A reasonably good mic that Leaves me blue in different ways.

Being an audiophile since I was 9, and as a hobby using some semi, to professional equipment, microphones definitely are in the equation.

I am at some point in time wanting to start a podcast in audio be it high end, or not so high end audio to rekindle the art of listening to music rather than just beating up your ears on just some sort of MP3 player with horrid compressed audio.

Setting up a small project studio is easy. A computer, mixer, backup recording unit, pending by the way though, a DAT and CD-RW recorder could serve well for now, I am looking at a flash recorder from Tascam,Edirol, and others in case I have a crash on the computer.

This case, an I-Mac 24 Core 2 Duo. The white case computer, not the new slick aluminum unit. Sigh.

At any case I need a microphone that in a pinch will interface with my Mac, and if needed my backup computer, the Windows Vista quad core intel frankenstein's monster machine I have and, yes actually love.

Enter the Snowball by Blue Microphones. A very slick and easy solution that instantly plugs into the USB input on your computer via the USB output from the Microphone. No additional Microphone preamplifier needed. Still the cleanest way possible to get your signal in and out of your computer other than perhaps your SPDIF (Sony,Philips,Digital Interface) digital input/output.

Interface by the way with my Windows Vista Service pack 1 computer was just as easy with installation taking only about 15 seconds maximum.

So there we go ready to record my podcasts or other projects for bettter or worse.

This microphone is a 3 way patterned mic with Cardoid, Omni directional, and -10db padded Cardoid attenuation pattern.  Really the one I am interested in, is the Cardoid  pattern because it is like a very narrow cone pattern directly in front of my face so off axis rejection is superior, and I don't pick up other sounds around my room.

Tip, when using this microphone wether podcasting or using Skype, or Oovoo, use headphones as your audio monitor so feedback will not be a concern.

Life with the Snowball.

So far the microphone has done what it promises with some caveats.
The signal to noise or if you will background noise is higher than I would have liked. Also the dynamic range could be wider in that it is relatively easy to overload the microphone with high SPL's or loud sounds distort a bit easier than I would like, but reasonable vocal levels are handled just fine. Just set your mixer level in your computer at the proper input level, and you will be fine.

In the Mac it is in System Preferences, and in Windows typically the Advanced Mixer Properties will allow you to adjust microphone levels appropriately.

Sound wise, the microphone sounds fairly neutral in the mid range and mid bass area with a somewhat steep roll off, desired by the way.
Treble response is reasonably good, though I would like a bit more air in the mid treble and treble response. At least in my setup before any equalization, a bit shy in this area. Since I use only the Cardoid setup I can't really comment on the other polar settings since I have no application for them.

So overall, does this rank as a great $100.00 Microphone? Well, yes and no.  Yes if the spoken word is key and production costs have to stay low, I would also look at the Blue Snowflake too and save some dollars and get more portability in the mix too. The no part would be its rather limited dynamic range, and soft highs, and its adequate but not stellar signal to noise ratio.

Mandatory accessories. Please do not bother with the included useless stand that comes with the Snowball. For me at least, it was too low anyway. Buy a reasonably good boom microphone stand, about $100.00 or so and get the Shock mount to further isolate the microphone from any unwanted vibration or movement. Buy a "plosives" or PoP filter to eliminate those sharp leading transients with the letter "P", such as Penolope, grows Petunias in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

Final thoughts, the Blue Snowball is a good microphone for its intended purpose, not a great microphone. I quite frankly have not seen a great microphone for $100.00, but with an external analog to USB converter which there are many to chose, along with Phantom Power, that is 48 volts to charge the capacitor inside for the Condenser Microphone element, you can use pretty much any microphone you want.

So ultimately the Blue Snowball will become my guest speakers microphone, and I will use another microphone with traditional output to that Analog to USB Converter.  I learned a lot from this Blue Microphone where, and what I want my host microphone to be.

Got my eye on one the AKG 400 series microphones right now, but not definite at this point. Also a lot of good Dynamic Microphones are there for the chosing too such as the Heil PR-40, though a bit pricey at around $350.00 or so dollars street price or there abouts. The Shure microphone and Sennheiser microphone catalog of Microphones are outstanding choices though at more money.

Will keep all posted on my continuing developments of my Podcast adventure. V.C.