Is Blue Yeti the Best Mic for Podcasting in 2024?

The Blue Yeti mic is one of those audio tools that grew up with the podcast industry. It played a big role in allowing more and more people to become podcasters. For that reason alone, the Blue Yeti will always hold a special place in podcasting.

But is it the best mic for podcasts in 2023? Of course the best answer is it depends on your exact needs. It is definitely a good option, though. Let’s take a look! 🔍

Blue Yeti Features

The Blue Yeti microphone is designed to be a one-stop-shop, a jack-of-all-trades.

Because of its versatile features, it will never be the wrong choice for a podcasting microphone. It might not be the very best choice, depending on the circumstances, but it will always be usable. There won’t be a situation where a podcaster doesn’t have the technology, equipment, or knowledge to make it work. 👷

Plug-n-Play Recording

The Blue Yeti microphone is a plug-and-play USB microphone. That means you can take it fresh out of the box, plug it into your computer, a recording software will pop up (or a prompt to download the free software), and you are all set to go. 🏃

And yes, it does work with both a Mac and a Windows computer operating system.

USB Cable

The USB cable also acts as the power cord, pulling bus electricity from the computer. The simplicity is beautiful. 🔌🚫

The USB cable that comes in the box is a USB 2.0, with a Mini B plug on one end and a USB-A plug on the other. This is because the Blue Yeti microphone body has a Mini B outlet.

If your computer does not have a USB-A outlet (example: new Mac laptops), you will need to get an adapter. Just make sure that the adapter is USB 2.0 or higher so that it carries both data and electricity. ⚡

Recording Software

Because Blue Yeti has been recently bought by Logitech, its audio recording software now must be downloaded as part of the Logitech G Hub. Don’t worry, it still comes for free with the microphone.

The software, “Blue VO!CE,” works on both Windows and Mac operating systems (just be sure to download the correct package for your system). 🖥️

Beyond just capturing your podcast’s audio, the software allows you to make adjustments.

For example, it has a Depopper that removes any “pops” that come up in your recording. A pop is when a hard blast of air comes out of the speaker’s mouth, hitting the microphone’s diaphragm too hard and creating an unwanted sound. Pronouncing the letters B,D,K,P, and T usually cause a pop. 💥

The audio recording software also lets you adjust EQ levels for your specific voice. Also you can apply vocal effects like pitch shifter, echo, and reverb. Importantly it includes a high-pass filter and a noise reduction filter.

But of course, no matter the recording software, the microphone body itself should be the first line of defense against unwanted noise. Which brings us to… 👇

Built-in Stand & On-Body Controls

The built-in mic stand is yet another way that Blue Yeti microphones come ready to go straight out of the box. You don’t have to worry about buying a separate stand and making sure it fits well with your mic.

The stand is made so that users can easily access the outlets at the bottom of the microphone— the USB outlet and the headphone outlet (we’ll get to that in the next section). 😍

It is also designed for easy access to the on-body controls: The pickup pattern switch knob (we’ll cover that in later section), the microphone’s gain knob (the sensitivity of the mic), the headphone volume knob, and the mute button.

The stand has screws so you can change the position of the mic on the stand and then secure it in that position. 🎙️

Biggest Complaint about the Blue Yeti

The most common complaint about the Yeit is that it is too sensitive and picks up too much unwanted noise. This complaint often has to do with the stand.

The stand tends to pick up noise if someone bumps the recording studio desk it is on, or taps on the recording studio desk, or does any kind of nervous fidgeting that comes into contact with the recording studio desk. There is an internal shockmount built in, but there is only so much it can do. 🤷‍♀️

You also can undo the screws all the way and remove the mic from the stand. That leads us to a solution to the complaint. 👇

Solution

The body of the Yeti mic is made to be able to attach to any standard stand. That means you can ditch the stand that comes with the Yeti and use a stronger one that resists sounds from desk noises! 🥳

However, if you stick with the original stand, you can solve the problem by closely monitoring the audio for quality during the live recording. That way you can catch these noises and quickly re-record the disrupted section. The Blue Yeti has zero-latency headphone monitoring built right into the microphone itself just for that purpose.

Multiple Polar Patterns

Now let’s get into what Blue Yeti mics might be known best for: Their multiple polar patterns. 🎤

Polar patterns are also known as a microphone directionalities. They describe what areas around the mic will be picked up by the microphone. Most mics only have one set polar pattern. The Blue Yeti has four that you can easily toggle through using the “pickup pattern switch” on the microphone body itself. Here are the four:

Cardioid 🗣️

This polar pattern mode picks up sound right in front of the mic. It is very common for any kind of voice recording, including podcasts. Its important to remember that the middle of this pattern is the side of the microphone, not its dome. That means you should not have the mic pointed straight at your mouth. Instead, it should be pointed up and you should be speaking toward its side.

Figure 8 ♾️

When this mode is toggled on, the mic basically picks up the cardioid pattern, but for both sides of the microphone. Hence its more formal name: Bidirectional polar pattern. This option is great when you have two people recording a podcast episode together, but you don’t want to buy a second mic.

Omni 🌐

If you are up on your Latin, you’ll know that “omni” mode means the microphone is recording in all directions. And remember, that is 3D. So not just all sides of the mic, but also over the top of it and somewhat below it. If you want to have more than two people on an episode and you don’t want to buy more mics, this option can work. But keep in mind, it does pick up all the noise in the space.

Stereo 🦻

The Stereo mode is like Omni, in that it records the entire space around the mic, but it records left and right channels separately. That way the listener can be fully immersed in the sound– just like real life where your two ears are picking up on sounds differently from each other. You probably don’t want to use this in a podcast studio, but the option is there.

With all these options, you can see why people have long loved Blue Yeti for podcasting. What really seals the deal, though, is the price. 🤑

Blue Yeti Price

The price for a Blue Yeti is only $110.

Because of its design, you don’t need to buy additional equipment like a stand or XLR cable. Also, because of its multiple polar patterns, you can get away with not buying multiple mics for a multiple person podcast. You can’t get a much better deal than that! 🥰

There’s a reason the Blue Yeti has been the number one most sold podcast mic in America for a very long time. Blue Yeti for podcasting isn’t going away any time soon.

Blue Yeti for Podcasting vs Yeti Nano & Yeti X

How does the Blue Yeti compare to its two Yeti siblings, Yeti Nano and Yeti X?

Well, to start, we’d better clarify that technically the microphone is no longer called the Blue Yeti. This is because it is no longer sold by the Blue company. It is just the Yeti. Though on marketplaces like Amazon, you’ll still see it called the Blue Yeti. 💁‍♀️

So how does the Yeti stack up against the Yeti Nano and Yeti X?

Yeti Nano

The only real difference between the Yeti and the Yeti Nano is that the Nano only has two capsules rather than three. That results in the Nano only have two polar patterns: Cardioid and Omnidirectional. So if you have a two person podcast and want the bidirectional pick up pattern, you’re out of luck. Because of this, the Nano is cheaper at $80. 🤏

Yeti X

The Yeti X is the more expensive version of the Yeti.

It has four capsules. That means it has more polar pattern options, right? Well, no. It still has the same four polar patterns as the Yeti. 4️⃣

What the Yeti X brings to the table is its ‘smart knob.’ What on the Yeti is just the headphones volume knob, on the Yeti X controls not just the podcast headphones volume, but also mic gain, mute, and mix of audio coming from the mic vs your computer.

Right above the smart know is a LED powered meter so you can visually see in real time how loud your audio is being picked up. This is helpful if you are doing a live streaming and need to be able to monitor and adjust your gain quickly and easily. 🎚️

What really matters, some may argue, is that you can program what color you want the LEDs to be. So if you are doing video streaming, your audience is super lucky. 😜

[By the way, speaking of video: You can order any of the three types of Yeti microphones with several different color options. Yay!]

The Yeti X costs $150.

Winner: Yeti, or Yeti Nano

Call us old fashioned, but we think a smart knob and light up LED meter probably doesn’t help a podcaster that much. Of course it doesn’t hurt, so feel free to pay the extra $40 if you want.

So that leaves us with Yeti vs Nano Yeti. Basically it comes down to if you want the Figure 8 recording feature or not. Do you plan to record podcast episodes with one other person and don’t want to buy another mic? Then get the Yeti. Otherwise get the Nano. Since best practice in podcasts is to have one mic for each person, we lean toward getting the Nano and saving about $30.

Compared to Non-Blue Microphones

How do other non-Yeti mics compare to the Blue Yeti for podcasting? That’s a very big question, but we’ll do our best to answer it. 🤓

[By the way, if you want to learn more about microphone terms, check out this blog post]

Senal UC4

The Yeti’s close rival is probably the Senal UC4. It has everything the Yeti is known for: USB plug-and-play, four polar patterns, built-in stand, etc. In fact, since it is all metal, the stand is sturdier. It is more resistant to getting knocked over or picking up sounds from a studio desk. 💪

However, it does not come with any mixing software. Also, some users are saying that the sound quality is not as good as the Yeti.

The Senal UC4 costs $170. So for us, the Blue Yeti wins. It is the better bet for someone looking to quickly start a podcast. 🏆

Samson G-Track Pro

Samson G-Track Pro mics are also a close rival of the Yeti. The Samson G-Track has the three main polar patterns: Cardioid, Figure 8, and Omnidirection. Its built-in stand is sturdy, made of metal. It has a headphone jack for monitoring and a mute button.

Where the Samson surpasses the Yeti is that it has a 1/4″ outlet where you can plug in an instrument for recording on a separate track. Now, a podcaster probably is not going to be using an instrument, but the outlet has another purpose. If you want, you can use that outlet to connect to a second microphone. Let’s say you don’t want to buy a second mic now and just use the Samson’s bidirectional pattern to record both people. That’s great, but you are still giving yourself a great option for integration in the future in case you change your mind. 🎤🎤

Where the Samson falls just a little short is that it does not come with any recording or mixing software like the Yeti does. Keep in mind the Yeti software isn’t really professional grade audio recording and mixing software. That means its not a huge lose if you don’t have something like it. There is plenty of other free or cheap software out there that can do the job. But there is something to be said about truly just pulling a Yeti out the box, downloading its companion software, and just getting started.

Dealbreaker

The deal breaker is that the body of the Samson isn’t not designed to attach to any other standard stand. That means it is not made to go on a boom arm or some kind of stand that is excellent a reducing desk vibrations and unwanted noises. Since that is the typically the biggest complaint about these types of mics, this is a big drawback.

The Samson G-Track Pro costs $90, so it is good option. But still doesn’t beat the Blue Yeti for podcasting. 🥇

Thanks for taking the time to read our review of the Blue Yeti for podcasting. We hope it has been helpful to you as you choose the best microphone for your podcast! And as always, enjoy the podcasting journey! 🚀