Stream, podcast or record with an £85 Blue Yeti microphone

The world’s most popular* USB condenser mic, the Blue Yeti, is 30% off at Amazon UK right now. This mic is an institution amongst podcasters, game streamers and interviewers, thanks to its detailed sound capture and simple plug-and-play setup.

*probably

So where does the Yeti make sense? It’s an excellent choice for anyone working in a quiet environment, as good condenser mics like this one are able to capture voices with warmth and detail, but don’t do as well as dynamic mics when it comes to rejecting off-axis noise. This is way beyond the scope of this, a simple deals blog, but generally you also want to be sitting good and close to the mic so that you don’t have to have its gain turned up to an absurd degree.

With those basic stabs at best practices in mind, the Yeti offers a lot of flexibility. It has a choice of four pickup patterns – to capture sound from right in front of it, all around you, front and back and so on – so it’s quite handy if you want to try different things like interviews, podcasting or recording music. There’s a 3.5mm port for live monitoring of your recording, and the Yeti is compatible with a wide range of stands if you’d prefer to keep the microphone aloft (which I’d very much recommend, to help with positioning and to prevent it from picking up noise from whatever surface it would otherwise be sitting on).

There are certainly other good microphone options, and you may well want to research when a dynamic mic like the PreSonus PD-70 or the 512 Audio Limelight would make more sense (generally, when you want to isolate your voice amongst a more cluttered soundscape. ..aka a noisy room). Similarly, XLR mics (like the aforementioned) may be a better shout if you are happy to trade the plug-and-play nature of USB for something that is a bit more modular.

In any case, this is a good deal on a USB condenser mic, so if that sounds like a good fit for you then I’d definitely recommend this deal.

Thanks for joining me and I’ll be back with more discounted tech next week!