Blue Yeti USB Microphone Video Review

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE - Yes this post does contain affiliate links. When you buy through these links on Amazon, I do earn a commission, but I only recommend things that I have personally vetted. 

[Japanese]

Hey, hey. Before we kick off today's video, please don't forget to hit that red Subscribe button. And also, don't forget to ring that bell so you can find out when fresh, new Japan Guy content comes out each and every week.

Alright guys, let get to this review.

(music)

Hey guys it's me, Donny, and it's time for another product review. 

Sound really matters and I didn't realize that until I upgraded to my first USB mic, nearly a decade ago.

For the last seven plus years this is the mic that I have been using. I'm going to try not to mess up my sound here. Yip, sorry, hard to see. But that is a Snowball mic, by the company Blue. And this mic has completely over delivered. I think I paid less than maybe $70.00 and I've been using to record just about everything that I do, especially for YouTube.

And the only issue that I've had with this one, as of late, the USB cable in the back. So I don't know if it's actually the port on my USB mic or if it's the cable. I really think it's just the cable, but I just figured it would be a good time to upgrade as well. But I'm keeping that one.

Now I don't want you thinking that I did any crazy upgrades, because I didn't. I did a slight upgrade. I upgraded to this one. It's a Blue Yeti microphone, so it's the next tier. Next step up from a Snowball mic. 

So let's unbox this Blue Yeti, review it, talk about pros, cons, features and everything in between.

Brad Pitt:
What's in the (beep) box? 

(music)

On the front of the Yeti mic, just below the blue logo you'll find your volume controls. Your mute button here. And this is your headset volume. And you can adjust it by turning the dial to the right or to the left. Pretty simple right?

This is your condenser where all of the sound goes in. Turning these knobs here on the sides of the Yeti allow you to position the mic the way you want it. 

And the top dial on the back of your Yeti is your mic gain. According to Wikipedia, mic gain is the measure of how much a mic can be amplified.

To further adjust your sound to fit the project that you're doing you have four different modes: Stereo, cardioid, omnidirectional and bidirectional.

Underneath the Yeti you have a microphone jack, a USB jack and the hole in the middle lets you mount your mic to a different stand if you want to. The stand that comes with the Yeti is solid metal with three panels on the bottom to keep it from slipping. Those are your Blue Yeti USB mic features.

Before we get into all of the pros, cons, price and all of that good stuff, I actually wanted to test out the Yeti USB mic, because I've never used one before. And I can't really give you my honest opinion if I've never tried the mic. So let's run a quick test. I did add an accessory to my Yeti USB mic. If you notice here, I did put on a pop filter, and pop filters just take out some of those hard sounds, like your P's and T's and just smoothes things out so you have a better audio recording.

I can't tell you which pop filters are best. I chose a pop filter from a company called Auphonix, A, because Amazon recommended it, and B, because it was cheap. So I paid about $20.00 for this one.

We're going to do a special type of mic test today. Please raise your hand if you're a fan of classic children's stories... Yeah, me too. We'll test the Yeti USB mic by reading from one of the greatest children's stories of all time, The Giving Tree, from Shel Silverstein.

But there's a twist. I'm also going to read a bit of the story in Japanese...

So, I'll read both a few pages in English and a few pages in Japanese, using my computer's built-in mic. And then we'll read those same pages using the Blue Yeti. I'm using a MacBook Pro from 2014. Yes, I probably need to upgrade at this point, but I'll do that eventually. But it will at least let us see how different the audio sounds from my computer's built-in mic and the Yeti mic.

The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.

Once there was tree. And she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come. And he would gather her leaves. 

[Japanese]

I'm going to record in cardioid mode.

The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.

Once there was tree. And she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come. And he would gather her leaves.

[Japanese]

Wow, I guess that's all the proof you need right there. I noticed that the Blue Yeti sound is a lot more crisp and that my internal mic is a lot more hollow.

After that mic comparison it's very easy to see what the first pro is for the Blue Yeti. It's better than your built-in. It's great that nowadays just about every computer you pick up has a reliable built-in microphone. And for a lot of day to day things it's just fine.

But if you're doing YouTube, if you're podcasting, if you're doing vlogs, you probably need higher quality. And just like we saw in that microphone test, it's a very noticeable difference between your internal mic and the Blue Yeti mic.

Now, I'm not going to jump the gun and say the price just yet, because we're going to talk about it in just a few moments, but you get great value for the price. Like, extremely good value for the price.

And yes, there are some other great microphones out there. I've heard about the Rode Podcaster being a very good mic. There's another one by Heil. I think I'm saying that right, H-E-I-L. They make some really good microphones. But they're higher end and some of them are like studio quality. But I'm on a budget. And you do not have to pay an arm and a leg to get good, solid, crisp quality sound.

Number three, the Blue Yeti is incredibly easy to use. Is anybody out there a professional sound engineer? I'm not... All I had to do was plug this thing in, check it and make sure it's working in the settings and it's ready to go then. And if you want to, you can adjust the gain and mode knobs on the back, to tailor the microphone to whatever recording situation you're in.

And my number four, I'm going to say very sturdy construction. I was surprised at how heavy this thing is. Heavier than I was expecting. It's all metal and it's heavy. It's heavy metal. So it's not just going to tumble off my desk for no reason. It's there, it's ready to record and it's not going anywhere. It's very, very solid. 

And my last pro for the Blue Yeti mic is that you can use headphones. My Blue Snowball mic didn't allow me to do that. So this is a game changer. I have been on this mic all day doing this, because it's so fascinating to me to be able to hear my voice in real time as I'm recording.

I don't have a whole lot of cons for the Yeti, but the biggest, glaring one is a mechanical issue. I don't like how hard you have to twist the position knobs on the side to get your mic to stay in place.

I also don't like how stiff the dial is for the modes. I have to use two hands just to get it to turn. And I don't know if it's just my mic in particular, but it feels extremely stiff. 

The only other real con that I see about the Yeti, is the weight. And I say this because it's a trade off. So you are trading off that portability for this solid mic that you are probably going to leave in one place. It's definitely something to consider if you are a person who does audio recordings on the go.

I actually have my Amazon receipt in hand and the Blue Yeti cost $99.07. Absolutely worth it.

Now, I can't say whether or not I got a special deal on mine, because I know Amazon is always running specials. But I want to say the list price for my Yeti is about $150.00. And if you go to the next tier of Blue Yeti mics, Blue Yeti Pro, then you can pay upwards of $250.00. But, seeing as how mine was under $100.00, money well spent.

The Yeti USB mic is perfect for the person who is trying to do high quality audio recordings on a budget.

Bloggers, struggling YouTubers, podcasters, musicians, ASMR creators, offices that do conference calls, if you create any kind of audio content, or do audio interactions, it's perfect for you.

And lastly, I think it's the perfect fit for beginners. If you don't know a whole lot about audio, you're not alone. And if the whole concept of it seems overwhelming, the Yeti is a simple way to bypass all of that overwhelm.

I'd actually have to check the Yeti's performance in a professional setting, but I'm going to say it's not for the person who's looking for professional level sound. And though I haven't tested it out, I think those studio quality mics are way more expensive for a reason.

If I were rating the Blue Yeti mic A though F, like the grades we got in school, man, I've got to give this one an A minus. I've got to put in the minus for the stiff dials, but it's an amazing microphone. Absolutely, hand down, 100%, I recommend it.

Alright gang, well that'll wrap it up for today's review. Thanks for watching.

If any of you are interested in trying the Blue Yeti mic for yourselves, I'll leave a link to that in the description box below.

Along with a link to my Amazon Influencer page, where you'll find all my gear.

Some of you probably noticed that I did use a little bit of Japanese when testing out my mic today. Admittedly, I'm a pretty slow Japanese learner, but I'm still learning and I'm still enjoying it. 

Maybe some of you are just like me and maybe some of you are blazingly fast at picking up languages. In any case, if you're itching and excited to learn Japanese and you're looking for a community of other self-study learners, just like you, I invite you to join Japanese Mavericks, because we'd love to have you. And yes, I'll leave a link to that in the description box below as well.

It's been a blast guys. And I'll catch you in the next one. Peace.