When you step up to the mic, it's not just amplifying you; it's also picking up sound from the front, back, sides, or from multiple directions at once. This is what's known as a microphone's polar ...

(click thumbnail)FIG. 1 - Circuit of a condenser microphone with electrically switchable polar characteristics. (click thumbnail)FIG. 2 - Polar patterns obtainable from a microphone as shown in Fig. 1 ...

Microphones with directional characteristics do not have a uniform pickup pattern as do omnidirectional mics. Directional mics are more sensitive to sounds emanating from some directions and less to ...