How to Use Cardioid Microphones in a Home Recording Studio

Cardioid microphones are the most popular polar pattern configuration and serve many uses in the home studio. No home studio is complete without a good arsenal for both dynamic and condenser cardioid mics. Here are some tips to using cardioid mics in your home studio.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Check the polar pattern diagram for the mic. Cardioid mics are uni-directional, but there will be variations on exactly how the cardioid pattern picks up. It is important to know exactly what the polar pattern is for a particular mic as opposed to just knowing it is cardioid. There are variations on cardioid patterns, such as hyper cardioid and super cardioid, so be sure you do your research.
2. Point the mic in the correct direction. The placement of a cardioid mic is very important due to its pickup and rejection nature. The mic needs to be facing directly toward the sound source. If you position the mic with the sound source to the side or rear of the mic, sound quality will diminish drastically.
3. Utilize the mic's rejection areas. It's as important to use the areas that the mic doesn't pick up as it is to use the areas where it does. Cardioid mics are a great way to get isolation, especially in a home studio where space may be limited. Set up a vocal mic so that the rejection area points toward other instruments in the room to increase isolation. You can also position the mic on a snare drum so that the rejection point is toward the closest cymbal or on a high-hat with the rejection point toward the snare drum.
4. Use two cardioid mics for stereo imaging. You achieve an XY stereo mic position by using two cardioid mics. Place the mics with the capsules as close together as possible and pointed toward the sound source. Place them so there is a 90-degree angle created at the capsules. You can also use cardioid mics for spaced pair stereo positioning, or you can pair a cardioid mic with a figure-eight mic and use the mid-side stereo technique.
5. Shoot out cardioid mics on just about everything. Use cardioid mics on most elements of a drum kit. You can also use cardioid mics to record vocals, guitars, horns, strings, percussion, harps, harmonicas, kazoos and nearly any other sound source imaginable.