Here’s a short Blue Yeti Review to know if it’s really worth all that money! This review is in both video and written form.
I’ve been using the Blue Yeti microphone for nearly a year now in a ton of my YouTube and IGN videos. When I first purchased it, I made a short unboxing video and audio comparison between the Blue Yeti and the Blue Snowball. The video was pretty long, and it wasn’t very well received. You can see that video below.
Well, I decided to go back and do an actual review instead of just an unboxing for the Blue Yeti. I also wanted to cut down the time to make it a bit more watchable. So let’s get to it!
The Blue Yeti is a pretty lightweight microphone. It comes with a heavy, metal stand that attaches to the mic with two screws on each side. These screws allow the mic to swivel forward and backward.
The bottom of the mic has a threaded indent in case you want to attach the mic to another type of stand. This is also where you can find two connection jacks. The microphone connects to computers from mini USB (on the mic) to USB (on the computer), and requires no drivers to install. Next to the USB jack is a 3.5mm headphone jack. Attach headphones to the mic to get instant feedback on how you would sound while recording.
Quick side note: I did have a few troubles from time to time when I started my computer with this mic plugged in. The computer would set the mic’s headphone jack as the default sound playback device instead of the speakers that were hooked up to my PC. If you run into this problem on Windows, go to the Control Panel > Hardware & Sounds > Sounds > and make sure your speakers are the default playback device.
The front of the mic has a red mute button and the volume control knob. The red mute button will always be red when connected to the PC. Press the mute button to mute the mic and cause the red light to flash.
The back of the mic has a tough knob with four pattern options. Switch the pattern to slightly alter recording sound and direction sound can be received from. Some patterns allow sound to come in from all sides of the mic, and some patterns allow sound to come in for one side.
Above the pattern knob is a smooth slide gain knob. Increase the gain to pick up more sound away from the mic. This is great if you’re not directly next to the mic, but that also means more background noise will be present. If you’re directly next to the mic you won’t need to up the gain, but you may need to use a pop filter to prevent static when hitting hard Ps or things of that nature.
The very bottom of the stand has a light foam coating that’s supposed to help with sound dampening, but it really doesn’t. The slightest tap on the table will be picked up by the mic. If you wish to prevent this, you’ll have to buy some different type of stand or arm extension.
Honestly, this is the best microphone I’ve purchased, but it’s also the most expensive. Those that are just starting up with podcasting, commentary videos, and all that sort of stuff might not want to splurge right away on the Blue Yeti unless they are pretty serious with their plans. This microphone probably hits the sweet spot between low quality amateur mics and incredibly high quality, small form factor professional mics you see attached to people’s shirts.