, which can cause a harsh treble sound - especially when mic'ing cymbals.

Omnis have their own set of challenges, but you can do some cool things - like jecklin disk, which I really like. You can also place them really close to the source - no proximity effect. The response is generally more natural-sounding, unless the room is really messing up the sound. That stuff 89GTsleeper said about omnis is not really correct. You would not use omnis in an XY way, and mixing a cardioid and omni might work for an effect - but it's not going to provide a good stereo image.

I'd try to get mics that are switchable - Oktava MC012's, Shure KSM's, AT4050. etc.

Having said all that, I'd probably start with cardioids if you have to pick one, but only if you absolutely can't afford better mics with switchable patterns.
 
mixsit said:
Hmm, that would only be true for a coincident pair that rely on directional volume differences only. A spaced pair omni will do time and volume difference just fine like a card', but with the added background'. Pan wide, pan narrow, as long as the target’ (snare typically) is time aligned it’ll zero in dead center just like a directional.
I use a low-to the rear left/right pair of omnis, but cardioids would likely be the more versatile fit in general for kits'.
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+1. That said, I'm usually a cardioid or figure-of-eight kind of guy myself.

Frank
 
mixsit said:
Hmm, that would only be true for a coincident pair that rely on directional volume differences only. A spaced pair omni will do time and volume difference just fine like a card', but with the added background'. Pan wide, pan narrow, as long as the target’ (snare typically) is time aligned it’ll zero in dead center just like a directional.
I use a low-to the rear left/right pair of omnis, but cardioids would likely be the more versatile fit in general for kits'.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Thanks for adding that clarification to my previous statement.
 
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