CM11B Polar Pattern
6
Every microphone has a characteristic polar pattern that determines how well it accepts or rejects signal com-
ing from various areas around the microphone. For example, unidirectional, or cardioid, mics are specifically
designed to accept mostly signal coming from directly in front, and to reject signal coming from behind or from
the side. In contrast, omnidirectional mics accept all signals regardless of where those signals originate (in
front of the mic, behind it, to the side, etc.). The pickup pattern utilized by the CM11B is omnidirectional (as
shown in the illustration below).
For this reason, the CM11B excels in environments where capturing the sound
from all directions around the microphone is desired. The CM11B will pick up
the sound in a 360-degree pattern, which makes it ideal for placing in the center
of a conference table to record a meeting. The polar pattern also determines
how prone a particular mic is to inducing feedback. Feedback is that charac-
teristic nasty howling sound that occurs when a mic is placed too close to a
loudspeaker—the signal from the loudspeaker is fed into the mic, then into the
loudspeaker, then into the mic, over and over again until an oscillating tone
is generated. Because the CM11B is omnidirectional, special attention to the
microphone and speaker placement should be considered in live sound applica-
tions.
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