Blue Snowball USB Microphone for Recording, Streaming, Podcasting, Gaming on PC and Mac, Condenser Mic with Cardioid and Omnidirectional Pickup Patterns, and Stylish Retro Design - White

An incredible microphone, you will not find a better or more versatile microphone in this price range nor in the price range above. It is perfect for both music and voice recording and, with the right use of settings, is perfect for the amateur podcaster, especially with a cheap pop shield as well. The three recording modes add great versatility and enable recording multiple things at once, which is useful for interviews and recording several musicians at the same time etc. Both cardioid modes have incredible tone and clarity and give very little noise for a microphone in this price range.I have been using these mics on various projects for a long time, and I could not reccomend them more strongly to anyone on a budget. For best results recording voice (such as for podcasts), use on the "2" setting (cardioid -10db). Run the mic through audacity or any recording software at a high input level, around 90%. After you have recorded what you want, record five seconds of silence, and then use the "noise reduction" effects (you can look up how to do this for any programme, such as audacity, online). If you record in a room with little echo and sit with your mouth close up to the mic, with a pop shield on it, you won't hear the difference between this mic and a £300 Rode mic or similar.An incredible product.

This is probably the best microphone you can get for under £60/$90. It is incredibly well built with an all metal tripod with 3 rubber feet to prevent slipping, with a wide enough base to stay stood up after a knock or bump. It is incredibly simple to setup, all you need to do is plug it into a usb port and give windows around 3 minutes to recognize and configure it and that's all. It has near studio quality and would be perfect for conference calls business calls or just skyping family members. the difference between this product and the cheaper "ICE" snowball is that this one has a switch on the back allowing you to choose: Cardiod mode (Only allows volume from the front of the microphone- ideal for one person speaking, singing or even pod casting) Cardiod -10dB PAD (Confusing if you don't understand what it means, this basically adds -10dB to what the microphone is recording reducing background noise and is ideal for live music or loud sounds) and Omni mode (Allows the mic to take in volume from all around, great for recording conferences, interviews or environmental sounds if your want to record outside.Sorry for the long review but I hope you find it helpful and that it helps you with your choice of mic for what you want. Feel free to comment with questions and I will try to give you the most accurate answer I can. :D

This is a great microphone for everyday use. From gaming to VOIP, it produces crisp clean sounding audio with no/very litttle background noise. For the price of this condenser microphone, and to receive such a high quality product is astonishing. The microphone feels very heavy for it's size but this is a good indicator that there is high quality materials used to manufacture it. The tripod is metal with rubber feet to prevent it from sliding around. The only negative thing I can state about this microphone is it can be a little quiet if your not close to it (within 15cm).

Having RESEARCHED at Blue's own web site (rather than relying on Amazon's product descriptions, which can sometimes be wrong) I was confident of a good mic and I wasn't wrong. Was also extremely happy to get it for nearly half the price (it went up by a tenner the day after I bought it!).You could find a number of 'issues' with it if you don't know what you're doing, but for those who understand the limitations -- not of the Snowball but of home audio recording in general -- and how to work round them to the advantage, the Snowball fits in just great.You may need to push the gain up a little in your software, as the mic doesn't have a preamp, but then again I could hear the tapping of my thumb and forefinger in front of and behind the mic - in other words it has no problem in picking up both direct and ambient noise. All three setting 'positions' have their uses depending on what you want to record, and in fact you might find you get a better vocal or acoustic instrument recording if you use the omni and get in closer -- the trick is to EXPERIMENT and don't take your first take as a definition of what the Snowball can help you achieve.I'm sorry if this sounds like a lecture, but I am sick of reading the reviews from people who complain about the mic because -- probably -- the rest of their setup is appalling. Research and read some articles on audio recording (particularly in the home) and you'll find that the biggest factor on getting decent recordings is the ROOM itself.Try these:[...]Seriously, you can't plug a mic -- any mic -- in to your PC or Mac and expect it to sound fantastic without you doing any work. It's not a magic cure all for bad acoustics or bad vocals. That said, I believe the Snowball is one of the best microphones in its class (if you don't need 24 bit / 192kHz recording, in which case look at the Yeti instead).Perfectly usable with the likes of GarageBand, for podcasting, and so on. I personally wouldn't use it with Skype or other IM because my headset is adequate for spoken vocals in that context, but I have no doubt it would work great.I highly recommend this microphone. If audio levels are really likely to be an issue (bearing in mind that most amateur home recordists capture vocals at too high a level) perhaps you'd be better off with a Shure mic (or one of Blue's XLR mics) and a XLR-USB preamp like the Icicle.(and no I don't work for Blue).

This was a very good product with fairly good audio quality for the price. However with the one I ordered, the solder holding the input port to the microphone snapped, and a week after soldering it back on, the microphone seemed to be completely dead.Again, overall good product, just don't be even a bit careless as I was with it.