New Mic Pick-up pattern

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100+ years of recording and this is all we have.

So check this out, I'm bored with the traditional microphone pick-up patterns. Knowing very well things related to polar patterns and frequency response and knowing very well the usages for Hyper-cardioid, Cardioid, Omni-directional and Bi-directional polar patterns, I can say that I hate them all (not, but read on...).

That interesting article that ran many months back in TapeOp about modifying a cardioid mic to make it into an Omni started this thouht process.

I'm envisioning a microphone with a polar pattern that is a thin wedge. Imagine that of a knozzle for a gardening hose. 2-dimensional pattern could be something like a Hyper-cardioid, the important feature would be that instead of being primarily spherical out the front of the mic, this would only pick up a sound about the width of the capsule. Operating principle could be either dynamic or cardioid. Off-axis response would be entirely non-existant. Actual pick-up area of the mic would be approximately 10 degrees.

Any takers on this?

One could mic the snare drum with a tight hi/hat and rack tom and not worry.

Am I on crack? Honestly, if the engineers are bothering with other 'specialty' mics they could certainly attempt this. They could call it the Hyper-wedgioid polar pattern or something...

[JGriffin]

I just wonder if a wedge pattern is possible, given the physics involved.

[Professor]

Well, there's the non-spherical mic pattern that Gefell worked out:


It's not quite what you are looking for, but it is an interesting concept. Unfortunately I can't imagine a way to manipulate existing microphone capsule designs to ignore the physics of sound enough to focus the pickup pattern as narrowly as you're hoping to do. Perhaps curving a mylar sheet in a way similar to what Martin-Logan speakers uses to increase the dispersion of their electrostatic panels could be a start, and when coupled with an acoustic barrier that could help. Otherwise you might just plain need to develop a different transducer technology to pull it off.

-Jeremy

[billiamwalker]

i've wondered if your theory on being really narrow would word too. it would be ideal for the drummers with really loud cymbals to mic toms and snare with although we'd rely more on acoustics and overheads before there would be less of the source being picked up in the close miking. but man it would be so much easier on drum gating and stuff... especially in rock music.


since you mentioned it first.. you can start the research and production of this mic. and i'll buy the first one. deal?

[KennyLusk]

It seems to me I recall that a producer of some fame admitted to using a 12 inch wide cardboard tube (of super-heavy thickness) in front of the source on some of his most famous recordings. The source was typically AC and classical guitar. Of course he mic'd the end of the tube.

[Scodiddly]

Well, there's the non-spherical mic pattern that Gefell worked out:

It's a line array of small capsules. John Eargle's "The Microphone Book" has some detail on line arrays of microphones and the sorts of pickup patters they produce. I never did get around to building one...

[Professor]

It is indeed a multi-capsule array, and I can imagine all sorts of applications around live theater where it could really shine.

There's also Audio Technica's AT-895 Adaptive Array mic which can operate like a standard shotgun, a planar mic (like the Gefell) and in a 'super-shotgun' mode where its pickup pattern is closer to 20-30?. You'll see in their documentation that the mic uses 5 capsules to pull it off, which is also why it lists at $2995.

-Jeremy

[joelpatterson]

Like a narrow-angle shotgun omni, is what you mean.