Home studios can be very expensive to set up. They require space and money, with equipment like microphones easily costing four digits for pro-level gear. If you’re not completely dedicated to your recording, it’s likely prohibitive to put together a studio. Fortunately, you can get a high-quality USB microphone for your amateur work, whether it’s making podcasts or playing instruments, for a fraction of the price of professional equipment. The Blue Microphones Yeti is one example. It’s a $149.99 (list) mic that offers four different recording modes and extremely clear sound. And it costs a lot less than the company’s higher-end microphones, but it’s well-built and offers plenty of features for the user who’s not quite ready to build themselves a studio just yet.

Design

Weighing in at more than 3 pounds, the Yeti Pro is a beast of a microphone. If it were gold-plated instead of a dull silver, it would look more like a trophy for broadcasters than a USB mic. Still, it's a good-looking and solid. The foot-tall microphone consists of two parts: the stand and the actual mic. The stand is a 7-inch-tall piece of nearly solid steel, weighted to keep the mic from tipping over, and featuring a very large, adjustable axle upon which the mic can pivot up and down. If you want a smaller mic, the Samson Meteor Mic ($99.99, 3.5 stars) weighs just over half a pound and has a stand that can fold up when it's not in use. However, its audio quality isn't quite as good as the Yeti, and it lacks its flexibility; it's only a unidirectional mic.

The microphone itself is a fat, 7.5-inch-long, bullet-shaped hulk with a silver body and a chrome tip, covered in three dials and a Mute button and featuring USB and 3.5mm jacks on the bottom, along with a screw-mount for use when the mic is off the stand. This isn’t recommended, though; removing the mic from the stand’s axle leaves a handful of washers on each side that have to be aligned to replace it on the stand later. (The 3.5mm jack is a headphone passthrough; the USB mic takes over the headphone output.)

Besides its size and build quality, the Yeti’s biggest appeal is its multiple patterns. A dial on the body lets you switch between stereo, cardioids, omnidirectional, and bidirectional microphone geometries, making the Yeti a versatile mic. The different settings can really change how your recordings sound, either by reducing ambient noise or opening up the recording area to allow multiple people to talk or play instruments.

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Performance

The Yeti’s voice quality is excellent, both for individual users and small groups. The cardioid mode is great for podcasts and voice calls, while the omnidirectional and bidirectional modes are great for interviews and group discussions. In my tests, it picked up voices clearly, with no interference or fuzziness, and the adjustable gain helped reduce ambient noise while keeping the clarity. As a mic for podcasts or recording any sort of spoken word, it’s a powerful tool, and a worthy step up from the sort of mics you would find in the computer accessories aisle of your local electronics store.

As a USB microphone, the Yeti isn’t suitable for a dedicated studio. For a home recording setup where you can’t afford a $1,000 mic, though, it’s a solid choice. The laudable audio quality and four different patterns make it excellent for podcasts, interviews, amateur musicians, and garage bands who can’t put together a true, multiple-component, multiple-microphone studio.

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