AudioCalcs
Microphone Polar Pattern Calculator — Pickup & Rejection
Calculate microphone pickup response, null points and rejection at any angle.
How We Calculate This
Response = a + b × cos(angle)
Pattern coefficients
- Cardioid: a=0.5, b=0.5 (null at 180°)
- Super-cardioid: a=0.37, b=0.63 (nulls at 126°, 234°)
- Hyper-cardioid: a=0.25, b=0.75 (nulls at 110°, 250°)
- Figure-8: cos(angle) (nulls at 90°, 270°)
- Omni: 1 (no nulls)
Rejection (dB) = 20 × log10(response)
Frequently Asked Questions
A polar pattern describes how sensitive a microphone is to sound arriving from different directions. Cardioid is most sensitive at the front and rejects sound from behind. Omnidirectional picks up equally from all directions.
Cardioid is the most common choice for vocals because it picks up the singer from the front while rejecting room sound and other instruments from behind and the sides. Super-cardioid is even tighter but has a small rear lobe.
Null points are angles where the microphone has maximum rejection (theoretically zero sensitivity). For cardioid, the null is at 180° (directly behind). For super-cardioid, nulls are at 126° and 234°. Position monitors at null points for maximum feedback rejection.
Yes. Most directional microphones become more omnidirectional at low frequencies and more directional at high frequencies. This means off-axis sound tends to be bass-heavy (proximity effect) and lacking in treble.
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Last updated: March 2026
All calculations are estimates based on standard formulas. Always verify results for critical applications.