Blue

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The original Snowball is one of the key microphones that helps facilitate the podcasting and YouTube revolution.

Blue managed to set its performance high enough to satisfy the streaming-obsessed crowd, while keeping the price low. The combination of value that wasn’t possible just five years prior and really decent sound won over startup podcasters and aspiring YouTubers alike. They didn’t want one of those dirt-cheap desktop “computer mics” we’ve grown to hate, and couldn’t justify getting a pricey “radio mic” like the Shure SM7B or Electro-Voice RE20 either. The Snowball was and still is the goldilocks mic for a ton of content creators: just right.

Now Blue recognized the Snowball had professional features that the average solo podcaster, YouTuber or gamer would never use. Namely the Snowball has a three-way switch that allows you to do omnidirectional recording (picks up all the sound in the room), cardioid (sound from in front of the mic), and can give you a -10db pad (for recording loud sounds like drums).

Snowball iCE was born by removing omnidirectional capability as well as the -10db pad. These features were wasted for most applications outside of music recording and group podcasting. And by getting to the heart of what makes the Snowball great with the iCE, Blue was able to reduce the price around $20. Nothing huge granted, but even $20 is too much to spend on features you don’t need.

Continue Reading Blue Snowball iCE Condenser Mic Review
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blue-nessieThe designers at Blue are experts at injecting cool-factor into their mics. And they’ve really topped themselves with the future-retro styled Nessie. Like the fabled sea beast of Loch Ness, it has an intriguing angled neck worth admiring.

It’s not done this way just for the sake of aesthetics. It’s a very practical design.

The “head” of the mic can be tilted for a myriad of applications such as instrument micing and capturing overhead ambience. Like other Blue products it has

Blue calls it’s headphone output “zero-latency” and I found it too indeed to be very responsive and without noticeable delay. The headphone input is hidden away at the back, directly above the mini-USB port.

The base of the Nessie is a giant headphone volume dial. Just above that is a large mute button. While handy and absent from many competing mics, due to the position and size it may be prone to accidental activation.

To eliminate extra time setting up, the pop filter and shockmount is built right into the mic. This is a huge plus for recording on location and helpful to beginners as there are two less items of concern to think about.

Unique Audio Processing Settings

Nessie’s three recording modes are different from the standard polar pattern switching you might expect. It sticks with the cardioid pattern and tunes the sound for the application. One position is optimized for rich vocals, another for detailed instruments, and a raw audio option is there for experienced producers who prefer to make adjustments in post-production.

This is an interesting step toward allowing the hardware to get the right sound, rather than expecting users to find the right EQ curve via software. If you’re a beginner when it comes to recording, this is welcome, but experienced individuals may prefer the more advanced setup the Yeti provides, with it’s three polar patterns.

The Sound

The sound may not rival vintage tube mics but it’s definitely more than good enough for podcasting and recording demo music tracks. In the right hands you could make a hit record with the Nessie. Onboard audio processing does help achieve a serviceable voiceover sound but I prefer the Yeti for this. The real strength of the Nessie is capturing instruments and female vocals because of the character of the small capsule condenser inside.

The Verdict

This is a great choice for budding musicians but it didn’t quite cut it for a deep male radio voice. The Nessie makes it difficult to capitalize on the proximity effect, which is speaking very close to the mic for a bass-rich sound.

The swivelling head allows for some creative positioning options, which the Yeti and Snowball cannot do, so beside the uber-cool design this is what makes the Nessie stand out.

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The Snowball ICE is a stripped down version of the earlier released Snowball.

Although the Snowball is very affordable it includes features many solo podcasters and gamers will rarely if ever use. Blue recognized this and released ICE to shave down the MSRP.

If you’re a musician the choice is easy. The Snowball has an omnidirectional cardioid setting that allows you to pick up everything surrounding the mic, not just sounds in front of it. This can be used creatively to record room ambiance or to capture several instruments at once. Additionally it has a cardioid with -10dB pad setting so you can record loud guitars, drums, etc. These features are absent from the ICE.

For podcasters who want to do interviews or record commentary with more than one person speaking, the original Snowball is still the way to go since it has omnidirectional capability.

Gamers opting to ditch their headset are the only audience I recommend the Snowball ICE to. The original Snowball’s switching features are useless in this application.

Even if you hardly use omnidirectional mode or the -10dB pad, it’s well worth the small premium. Plus it will give you room to grow, as you never know if a friend might want to join in or if you’ll become interested in new recording methods as you gain experience.

Snowball and Snowball ICE sound the same and record at the same bit rate, 16-bit, 44.1kHz. For more detail on sound quality and features common to both USB microphones, read my review of the Snowball.

Oddly, Amazon.com is doing its own thing and has priced the ICE above the Snowball, at least at the moment. Unless the ICE is at least $10 cheaper, there’s no reason even those with the most basic needs should choose it over the Snowball.

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For such a small, inexpensive USB mic Blue makes lofty claims about the Tiki. In Intelligent Speech Mode it minimizes background noise. In Natural Recording Mode it balances levels from various sources such as vocals and acoustic guitar.

While this seems like godsend on paper, anyone who‘s applied noise gates and various filters to accentuate sounds is better tuned to the reality. When you gain one advantage via heavy tinkering you usually do it at the cost of another.

I found the audio quality in Intelligent Speech Mode to be below average due to internal DSP processing which rendered it dull and muffled. While this mode is designed for use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Skype, it ironically crippled speech recognition capabilities.

Natural Recording Mode faired better however the processing to make various instruments equal in volume wasn’t pronounced enough to place this above solutions such as Samson’s excellent Go Mic, which I reviewed here. Besides, most people are picking this up for its Intelligent Speech Mode.

One reason it can’t see serious podcasters or musicians using this is due to the awkward mic placement. Granted condenser microphones are adept at picking up distant noises but it’s awfully low to be speaking or singing into. This lowers proximity effect so the deeper frequencies in the voice won’t be as pronounced.

Another fatal flaw is the way the Tiki plugs into the USB input. The USB connection is oversized, putting unnecessary stress on the input of Apple laptops particularly. The convenience of doing away with cables that run to the device is clever on paper but again real-world application isn’t so hot. If you value your hardware you’ll be using a USB extension cable and that defeats the purpose of the design.

Despite the gripes if you want to record rough music AND use Skype and don’t have much money to spend the Tiki is a decent solution as it’s a jack-of-all-trades. Still, the gimmick-free Go Mic is a better bet.

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To date Blue’s Yeti hasn’t had much competition in terms of popularity.  The Snowball has done well too while other USB mic manufacturers have struggled to keep up with Blue’s success.

Audio-Technica, a heavy hitter in the realm of pro studio gear, hasn’t rested on its laurels. The AT2020 is a fine USB mic and one of the bigger threats to the dominance of the Yeti.

Both are great mics but in different ways, which comes down to differing design principles.

The Yeti has physical knobs and buttons both on the front and back, making it ideal for tweakers not big on software controls.

The AT2020 in contrast looks nearly identical to Audio-Technica XLR mics. Hardware controls are absent so gain levels must be adjusted via software.

Most notable strengths of the Yeti are features and value. It handles four polar patterns: cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo. Many top-end studio mics can’t do all that. No matter the situation, from interviews to instrument recording, to capturing the ambiance of the room, the Yeti is flexible enough to fit the task.

Strengths of the AT2020 are build quality and simplicity (geared towards controlling everything from the computer). While the AT2020 only does a cardioid pattern, this is all most people need anyhow. The build is closer to studio mics rather than USB mics, which tend to have cheap plastic parts. If you’re taking it on the road or recording a variety of characters voices or instruments, the importance of this advantage is boosted. Lastly studio engineers working on location will prefer having all controls at their fingertips and out of the way of the client just as when working with XLR mics.

Moving to sound quality, beyond tech specs there isn’t a world of difference. The AT2020 may have a slight edge overall, but the slight variations in frequency peaks and dips come down to personal preference. On paper the Yeti goes up to 20kHz while the AT2020 maxes out at 16kHz. In practice most adults can’t hear frequencies in that range rendering the difference irrelevant.

Looking at the most noteworthy advantages of each it’s easy to see why the Yeti is chosen more often. It’s more in line with the needs of the self-recording musician or DIY podcaster while the AT2020 is closer to what a pro studio owner would want in a USB mic.

If you’re still on the fence there are full individual reviews of the Blue Yeti and Audio-Technica AT2020 that go into the features and sound quality in greater detail.