Figure of Eight

Our recording room has mediocre acoustics and we have limited absorption / bass trapping possibilities so we often resort to close-miking of instruments, typically with unidirectional microphones and sometimes using baffles to isolate instruments from each other.

In many cases though, I've discovered that a figure-eight polar pattern is a very practical option.

NOTE: Unidirectional / cardioid microphones pick up sounds from the front and to a lesser degree at the sides. Bidirectional / figure-eight microphone pick up sounds from the front and the back and virtually eliminate sounds coming in from the sides.

Here are some applications where I've found figure-eights (ribbons in particular) to be useful:

1. Overheads on drums. They seem to pick up less of the room sound and produce a tight and natural sound. Also, if having other instruments in the room, overheads hanging over the drum kit and pointing downwards will quite effectively isolate the drums from the rest of the instruments.
2. Bass drum. The sound seems to come out less colored. This is expected since they should pick up less reflections off the floor.
3. Snare drum when hi-hat leakage is a problem. The mic can easily be pointed towards the snare so that the hi-hat is in the null angle. Vice versa for the hi-hat mic if we're using one.