Still on a high from reviewing Blue's Awesome MoFi Headphones a few months back, we were keen to test something else from the
sound experts. This time 'round instead of trying something that pumps out the
sound, we decided to review a gadget that sucks it up. And so, with our vocal
cords nicely warmed up, we tore open the box of the Blue Yeti USB microphone.
Looking slick and minimal, the chunky metal microphone has a back-to-basics feel to it which gives the whole package a very different style to the previously reviewed Blue Tiki Microphone. But whereas as that pint-sized pocket mic was all about immediate and travel-friendly recording, the Yeti is designed to create professional sounding podcasts, interviews and music - all via an extremely easy to use bit of kit.
Working with all modern versions of Windows, and Mac OSX
10.4.11 or higher, the Blue Yeti is a plug-and-play device with everything you
need included in the box. It features four main settings which allow for better
recordings depending on what kind of situation you need to capture. There's
stereo mode for general recordings, cardioid mode for when the sound is coming
from just one direction (such as recording a podcast), omnidirectional mode for
picking up the ambience of a performance, and bidirectional mode which seems to
be great for two-person interviews. Fortunately flicking between these settings
is a simple case of turning a wee knob on the back of the Yeti.
Speaking of the knobs (tee hee) the Yeti features other physical
controls which make it a breeze to adjust. For example, the mic's gain can be
adjusted directly without having to mess about with whatever software you're
using, while (thanks to the included headphone jack on the underside) you can
change the output volume of what you are listening to, so the sound of your own
sweet voice doesn't put you off from speaking or singing.
Great for just about anyone who needs to record sound, we
heartily recommend you get out into the woods and hunt yourself a Yeti!