EEVblog #605 - Fig.8 & Cardioid Microphone Patterns

Doug Ford, former head designer from Rode Microphones continues with Part 2 of the microphone technology series by explaining the construction of noise cancelling Figure 8, cardioid, and hyper cardioid microphones. Also, how the polar patterns and responses relate to the physical construction, and how the frequency response is affected.
Proximity boost effect,
Microphone calibration is also discussed using a home made artificial voice speaker box.
And practical considerations about foldback wedges used in stage performances and how to avoid feedback using proper microphone technique.
And did Jimmy Barnes offer Doug a swig from his bottle of Vodka?

EEVblog Main Web Site:
EEVblog Amazon Store:
Donations:
Projects:
Electronics Info Wiki:

[lmaoroflcopter]

This is awesome. Doug is clearly a guy who loves his job, an extremely knowledgable and entertaining guy. Cheers you crazy Aussie bloke, I'm not an audiophile or audio guy but have found the series incredibly interesting. Absolutely bloody brilliant.

[malcolmhodgson]

how on Gods earth with all my interests in electronics, music, music production, amplifiers, synthesisers, DAWs has You Tube only pointed me to this today in This is a truly awesome series worth its weight in Solid Gold!!!! Sometimes you just have to despair with YouTubes algorithms. I don't need to see another funny cat! more of this stuff! Love your channel btw.

[electronalchemy]

Cheers Doug, cheers Dave! Nothing beats hearing things from the mouth of an experienced engineer who has been there and done that!

Ecky thump! I bet Doug used to watch The Goodies in the 70s and 80s too ;)

[PilotPlater]

Love it. Interesting hearing the theory of how aviation mics actually work and not any of the marketing garbage.

[HSS_labs]

I know I'm about 8 years late watching this video, but really enjoyed this format with you and Doug—fantastically informative and entertaining at the same time (like I find all of your videos)

I wish there were a conversation like this about ambisonic mic spatialization or other higher order microphone arrays

Anyway, , sincerely, thank again and again for all your videos and programming

[MrSpck]

It was a pleasure to watch this. Solid knowledge without boring. Doug have very pleasant way of narrating.

[airwolf]

came here from the teardown of the condesor mic, hit by the water flood in the eev labs. this so interesting. thank you very much!

[powderdescent]

Don’t care a whip about microphone design but can’t stop listening and watching this guy.

[fafkes]

This is absolutely amazing. Can't wait for MORE!

[MrTshaaban]

Excellent video Dave and Doug. I think it would be great if you guys could make this format of video a regular fixture in your weekly schedule.

[Magicride]

Great mic videos so far, Dave! I've learned a whole ton about microphones that I never knew before! Can't wait for the next one! Thanks again Doug and Dave!

[jolesco]

It's a good thing that one can hear all the background noise from callcenters, time to hang up the phone & add the number to the phones "blacklist"

[marianoaldogaston]

fundamental Friday  must have Doug with you always. even when the expert in some subject are you. he must be there to ask questions. its great to have you both.

[MarlosZappa]

Thanks Dave and Doug this series is awesome!

[tohopes]

Why isn't this the second video in the playlist?

[shamanjoe]

I love it. You should make some altzone videos of just you and Doug sitting around telling stories!

[aaronandannelogan]

Watching Dave making commentary from behind almost makes this feel like MST3K.

[currentcontentco]

these all deserve millions of views bro holy shit

[StephenTack]

#EEVblog #605 - Fig.8 & Cardioid Microphone Patterns  I wish he'd also talked about the high-frequency limitations of figure-8 mics. 
When designing a ribbon mic it's important to make the front-back path as short as possible, because when the wavelength gets to be around that distance the sensitivity plummets, just like with very low frequencies...

[hubmoogbiveysac]

FYI Helmholtz Resonance formulas describe how the resonant freq can be determined for different geometries, not only cylindrical passages.  This method is used to "tune" the resonant response of compression waves created by valves in an engine.  

Awesome video, Doug and Dave - loved the explanation of effects of physical designs!!