A condenser mic with an omnidirectional capsule has a flatter frequency response when near the sound source--it picks up the entire sound of an instrument or group of singers including the room's ambience. A cardioid polar pattern has the advantage of rejecting sounds off-axis to its front pickup. It is the most popular microphone for live sound and in the recording studio useful for recording individual instruments to separate tracks with minimum leakage from other instruments in the same room.

But cardioids have a bass frequency boost when placed close to sound sources. Call the proximity effect, it can be used to advantage when recording thin-sounding singers who would sing closely to a cardioid microphone to get a fatter and warmer sound immediately.

I used the E70 to record an acoustic guitar in a very live room using the omnidirectional capsule. At about two feet away from the guitar, the omni pattern established the size of the space my guitar player was sitting in while playing his Martin--this is a very lifelike sound! I liked the bright and clear sound of the E70 got on the guitar without any EQ and when I switched over to cardioid, it was all the same except I picked up less of the room and, depending on exact mic placement, got more of the low frequencies of the instrument.

Awesome!

The E70 is an FET-based condenser mic with transformer-less output, switchable hi-pass filter (75Hz and 150Hz 6dB/Oct) and a two-position 10 or 20dB attenuator switch. This feature makes the E70 capable of recording up to 145dB SPL and good for drums and loud guitar cabinets. It requires 48-volt phantom powering from your console/pre-amp, and comes with an elastic shock mount, stand clamp and windscreen.