3 reasons we don’t recommend Blue Yeti mics

It’s four years ago, and everyone is suddenly and frantically on the hunt for microphones. There had been a, uh…notable shift in the way people work and communicate and deliver content, and suddenly my phone was lighting up like a Christmas tree with people asking what microphones they should buy for their Zoom meetings, webinars, and livestreams. 

Now, I should note, I do not (nor did I ever) work in consumer electronics. But for a surprising number of business owners, lawyers, speakers, doctors, and authors, I was still the best option they had readily available in their rolodex. So, in the interest of professional decorum, I spent a whole bunch of money and tested out a whole lot of equipment. 

Then–and ever since then–the following situation occurred several dozen times. 

Associate: “What mic should I get?”

Me: “Well, that really depends on your needs. There’s no one right mic for everyone, and it depends on how much you have budgeted and how willing you are to go through some setup hoops. What you really want to look at is–”

Associate: “My friend said I should buy a Blue Yeti.”

Me: “Oh. I mean, it’s fine. We actually don’t really recommend them in professional settings for most people because–”

And then they’d buy the Blue Yeti. And then I’d get a text months later asking why it wasn’t working. 

Listen, I’m not making any universal statement here. Some people have had fine experiences. Many have dealt with frustrations. At the end of the day, I speak primarily for myself when I say this: If you have a laptop built in the past few years, buying a Blue Yeti USB mic is not going to be a notable step up overall. Why?

1. They can be frustratingly finicky. Blue Yeti mics plug in via USB. In theory this should make them simple to use and relatively dummy-proof. In reality, they kind of end up being the printers of the A/V world, if that makes sense. Why isn’t your computer recognizing it? I don’t know. Yes, I know it recognized it an hour ago. Have you tried restarting the computer? Have you tried unplugging it and plugging it back in?

2. They’re a strange middle ground. Any pro-level setup is going to output through an XLR, then run through a bunch of devices to convert the audio into a digital signal. For people spending the money–people who make their money or build huge audiences via podcasting or virtual speaking–these mics are worth investing in. On the other side, onboard mics have made big strides in the past couple years. This leaves the Blue Yeti (and its competitors…don’t want people to think I’m just picking on one conglomerate) in a strange neither-hot-nor-cold position. And besides–

3. The audio quality is middling. Some of this is opinion, but some of it is just objective. The standard hundred-dollars-or-so Blue Yeti option is not an incredible mic. It pics up a ton of ambient noise. It’s made with cheap components. And audio recorded on it produces notable audio hiss.

So what to do? Unfortunately, there’s no slam dunk answer. If you’re using a cheap-ish usb mic and like what you’re producing with it, great! If you’re hunting for a new setup, it gets more difficult. To a certain degree, it’s a you-get-what-you-pay-for scenario. I use this one. It works admirably. 

The things that have been exciting me most recently are lav mics. What used to be cumbersome by nature now comes in a very small and sleek package. I recommend these DJI mics to pretty much everyone I come across these days. Just clip the mic to your collar, plug the receiver into your phone or computer, and you’re good to go. 

These are great, because they pic up your voice in a nice, crisp way–and that’s pretty much ALL they pic up. Great for people doing virtual speaking who don’t care to have their refrigerators and dogs coming through. Plus, they’re simple to throw in a bag when you’re on the road. 

Audio can be frustrating. Fortunately, there are a ton of opinions out there available for you–way more than there were at the beginning of 2020. Here’s hoping you find the right one for you.

We Captured Exactly 78,129 words worth of footage on Saturday

It’s springtime proper now. At least, it is for those of us in the American South. My condolences to our clients and readers in the Northeast. 

And with the improved weather comes an influx of clients new and old looking to shoot fresh content.

So over the weekend, we had five individual businesses come through the studio to batch-create social media content, homepage videos, campaign promos–you name it. 

And at the end of it all, we ended up with 78,129 spoken words captured on camera. 

That’s 1.6 Great Gatsbys. 

It’s about 9 standard-length sitcom episodes. 

It’s a lot, is what I’m saying. Probably the most we’ve ever shot in a standard shoot day. Here are my contractually obligated takeaways:

Interview-style shooting gives you more (and better) content. I legitimately think it would be impossible to shoot this much usable footage off of a teleprompter in fewer than three days. 

Vibes are more important than scripts when you’re going for volume. When you get bogged down in scripts and the minutiae of language, you can’t fully explore the space. More important than precision is keeping everyone in an upbeat, creative mood.

It’s not a good idea to eat a heavy lunch when you have six hours of shooting left ahead of you. The burger and fries look good; they will seem like the right call. But it pays to look out for afternoon-you. (This takeaway will–inevitably–be promptly forgotten about within the week, as always).

Anyways, huge thanks to the full team–Nick, Michelle, Hannah–and to our always amazing clients. We’ll be sure to post some of their productions over the next few months. 

Why you shouldn’t shoot video over Zoom

If you follow our stuff, you know that the majority of what we shoot happens in-studio or on-location–meaning with a crew and big, cumbersome cameras. 

Every now and then, however, a client’s timeline or circumstances require us to shoot things over the good ol’ World Wide Web. And for basically everyone out in the world, recording video over the internet is synonymous with Zoom.

And that’s because Zoom is really, really good at doing the specific thing it’s designed to do–namely, keeping a consistent live feed going without too much stuttering. Basically, if you’re running a meeting, Zoom is great.

But if you’re recording content? Not so hot. 

It turns out that the REASON Zoom is so good at keeping a steady feed going is that it makes compromises in other areas; specifically, the areas that make video files look and sound pretty. Many people come to us frustrated that even though they’ve invested in all sorts of high-dollar webcams and microphones, their footage still looks cruddy. 

And more often than not, Zoom is to blame. Without getting into specifics about specifically what it’s specifically doing, just know that it’s built to to crush files to smithereens.

So what can we do about it? Here are three distinct options:

1. Record locally. Without exception, a video you record on your phone or on your computer will look markedly better than one over the web. When recording with a simple webcam on Mac, we tend to use Quicktime to easily snap videos, but there are a ton of third-party apps you can choose. Unfortunately, this isn’t always a viable option. Maybe you’re doing an interview or need a director. In that case…

2. Use a dedicated recording app. When you conduct a Zoom meeting, it basically takes everybody’s webcam, crushes up all the pixels, and makes a video stew that gets doled out to everyone in the call. Now obviously, that’s not scientifically accurate. There are other applications and services, however, designed to prioritize quality (bitrate, resolution, etc). They record files locally and then upload them to the host individually. That way, an editor can have full HD (or even 4k) footage while still being able to talk organically with the expert. 
   
   We use Riverside. I would link it here, but I don’t want to imply that we’re affiliates or whatever–just moderately happy customers. 

3. If all else fails, at least click this box. We get it. Sometimes, the ease of use associated with Zoom makes it the best option in the moment. Everyone across geography and generations knows how to click a Zoom link and understands the basic protocols that go along with that. So naturally, many people will default to Zoom when they need to capture a quick testimonial or soundbite. But no matter what, always, always click this little box in your settings. This will force your recordings to default to some sort of industry standard in terms of aspect ratio, frame rate, etc.

So that’s it, really. Not everyone has easy access to a studio. And even if you do, sometimes you just want to do all that for a quick thing. But just because you’re not able to capture world-class cinema doesn’t mean you have to settle for bottom-of-the-barrel video that looks like it was shot on a Gameboy Camera.