Hyper or Cardiod.

[NU-TRA]

Will I hear significantly less bleed if I go hypercardioid on my toms vs. cardioid? I'm using Oktava mk012's. I know hyper pics up from behind and my room doesn't sound that great... What are your experiences... I did a search on this topic but no one really talked about the capsules.

Any thoughts?

V

[Professor]

The easiest way to get a handle on mic patterns is not to think of their 'pickup' patterns but their 'rejection' patterns.
A cardioid mic ignores only one tiny point that is directly behind it, while a hypercardioid ignores a cone-shaped area about 135? off-axis. If you try and envision the shape there, it will seem like a lot more stuff is rejected by the hyper than the regular, and that is indeed the case. Your cardioid mic is still hearing what is behind it, just not so much of a particular point directly behind it - at 135? it's hearing reasonably well, and at 90? it's only 6dB down from the front.
So if you're trying to get rid of bleed from other parts of the drumset then you're going to be better off with the tighter pattern, especially if you aim it so you're catching what you want up front but aiming that cone of rejection at the nearest source of unwanted bleed.

-Jeremy

[Phiz]

You may also want to consider what frequency range your bleeding signal is in. For low frequencies, all microphones effectively act like an omni, thus changing patterns isn't going to help much in that range. If you are trying to reduce some mid/high frequency bleed, then switching patterns should alter the bleed.

[cgarges]

There's definitely a difference. For me, I much prefer the sound of the hypercardioid capsules form a distance than the cardioid capsules close on toms. There's a little less bleed, but the bleed from the cardioids never bothered me much to begin with. I think those mics have a pretty good off-axis response.

By the way, if anyone hates their hypercardioid capsules and wants to sell them, drop me a line. I'm looking for some extras.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[NU-TRA]

Thanks guys... I'm thinking about getting hyper caps... I don't mind some bleed which I'm going to get anyways... I just want to get less of the snare and hat in my toms is all.

V