With an eye on podcasting in 2014, I knew I couldn’t use the microphone that’s built in to my Logitech wireless headphones (sound renders too tinny). While this microphone is fine for Skype calls and Google hangouts, it’s not so great for recording instructional products or podcasts at the level consumers expect.
Enter my new toy tool. It arrived over the weekend and I’m super excited about it because it’s used by a lot of people I admire in the podcasting and online recording space like Kim Doyle, aka The WordPress Chick and Chris Brogan.
Research on the Blue Family of Microphone Products
After extensive research on a good quality entry-level USB microphone, I discovered the Blue family of products has a variety of microphones to choose from. With a budget around $100, I narrowed my choices down to either the Blue Nessie ($99) or the Blue Yeti ($109).
Turns out, a local music store carries a decent selection of USB microphones, including the Blue Nessie. Even though I was already leaning toward the Blue Yeti, I wanted to see a Nessie in person and talk to someone about it who understands sound and recording. The store associate turned out to be quite knowledgeable and had had podcasting and video voice over experience using the Nessie. The Nessie is a pretty neat microphone with a good shape and size for desktop use. Still, I wasn’t 100% sure the Nessie was for me; I needed to do one last round of research before investing my money.
Back at home, I typed into Google “Blue Yeti vs Blue Nessie” and spent some time scanning over various reviews. While many people praised the Nessie, more people recommended the Yeti in the final analysis. The biggest deciding factor for me came from Lex Friedman over at Macworld who wrote that while the Nessie is a good microphone for beginners, you get more microphone with the Blue Yeti.
Delightful Packaging
I don’t care who you are — when packaging is delightful, what’s inside almost doesn’t matter.
The box alone the Yeti comes in is worth the extra ten bucks for the microphone. As you can see in this picture, the cartoons on the outside of the box are wonderful. I’ve been giggling ever since I first saw them, and think I’ll hold on to the box for a bit just because the artwork makes me smile. I don’t know what the Nessie box looks like, but I don’t think it’s as cute as the Yeti’s. (A quick search on Google images came up empty.)
While the Blue Nessie consistently gets 4+ star ratings for a great entry level microphone, I’m glad I spent a little extra and got the microphone I’ve been wanting all along. This concludes my Blue Yeti review for now. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll share some audio clips demonstrating the difference between microphone sounds.
