Best settings for Blue Yeti?

[WolfWraith]

I just wanted to know what everyone (who has 1) uses for their Blue Yeti settings (I'm assuming this applies to pro as well) in terms of the gain on both the Yeti itself and PC. I use the cardioid setting when doing solo commentaries and then I use the bidirectional for dual commentaries with my mate when playing games.

For solo commentaries I have the Yeti set to like 5-10% (maybe 15%) for the gain and pretty much around the same for dual commentaries I have it on around 15-25%. On the PC though, I set the gain to around 40-50% lately.
But I feel that sometimes it's too loud or too low when I edit it in Audacity (I used to literally sit there on Premiere and add keyframes and adjust the audio volume that way). My main issue is with my solo commentaries where even though I'm a decent distance away from the mic it still somehow picks up breathing.

TL;DR: What settings does everyone use for their Yeti's and in what situations do they use these settings?

 

[Marcus "Rediche" Geil]

This sounds stupid, but if you don't have a popfilter for your mic, and you're not doing live commentaries. Stretching a t-shirt with your hands in front of the mic, talking through that, can actually work as a popfilter ;-)

As for settings usually go low in gain, go as close as possible to the mic, talk loud and clear without sounding fake, and then the rest is for post editing.

 

[WolfWraith]

This sounds stupid, but if you don't have a popfilter for your mic, and you're not doing live commentaries. Stretching a t-shirt with your hands in front of the mic, talking through that, can actually work as a popfilter ;-)

As for settings usually go low in gain, go as close as possible to the mic, talk loud and clear without sounding fake, and then the rest is for post editing.

Okay thanks, would a pop filter help with breathing though? (lol I heard someone on here wrapped pantyhose around theirs or a sock or something xD) I thought they only help with Ps and Bs too lol I've been contemplating buying 1 but I'm not sure of the value since I will be doing dual commentaries as well and the mic has to be sitting between the 2 of us literally to our sides and the issue I have is that my mate is quiet sometimes so normalizing and compressing doesn't help much. Also I tend to keep the mic around 30cm away when doing solo commentaries, I've even kept it 1m away and that actually seemed better but it then picked up all the controller noises too xD

 

[Andrew Flint]

I have the gain pointing at the A of Gain for all my PC use.. works fine for me

I also use the 3rd pattern (Omni)

 

[WolfWraith]

I have the gain pointing at the A of Gain for all my PC use.. works fine for me

I also use the 3rd pattern (Omni)

Oh wow, and that gain isn't too high for you? How far is the mic from you?

 

[Marcus "Rediche" Geil]

Okay thanks, would a pop filter help with breathing though? (lol I heard someone on here wrapped pantyhose around theirs or a sock or something xD) I thought they only help with Ps and Bs too lol I've been contemplating buying 1 but I'm not sure of the value since I will be doing dual commentaries as well and the mic has to be sitting between the 2 of us literally to our sides and the issue I have is that my mate is quiet sometimes so normalizing and compressing doesn't help much. Also I tend to keep the mic around 30cm away when doing solo commentaries, I've even kept it 1m away and that actually seemed better but it then picked up all the controller noises too xD

The whole reason Bs and Ps are a b*tch is because they produce a lot of airflow into the mic when you talk. Unless you're breathing heavily, then a popfilter can help out by breaking a bit of the sound of the breathing coming towards the mic.

 

[Crown]

How is the mic positioned? Try and position it so you are talking past it, but not into it IYSWIM? It doesn't need to be slap bang in front of you. I position mine close to me but about 45° to my left. So it's well within range but doesn't pick up my breathing and doesn't pop even without me using a pop filter.

 

[WolfWraith]

How is the mic positioned? Try and position it so you are talking past it, but not into it IYSWIM? It doesn't need to be slap bang in front of you. I position mine close to me but about 45° to my left. So it's well within range but doesn't pick up my breathing and doesn't pop even without me using a pop filter.

IYSWIM? (had to Google that 1 lol) I have the mic on a stand www.artistguitars.com.au/buy/ms012-deluxe-black-boom-mic-stand/10410 this 1 exactly (typical me I went and ordered it without thinking about buying an arm type stand). So sometimes the mic is on it's side or sometimes it's upright, on it's side when I'm doing solo mostly, upright when I'm doing dual commentary so it's between the 2 of us. I never put the mic directly infront of my mouth even when it's 30-60cm away, I purposely adjust it so it's just level with my chin or a little under my chin but the mic will sit infront of me, sometimes I do have the mic to the side but I can get a little too quiet sometimes (>.>) so I need it in the right position. Thing is, I've slowly got better at understanding where to position it and that's helped a bit, it's just the gain settings that are doing me over sometimes because when I do normalise and compress it can make the loud sounds louder and the quiet sounds stay the same and sometimes it helps the quiet sounds too but not always. Sometimes the breaking is increase due to the compressor, but I'm not heavily breathing this is when I'm talking and go to take a breath to continue.

Would turning the gain on the PC off completely help and just fiddling with gain on the mic? Or are you meant to use a combination of both?? I still have yet to know the difference between the 2.

 

[Crown]

IYSWIM? (had to Google that 1 lol) I have the mic on a stand www.artistguitars.com.au/buy/ms012-deluxe-black-boom-mic-stand/10410 this 1 exactly (typical me I went and ordered it without thinking about buying an arm type stand). So sometimes the mic is on it's side or sometimes it's upright, on it's side when I'm doing solo mostly, upright when I'm doing dual commentary so it's between the 2 of us. I never put the mic directly infront of my mouth even when it's 30-60cm away, I purposely adjust it so it's just level with my chin or a little under my chin but the mic will sit infront of me, sometimes I do have the mic to the side but I can get a little too quiet sometimes (>.>) so I need it in the right position. Thing is, I've slowly got better at understanding where to position it and that's helped a bit, it's just the gain settings that are doing me over sometimes because when I do normalise and compress it can make the loud sounds louder and the quiet sounds stay the same and sometimes it helps the quiet sounds too but not always. Sometimes the breaking is increase due to the compressor, but I'm not heavily breathing this is when I'm talking and go to take a breath to continue.

Would turning the gain on the PC off completely help and just fiddling with gain on the mic? Or are you meant to use a combination of both?? I still have yet to know the difference between the 2.

Sounds like the positioning is ok then.

For the settings, I don't have the blue yeti myself but it sounds like there's a gain dial on the mic itself as well as the gain settings via the software ? I'm not sure. On my mic (Samson go mic) there are just 3 settings (one directional, cardioid and bi-directional) and the gain is only controlled through the software. For my commentaries, I use cardioid and have the gain around 75%. After recording, I do some noise reduction and normalization. Maybe record 5 seconds of you breathing normally, but not saying anything at the beginning and then run the "noise reduction" filter to filter it out at the end ?

 

[Andrew Flint]

Oh wow, and that gain isn't too high for you? How far is the mic from you?

It's around half a meter from me, it's sites on the other side of my keyboard