{"id":508856,"date":"2022-11-10T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/"},"modified":"2022-11-10T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T17:00:00","slug":"what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/","title":{"rendered":"#What Is a Supercardioid Microphone?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a274709374b4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a274709374b4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#%E2%80%9CWhat_Is_a_Supercardioid_Microphone%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;What Is a Supercardioid Microphone?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#Microphone_Polar_Patterns_Explained\" >Microphone Polar Patterns Explained<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#Cardioid_vs_Supercardioid_Mics\" >Cardioid vs. Supercardioid Mics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#When_Should_You_Use_a_Super_Cardioid_Mic\" >When Should You Use a Super Cardioid Mic?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#Shure_Beta_58A\" >Shure Beta 58A<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/#When_Should_You_Avoid_Supercardioid_Mics\" >When Should You Avoid Supercardioid Mics?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWhat_Is_a_Supercardioid_Microphone%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;What Is a Supercardioid Microphone?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-805008\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/person-using-microphone-laptop.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Man using a microphone while streaming with a laptop.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/man-host-streaming-his-audio-podcast-1931610278\">Alex from the Rock\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Supercardioid microphones have a narrower pickup pattern than typical cardioid microphones, meaning they only pick up what is directly in front of them. This makes them great for recording vocals but poor at picking up audio from a moving source.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in the market for a new microphone, you may have noticed the term \u201csupercardioid\u201d used to describe some mics. What does this mean, and how are these microphones different from other microphone types?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Microphone_Polar_Patterns_Explained\"><\/span>Microphone Polar Patterns Explained<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Supercardioid microphones get their name from their unique \u201cpolar pattern\u201d (also known as its \u201cpickup pattern\u201d). A microphone\u2019s polar pattern determines how much sound it will pick up from any direction. There are many variations of these polar patterns, but the most common are omnidirectional, figure-of-8, cardioid, supercardioid, and hypercardioid.<\/p>\n<p>As the name hints, an omnidirectional microphone will theoretically pick up sound in all directions. The microphone body can interfere with sounds coming from the rear of the microphone, but these mics essentially pick up sound equally in each direction. A figure-of-8 microphone picks up sound in front of it and behind it, but not on either side.<\/p>\n<p>Cardioid microphones pick up sound in front of the microphone and actively reject sounds from the sides. Imagine you\u2019re speaking into a microphone and then step off to either side. With a cardioid mic, the volume of your voice would drop off fairly quickly as you moved to the side.<\/p>\n<p>Because of their designs, cardioid microphones are the most sensitive microphone design. This makes them popular for vocals and other relatively quiet sources. However, supercardioid and hypercadioid mics take things a step further.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cardioid_vs_Supercardioid_Mics\"><\/span>Cardioid vs. Supercardioid Mics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Supercardioid microphones have a narrower pickup pattern than a standard cardioid design, which means they pick up even less sound coming from the sides. This design is even more focused on what is directly in front of the microphone than a cardioid design.<\/p>\n<p>The angle at which a microphone picks up the most sound is known as its \u201cacceptance angle.\u201d The acceptance angle of a cardioid microphone is usually around 180 degrees, while supercardioid microphones have a narrower angle at around 150 degrees. Another cardioid variety, hypercardioid microphones, have an even narrower acceptance angle.<\/p>\n<p>To return to the previous example, if you were speaking into a supercardioid microphone and stepped off to one side, the sound of your voice would drop off even more quickly. That said, this increased directionality isn\u2019t the only difference between cardioid and supercardioid microphones.<\/p>\n<p>Supercardioid microphones have tonal differences when compared to cardioid microphones. This isn\u2019t always the case, but supercardioid microphones often have a slightly brighter tone than a standard cardioid microphone, with more treble content.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever spoken into a microphone, you may have noticed that your voice sounded more bass-heavy as you moved closer to the microphone. This increase in bass as you move closer is known as proximity effect, and it\u2019s an issue in cardioid mics as well as its supercardioid and hypercardioid variants.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the increased directionality, proximity effect is even more noticeable in supercardioid microphones. This isn\u2019t necessarily a problem, but it\u2019s worth pointing out.<\/p>\n<p>Supercardioid mics are found in both the standard XLR variety, and sometimes as USB microphones.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_Should_You_Use_a_Super_Cardioid_Mic\"><\/span>When Should You Use a Super Cardioid Mic?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are numerous cases where you may want to opt for a supercardioid microphone over a cardioid microphone. Specifically, supercardioid microphones make sense anywhere when directionality is important.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a singer or providing sound for a live band, supercardioid microphones are great for making sure that only the singer\u2019s voice is picked up. This helps keep the other instruments on stage out of the vocal microphone. That said, this directionality is also useful if you\u2019re streaming on Twitch and don\u2019t want to pick up your housemates\u2019 conversations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product-box  \">\nEssential Supercardioid Vocal Mic<\/p>\n<div class=\"product-img \">\n<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"presentation\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Shure-BETA-58A-Supercardioid-Applications\/dp\/B0002BACB4\/?tag=lsmedia-11733-20\" onclick=\"fbq('track', 'Buy Button'); if (fb_t_convert){fb_t_convert();}\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41Epqm4Ef8L._SL160_.jpg\" height=\"147px\" width=\"147px\" alt=\"\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"product-title \">\n<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Shop for Shure Beta 58A\" aria-label=\"Shop for Shure Beta 58A\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Shure-BETA-58A-Supercardioid-Applications\/dp\/B0002BACB4\/?tag=lsmedia-11733-20\" onclick=\"fbq('track', 'Buy Button'); if (fb_t_convert){fb_t_convert();}\"><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shure_Beta_58A\"><\/span>Shure Beta 58A<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"product-features\">The Shure Beta 58A has a similar look to the company&#8217;s other iconic live vocal microphone, but the supercardioid capsule means that it rejects other instruments on stage even better. It&#8217;s also just as tough as Shure&#8217;s reputation suggests.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Many microphones used in video production are supercardioid for the same reason. These types of microphones excel at picking up a single person\u2019s voice while keeping background noise to a minimum.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_Should_You_Avoid_Supercardioid_Mics\"><\/span>When Should You Avoid Supercardioid Mics?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>One of the main reasons to avoid super cardioid mics is the proximity effect mentioned above. Not only can this make your voice sound overly bass-heavy, but sensitivity to vocal plosives (think of popping sounds like words that end with the letter \u201cp\u201d) can be an issue with supercardioid mics.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the directionality means that you don\u2019t want to use a supercardioid microphone in any situation where the mic is stationary, but the subject isn\u2019t. A super cardioid microphone is only going to pick up what is directly in front of it, and any variance in this will make an audible difference.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, supercardioid microphones excel for many uses, but picking up the ambience of a room isn\u2019t one of those cases. For any situation where you\u2019re trying to pick up the natural reverberation of a room, you\u2019re far better off with an omnidirectional mic like the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Electro-Voice-Classic-Omnidirectional-Handheld-Microphone\/dp\/B0881ZFPTS\/?tag=lsmedia-11733-20\">Electro-Voice 635A<\/a> or even a matched pair of cardioid microphones like the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lewitt-Condenser-Microphones-Instrument-Recordings\/dp\/B07MZXKZVG\/?tag=lsmedia-11733-20\">Lewitt LCT 040<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/844975\/what-is-a-supercardioid-microphone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What Is a Supercardioid Microphone?&#8221; Alex from the Rock\/Shutterstock.com Supercardioid microphones have a narrower pickup pattern than typical cardioid microphones, meaning they only pick up what is directly in front of them. This makes them great for recording vocals but poor at picking up audio from a moving source. If you\u2019re in the market for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":508857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/person-using-microphone-laptop.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}