Blue Microphones Yeti Pro USB Condenser Microphone, Multipattern

Customer Ratings:
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $229.00
Today's Bonus:

• Three custom condenser capsules and four different polar pattern settings: Cardioid, Stereo, Bidirectional and Omnidirectional
• Cutting-edge A-D converter chip and separate analog circuit path for use with professional studio mixers and preamps
• Built-in headphone amplifier for zero-latency monitoring, and direct controls for headphone volume, pattern selection, mute, and microphone gain
• 15 Hz-22 kHz frequency response
• 192 kHz/24 bit Sample/Word

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

I'm a musician and singer/songwriter who has recorded in home studios of varying quality and price for years. I currently have a Pro Tools setup on my main music computer but I bought the Yeti Pro because I wanted an easy, portable solution to use with Garageband on my laptop in order to record parts with other musicians on various songs. I have to confess I was skeptical about the quality of a USB mic, but after using it tonight, I may not ever go back to my analog mics. I recorded vocals and acoustic guitar directly from the mic to my laptop with no preamp and the sound is crisp, clear, and brilliant, and captures the nuance in my vocal performance as well over the complete spectrum.* It's also heavy and solid feeling, and gorgeous to boot. If you don't need a professional recording, this mic is probably pricey and not necessary. But for professional podcasters and particularly recording musicians, I can't recommend this mic more, and it's a steal at this price.

PS -this is the first time I've ever been compelled to post a review about ANYTHING. It's that good, folks.

*Note that I'm a female singer with fairly limited range.

Buy Blue Microphones Yeti Pro USB Condenser Microphone, Multipattern Now

This is the best USB mic ever made. The quality is outstanding. Some people say it doesn't sound any different then the orginal Yeti, and I thought that too when I first used it. But then I went to my Mic settings (on Win 7) and I found out the mic was being limited to 48Hz 16 Bit ! I quickly changed it to 96Hz 24 Bit and the difference hit me. It sounds perfect, the exact way my voice sounds. The only thing I don't like is that you need other software for it to work. So I can't just bring it to all my frinds' house and just plug it in to use it. But it is an exceptional mic. If you have the money I highly recommend it.

UPDATE 10/31/12

I've had this microphone for about 18 months now, and I couldn't be happier with it. I have noticed a lot of negative reviews complaining about a "gain" issue. Blue recognized this problem and offered replacements. That was a while ago, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it today. My mic works wonders when the gain is at 40%. One thing I have noticed is that recordings may have some crackles if you plug the mic into a USB hub that has too many things connected to it. The mic demands a lot of power, and shouldn't be used when other powerful USB devices are connected to you computer (e.g HD webcams, other USB mics, ect.).

Read Best Reviews of Blue Microphones Yeti Pro USB Condenser Microphone, Multipattern Here

A lot of people might look at the price of this microphone and get put off, but they'd make a mistake in doing so. If you are a musician, podcaster, or simply looking for great quality for your vocals, instruments, or whatever sound you want captured, the Blue Yeti Pro will more than do the job.

I'd like to start out by saying the sound quality on this microphone is simply amazing. It easily dwarfs any other USB mic before it, and can even compete with some professional condenser studio mics made by Neumann or Rodes. It's hard to believe this mic is an improvement from the original Yeti, but it is, and by at least 4 times, based on my personal estimation. For $250 this mic can't be beat. You get features in this mic you'd need at least 5 mics for. Oh, and did I mention it's also an audio interface that plays back at a 24-bit, 192khz sampling rate through the headphone port? And it sounds much better than it would on your laptop headphone port. This mic is fantastic and I recommend to anyone looking to do professional work at home.

Update:

For those of you disappointed in the audio quality of the Blue Yeti Pro I have some tips. First and foremost I would like you inform you that the Blue Yeti Pro is a flat response microphone. When you record you're not gonna get any sort of coloration to your input. You should be getting clean, clear, noise free audio. If not you have a defective microphone and I suggest getting it exchanged.

Now that we have that out of the way I'd like o give you tips on how to get a nice, rich, studio quality sound. Here's tip 1: Add gain. Tip 2: Compress. Tip 3: Equalize. Tweak until it sounds pleasant to your ears. Believe me, once you mess with the sound it will be a whole lot better. That's how I know the Blue Yeti Pro is a good microphone. Good microphones do not color your audio.

Want Blue Microphones Yeti Pro USB Condenser Microphone, Multipattern Discount?

I'm writing this to help save time for those looking to get a pro level USB mic as I spent quite a bit of time reading reviews (amazon and pro music reviews) listening to mic shootouts and leg work on USB microphones so I though I would see if I can help others save some time. I'm a bit retentive when it comes to my audio gear. I spent 10 years looking for the perfect studio monitors and finally found a slice of heaven in the ADAM s3A's.

Beware the negative reviews as it looks as though they could be user error. Im using on a mac and both mics were flawlessly plug and record nothing to do at all.

I have a professional recording studio and consider my 20 years of listening experience worthwhile in doing an unbiased review.

My goal was to find a usb microphone able to perfectly capture vocals and instruments without adding color (anything but the pure sound) to use with my ipad for audio work.

Microphones and monitors are very subjective in my opinion . Different people like the way different gear sounds. I was simply looking for sonic clarity and depth.

I settled on the Blue Yeti Pro and the MXL 009 and bought them both. I surmised these were the two top picks (based on user and pro reviews) out of the 5 or so at the top including the non pro yeti.

This is my first time owning a blue or MXL mic. I have a couple of Shure ksm44's and a few Neumanns

I ran a series of comparisons between the Yeti Pro, THe MXL 009 and my goto in the studio which is the ksm44 running through an Avalon ad2022 pre through an RME Fireface UFX into an 2011 Imac. I used two sets of headphones and my monitors to listen to the audio recorded. As set of audio technica m50s, and a pair of Sony MDR7509's and the s3a's. I recorded vocals, shakers and tuning forks at both 48k 16bit and 24bit 96k sample rates to see if it made a difference. It does make a difference but its slight and if you were making a song you probably couldn't tell in the mix. If you were doing a podcast or talkshow you woud notice slightly richer deeper clarity with the 96k 24bit setting.

The results were very surprising to me mostly because I was blown away that a $300 microphone can compete with 7K in studio gear. I think I need to tell Toto were not in Kansas anymore. Rating scale 10 = amazing 1=Sucks

The Yeti Pro If you are looking to get just one mic then this is your pick because of its feature set. Its built like a tank. Has the 4 different switching options which is very useful for getting different sounds. You could put it on a table for an interview and hear both people as an example. Also has standard xlr out, could be nice if you want to use it with standard gear. The stereo out is a nice feature (unless you want mono).

Features = 10

Easy of Use = 10 quick adjustments of gain and are forgiving if your not spot on.

Set up = 10 ( I literally just plugged it in and selected it in logic pro used to record the audio)

Sound Quality = 8 The MXL009 was a bit more transparent and honest with the sound.

Accessories = 9 desk stand is rock solid and cool looking

Look and Feel = 8 Very nice looking and solid feeling but kinda bulky. Sexy sitting on the desk if you care. They get -2 points as the Blue logo was slightly off level which most people probably would not or could not notice. (retentive)

The MXL 009 If you want the best sounding Mic and dont care about the rest this is your mic.

Features = 7 (lack of traditional xlr out limits to digital use)

Easy of Use = 7 You need to get your gain levels set prior to using or you will get pops and clicks in your audio. This could be a bummer if you just did a big long take and now have to edit to remove a few clicks. Set your gains and you will be without issue. ( would be nice if they had a clipping indicator on the mic since this is such a big issue). Maybe they will correct it with a soft or firmware update.

Set up = 10 ( I literally just plugged it in and selected it in logic pro used to record the audio)

Sound Quality = 10 The MXL009 was a bit more transparent and honest with the sound. It is really a beautifully accurate mic.

Accessories = 9 desk stand is rock solid but not as cool looking as the yeti. Its a basic stand. It comes with a cool metal case if you travel with your mics.

Look and Feel = 9 Very nice looking and solid feeling. The blue led is a nice touch to show its connected

The verdict is that they all sound amazing. If you were not doing a sise by side A/B you would miss the subtle differences. The Shure has a slight lead for overall sound but the MXL009 is not far behind and the Yeti pro is right up there with them. Its not quite as good sonically but as far as getting bang for your buck the yeti pro is an amazing choice for everything you get for less than $300. Unbelievable! My hats off to both companies for such great products.

I am keeping them both unfortunately as they are that great for different reasons.

First of all, I just want to say that this mic is definitely amazing. I will keep this as short and precise as possible.

PROS:

USB and XLR capabilities

4 pattern polar selector

Triple condensor capsule

microphone input jack

CONS:

Slightly heavy weight

Slightly flimsy pattern and gain knob

In regards to the gain being too low once the mic is put into the DAW, for some reason the great people at Blue had made the factory setting for the microphone gain to input at -23 dB. That is so low the vocals are barely audible. The only way to fix this (on a Mac) is to go into the UTILITIES under Finder and select the MIDI APP. Once in there select the input and output options and turn the MASTER VOLUME all the way to normal or 1. This should fix the problem on the Mac, there should be a similar solution to PC I will check and see shortly.

Hope this review helps!