The Blue Yeti is a high quality USB microphone. There is a reason that it’s the number one USB microphone in the world.
Let’s take a look at the 5 most common mistakes that we see people make with the Blue Yeti USB Microphone.
1 – Cardioid Microphone Mode
The Blue Yeti comes with four microphone modes, all used for different purposes:
- Cardioid
- Bidirectional
- Omnidirectional
- Stereo
Unless you’re doing something particular, the microphone should be set to cardioid mode. This tells the microphone to only listen to what is coming from the front of the microphone. It will do it’s best to ignore everything coming from all other directions. This will eliminate a lot of echoey room noise, delay, reverb, etc., from your recording.
2 – Microphone Direction & Orientation
When you are recording with the Blue Yeti, it’s important to make sure that it’s pointing the right direction.
You should be looking at the Blue logo when you are recording with this microphone.
It is not a good idea to speak into the back of the microphone or the top of the microphone because it will sound very muddy and will lack the tone that you are looking for with your recording.
3 – Microphone Distance
The microphone gets the best results when it is within 4-6″ of the subject that it’s recording.
If the microphone is too close it will sound inconsistent and boomy.
If the microphone is too far away, you will hear a large amount of distracting background noise.
We recommend some type of microphone stand or boom arm to help get the microphone closer than the factory stand that comes with the microphone:
Microphone Desk Stand: https://currentprice.io/desk_stand
Microphone Boom Arm: https://currentprice.io/boom_arm
4 – Pop Filter & Windscreen
Pop Filters and Windscreens do a great job of filtering the air coming from your mouth and preventing “plosives’. A plosive is when you make a “P” or “B” sound and a large amount of air is released into the diaphragm of the microphone creating a distorted “pop” sound.
- Blue Yeti Foam Windscreen: https://currentprice.io/yeti_foam
- Blue Yeti Pop Filter: https://currentprice.io/pop_filter
5 – Shockmount
A shock mount is the easiest way to “air gap” the microphone so taps, bumps, and shuffling don’t get transferred into the microphone.
If you’re hearing a lot of tapping, we highly recommend a shockmount.
Blue Yeti Shockmount: https://currentprice.io/yeti_shock
Bonus Tip – Room Treatment
Even if you follow all of the tips in this video, there is a good chance that your recording will still sound boomy and echoey. This is likely do to the environment that you are recording in.
We highly recommend that you apply some room treatment to absorb soundwaves so they don’t bounce around your room as much.
Common solutions include:
- Velour Drape
- Foam Sound Panels
- Towels
- Moving Blankets
Blue Yeti Microphone Pricing
- Blue Yeti USB Microphone: https://currentprice.io/blue_yeti
- Mic Stand: https://currentprice.io/desk_stand
- Blue Yeti Foam Windscreen: https://currentprice.io/yeti_foam
- Pop Filter: https://currentprice.io/pop_filter
- Blue Yeti Shockmount: https://currentprice.io/yeti_shock
