Microphone polar pattern
The shape of what a mic hears: front only, all around, or both sides. Pick the shape, pick how much room you record.
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What it is
A mic does not hear equally in every direction, and the polar pattern is the map of where it listens. Omnidirectional takes everything evenly (natural, wind tolerant, hears the whole room). Cardioid is the heart shape: front loud, sides softer, rear mostly rejected, which is why it is the default for voice. Super/hypercardioid narrows the front lobe and buys a small rear lobe as the price. Figure-8 hears front and back with dead sides. A shotgun uses an interference tube to reject more of what arrives from the sides, which is why it gets boomed just outside the frame. It does not have reach: it will not make a distant talker any louder, it only brings back less of the room around them, so get it as close as the shot allows.
Match the pattern to the problem, not to the price tag. Untreated room with a noisy fridge: cardioid, close in. Two people across one table: figure-8 between them. Lav clipped to a chest that keeps turning: omni, because head movement barely changes the tone.
Gotcha: tighter is not automatically cleaner. A hypercardioid's rear lobe happily records the wall behind you, and every directional mic has off-axis coloration, so a talker who drifts sideways goes thin and hollow rather than just quieter. Directional patterns also pile on proximity-effect bass up close, which omni does not.
Ask AI for it
Recommend a microphone polar pattern for this scenario and explain the placement: [describe the room, number of speakers, and background noise]. Compare omnidirectional, cardioid, hypercardioid, and figure-8 for that specific case, state the mic-to-mouth distance and off-axis angle in inches and degrees, name the noise source each pattern will reject or fail to reject, and flag any rear-lobe or off-axis coloration problem the choice creates.