5KIT Microphone Characteristics
8
Polar Pick-up Pattern
Every microphone has a characteristic polar pattern that determines how well it
accepts or rejects signal coming from various areas around the microphone. For
example, omnidirectional mics accept all signals regardless of wherever those
signals originate (in front of the mic, behind it, to the side, etc.). In contrast, direc-
tional 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. The
super cardioid pattern is utilized by the QKICK, QSNARE and QTOM (as shown
in the illustrations on the following page). The supper cardioid is a slight variation
of the standard cardioid pattern with a slightly tighter pick-up pattern, which helps
increase the side-to-side rejection giving better isolation from drum to drum. For
this reason, the QKICK, QSNARE and QTOM excel in environments where there
is a good deal of unwanted ambient sound (like a live sound stage)—they deliver
those signals originating directly in front of the mic capsule itself while rejecting
those that originate from behind.
In addition, the polar pattern also determines how prone a particular mic is to
inducing feedback. Feedback is that characteristic 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 cardioid pat-
tern utilized by the QKICK, QSNARE and QTOM is so good at rejecting signal
not coming from directly in front of the mic, you’ll find that using these mics will
greatly minimize feedback problems.
Frequency Response
Each of the QKICK, QSNARE and QTOM microphones have been designed with
a custom frequency response which is ideally tailored for the specific drum it is
going to be place on. The response is created by the careful consideration of the
microphone element and the design of rear porting. You can see the individual
frequency response of each mic included in the 5KIT on the following page.
