Polar Pattern Diagrams....

[Zach R]

so, I thought I understood polar pattern diagrams pretty well and then I was looking at the diagram for one of  my mics  - beyerdynamic 736pv 

 

http://www.coutant.org/beyerpdf/mc736-737.pdf - it's not the clearest image, but it's something to use as an example.

 

anyway, from what I'm seeing on this diagram it seems the 'sweet spot' is between 330 and 0 degrees.

so my confusion is this

- if the 'sweet spot' is slightly off axis (not 0 degrees) but seems to fall off as you get to 30 degrees does that mean that it's more important to pay attention to how you mount the mic (top/bottom) than a mic like the schoeps cmit5u which has a diagram showing the patern equal at 330 and 30 and pretty straight on axis at 0 degrees?

 

of course this is all based on my previous understanding that 0 degrees on the diagram would be you looking directly down the barrel of the mic. (which could be completely off, I suppose)

[André Boisvert]

To the left of the 0-180 axis are lines representing frequencies from 125 to 1kHz. To the right are lines representing frequencies from 2k to 12.5kHz. In reality both sides mirror to the other side, but to avoid the confusion of having all 8 lines piled up on top of each other, they only show you half. Best spot is still 0°.

[Zach R]

ah, well that clears basically EVERYTHING I was confused about.

I think the fact that I couldn't see the differences in the lines (as shown on the legend) is why I thought this was quite the funny diagram.

hah.

 

Thanks!

[Jay Rose]

As a matter of fact, the semicircles on the diagram extend in all directions... above and below the mic, as well as left and right. Something you shouldn't forget when you're near the ceiling or close to a table.