Blue Microphones NESSIE Adaptive USB Condenser Microphone, Cardioid

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List Price: $109.99
Sale Price: $79.99
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

• Perfect for recording vocals, instruments, podcasts, voiceovers, audio for YouTube videos and more
• Automatically applies fundamental recording techniques for instantly polished results
• Includes professional features like headphone monitoring, mute, pop filter and shockmount
• Select from three recording modes - voice, music or raw
• Works with your favorite software on Mac or PC

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The idea behind the nessie is great however... I picked up a pair from best buy and...:

Nessie #1: The Serpentine neck was loose and the ball mic would flop down. Could not point upwards. Did however stay at the original location without issue.

Nessie #2: The recording levels on Mac and iPad were extremely low even when in "raw" mode and speaking loudly or varying volume. I suspect that either the firmware on this mic is too smart, or perhaps on the iPad the power levels are too low for the amp to pick up properly. Even boosting the recording in post is barely enough to get a reasonable volume.

I ended up returning both and buying a Samson Meteor which is less cool, but built solid. This isn't a reflection on Blue's microphones however as I have the Yeti and it is solid. Perhaps give the Nessie another few months for Blue to tune the production and update firmware and you'll have a wonderful Nessie.

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So, to get the first thing out of the way; the floppy head.

I bought mine at the Apple Store and yes, it came with the 'floppy' head. I reached out to Blue support and they advised me that I could either A) return it, B) submit it for service, or C) tighten it with a T10x60 torque head.

I opted for option C) and it took no time at all. However, it seems in bad form that they are shipping it in this condition and incurring a lot of customer wrath as well as returns.

To level set what my setup is, I have a small recording studio in my home for podcasting and voiceovers. My equipment: Tascam 144a USB mixer, Rode NT1A, Studio Projects C3, Blue Yeti, and now Blue Nessie.

I use the Tascam when I need to mic a voice and an instrument. However, I also like the simplicity of a USB mic when I'm just doing podcasting or voiceover work.

I do very little instrumental stuff, so any time I talk about quality it is primarily about voice.

I've seen a couple of people complaining about low gain... it seems that when the USB driver loads for this device it sets itself to medium on the volume side of things. I was recording with Audacity and I just had to go under the covers and got it all working. The gain was great after that, exactly what you'd expect from a condenser mic.

In terms of the quality, I find it to be very good. Like with any condenser mic, you are only as good as your room. If you set the Nessie on the desk and talk sitting up, you'll have to up the gain enough to pick up the ambient noise of your room. If you turn it down and want to talk close to the mic, you'll need to put the Nessie up on some books or some other arrangement.

For the record, I use Audacity for recording and always use the noise removal filter after getting a room sample, and it worked like a champ with the Nessie. Nice, clean voice recordings after the filter.

I did find that it did pretty well without a windscreen. Pops and T's and all that were pretty much taken care of in voice mode. However, it is still a sensitive mic, so yeah, if you're going to be close to that thing, you might want to consider a pop screen, regardless.

I only have one question, however... and that is: Why opt for this over the Yeti?

The Yeti is more solidly built and has so many more patterns. Omni, Figure 8, and stereo. The sound quality is equal (and IMHO a little better on the Yeti), so the only thing going for a Nessie is weight and the pop filter/auto correction. The Yeti costs the same, and is often listed on Amazon for almost $20 less. If I'm a podcaster or do quick acoustic recordings, the Yeti is sort of a one-stop-shop. For example, if I'm going to do an interview, I can just put it between the two people and put it into figure 8 pattern.

PROS: Very good sound

ease-of-use

in-mic monitoring

Internal shockmount/pop-filter does a pretty decent job.

CONS: Shipped 'loose' from the factory and needed adjustments.

Still sensitive, so this isn't a magic bullet for noise. It won't filter out everything.

Only one pattern, so this is a nice cardioid condenser mic for one voice/instrument.

The Yeti still wins if you are shopping for that one usb mic.

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The good: It's ridiculously easy to setup and use. It sounds great. It's a good value.

The bad: It has a cheap feel that I didn't expect. The volume control is sticky and stiff; you can't change it without making noise on your recording. The stand is made of cheap-feeling painted plastic instead of metal. I also experience a very low volume hum from the mic that disappears whenever I touch the casing of my MacBook Pro Retina. Perhaps it's some kind of grounding problem? I am using a non-Apple AC adapter, so it's possible that could be the cause.

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I am using my Nessie with my iPad mini. Thank goodness others tried before me so I knew I needed a powered USB hub. Connected the nessie to my iPad mini, went to Garage Band, worked without any additional adjustment wasn't sure if I would see something showing that I had a mic connected then noticed that the little connector icon was lit, recorded voice, volume great, background nose non-existent (in a quiet room but my other mics picked up a lot of noise). I did accidentally put mute on that is way too sensitive and seems to be a capacitive button . Also wish the neck had adjustable height function. I have no problem with the mic head it sits solidly whether extended or not.

So I removed one star because of mute button and lack of extending head but I feel that is a bit harsh. 4.5 stars would be better. I'm very happy with how easy it connected to the iPad mini nessie to USB hub, to Apple's camera adapter to lightning port then to iPad mini.

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I used to have a Snowball and I didn't like it because it was so bulky and clunky. I really like my new Nessie, though. I needed to set her up in a hurry one day to do some voice audio with a timer counting down on me, so I got her out of the box and plugged her in to my PC running Windows 7 without reading any instructions or installing anything and she pretty much worked right out of the box. I did have to set her to be my default audio input and I also had to make sure my Flash settings were correct (because I was recording audio in Flash) but I was really impressed because just as I was about to start my recording, someone started up a leaf blower outside and I thought "oh no, certain failure!" I usually put on noise-cancelling headphones and play music when the leaf blowers and hedge trimmers start up a couple times a week because they are SO loud and invasive and I don't have any sound proofing on my windows, but Nessie was a CHAMP and the audio sounded like I was in a sound-proofed room! I was very impressed by the audio quality.

Aesthetically I really like Nessie, super cute and not just compared to the awkward snowball but in general. It's really too bad that it's ALL plastic except for the grill in the front. They should at least offer a sturdier version, even if it cost 10-20 bucks more, I think a lot of people would pay for something sturdier and longer lasting.