cardiod, super-cardioid, hyper-cardioid?

[Dustin Waits]

Okay just a few questions about these different types of microphones. From my understanding, a cardiod pics up sound from mostly the front but from the sides a bit as well. And a hyper-cardioid does not pick up sound from the sides as well. A supercardioid is basically all directions, but with the highest sensitivity in the front....Are these assumptions correct? I dont know anything about audio and microphones so I'm making an effort to figure it all out. I was reading the description of the Sennheiser ME66 a minute ago and it says that its a super-cardioid, but further down in the description it says it has a "highly directional cardioid pattern". I'm getting confused about this. Is there something I'm missing about my deffinitions of those 3 different types of mics? Sorry for my ignorance and thanks to anyone who helps.

[Marty Atias]

Here are a few good places to read up on polar patterns and field audio in general. All of the mic manufacturers offer some guide or white paper.

http://www.uemforums.com/2pop/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=484&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

http://audiotechnica.com/using/mphones/guide/index.html

for a more detailed explanation:

http://www.akg.com/mediendatenbank/psfile/mediafile/45/microphone3e36638396d4b.pdf

[Dustin Waits]

Thanks for the links Marty.