This is my full Blue Snowball microphone review video. The Blue Snowball is probably the best entry-level USB microphone that you can get for the money. It has a very nice clean sound. This is the closest you’re going to get to professional studio sound quality for the value. The build quality is very solid. I’ve had mine for over 4 years now. It’s suffered many drops, and it still works perfectly. I’ve never had a problem with it so far.
This nice little tripod stand is included in the box with the Blue Snowball microphone along with a sturdy USB cable. The tripod stand has 3 adjustable legs. The Blue Snowball itself does not take up very much room at all. It is conveniently compact. You do have the ability to take the Blue Snowball microphone off of the tripod stand if you need to put it onto another microphone holder. Another great feature about this microphone is it’s very easy to use. There’s no software required. It’s plug-n-play. All you do is plug the USB cable into your computer and then plug the other end into the back of the Blue Snowball microphone and you are ready to record. It’s compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OS X.
There is no power button on the Blue Snowball. Once you plug it into your computer it receives its power through the USB cable. The front red light will turn on when it is powered up. On the back of the microphone you will see that it has 3 different settings, and I will go over what those settings are and how they sound. Setting 1 is the cardioid mode which is mainly used for podcasts, vocals, vocal singing, voiceovers, and commentaries. It’s suited for whenever you’re speaking directly in front of the microphone.
Setting 2 is a cardioid mode with a -10 dB pad which means it captures louder sounds while keeping the quality. If you’re recording something loud, such as loud music or live instruments, then this is the setting that you want to use. Setting 3 is the omni-directional mode which picks up sound equally from all directions. This is best if you want to capture all the noise in a room, especially if you want to pick up all the background and ambient noises. This is suited for interviews, conferences, or nature settings.
The only downside about this microphone that I found was the recording level. It’s quite low when recording into this microphone. You have to be close to the microphone for it to pick up that nice sound quality from your voice. Even with the input control turned almost all the way up on the computer, you still have to be close to the microphone for it to pick up a rich sound quality of your voice. Since you do have to be so close to the microphone when recording into it I recommend putting a pop filter on the Blue Snowball. It’s not completely necessary, but for only $13 it’s worth it to get the absolute best quality possible.
When you’re talking into the Blue Snowball on setting 1 it does a great job of eliminating the unwanted background noise. That wraps up my review of the Blue Snowball microphone. Overall it’s a highly recommended product by me. It’s definitely something you want to get if you’re creating any type of content online such as YouTube videos or sound recordings.
By Andy Slye