How To Turn Off Mic Monitoring On A Blue Yeti

Mic monitoring on a Blue Yeti enables you to listen to what you’re recording through the headphones/a headset without any latency. By doing so, you can adjust sound quality accordingly if it’s necessary. However, if you prefer or need to listen back to your work after making the recording, you’ll need to switch it off.

You can turn off mic monitoring on a Blue Yeti by opening your Windows and right-clicking the system tray to select Recording Devices. Right-click the default microphone and select Properties. Tap the Listen tab and disable “Listen to this Device” before pressing Ok.

In the rest of the article, I’ll discuss in more detail how you can disable direct mic monitoring in different ways on your microphone, PC, or Mac so that you can choose the approach that works best for you.

How To Turn Off Mic Monitoring on a Blue Yeti

1. Deactivate Mic Monitoring on Your Computer or Laptop

You should first ensure that the Yeti is connected to your PC using a USB cable to turn off mic monitoring before you make a recording. You need to do this because direct monitoring always automatically turns itself on when you insert your headphones into the Yeti.

Open your windows 7, 8.1, or 10 – the operating systems (OS) that the Blue Yeti normally functions on and open the control panel. Once there, click the Sound or Volume control icon to bring up a small window.

On that opening, tap Recording and right-click the default Blue Yeti microphone to open up a new window where you will have to select Properties. Tap Listen and uncheck the “Listen to this Device” tab before pressing Ok to finish turning off mic monitoring.

Alternatively, you can mute monitoring by going to the system tray and right-clicking the Volume icon to select the Playback devices tab. Right-click on the Yeti mic and select Properties to bring up the Select Levels display. Press mute or adjust the volume on the Microphone slider to stop hearing yourself through the headphones as you speak.

However, if you use the Audacity audio editor software on your Windows to record a song, go to the Control Panel and tap Sound.

Once the down display screen appears, click on Speakers to allow you to select the USB Advanced Audio Device. Tap Properties and then Levels from where you should click Microphone and turn on Mute. Additionally, you could go to Preferences in your audio settings and set the Yeti for Record only before selecting Playthrough instead of overdub. When Playthrough is chosen, you will not hear yourself as you record.

2. Turn Off Mic Monitoring on a Mac Computer

Connect the Blue Yeti to your Mac using a suitable USB cable before opening the System Preferences. Click the Sound icon and select the Blue Yeti microphone under the Input tab. After, tap the Output tab and still select the Yeti. From there, lower the Output volume to a level where you will not be able to hear yourself as you record as the monitoring feature is unable to work when the volume is very low.

If you instead want to mute the feature, go to Finder windows and open Applications to select Utilities. Then click Audio Midi Setup to select your microphone. Under Input, uncheck the Thru box on the Master Fader. The Master Fader is an app that helps you wirelessly control your audio mixer, so if you want to mute your microphone using it, you need to first install it on your Mac.

3. Shut Off Mic Monitoring on Ubuntu 20.04

To do that on this open-source software OS, you should turn down the mic gain on the Yeti. You may opt to reduce it until you cannot listen to yourself through the headphone or completely decrease it to zero for immediate results.

However, ensure that the capture is upped; otherwise, your mic recording volume will be low, resulting in poor-quality tracks or playback.

4. Switch Off Mic Monitoring on the Blue Yeti Itself

There are two ways you can turn off monitoring of your recordings. The first one entails muting the mic. To do this, you should press the Mute button in front of your Yeti, just below the Blue logo, and the sound monitoring will immediately stop working.

The other way is to reduce the volume on the mic by turning the volume knob below the Mute button. When the microphone’s volume is lowered below a certain level, the monitoring feature can get disabled. So you will have to decrease the loudness of the Yeti until you can longer hear any playback.

5. Disable the Mic Monitoring With an EQ Plug-in

This parametric EQ plug-in lets you turn off monitoring without muting the mic or reducing its volume. The EQ plug-in, which is in-built into the Blue Yeti and can be opened on the device’s software interface allows you to adjust the sound quality to suit your needs.

To open this interface, go to the Start Menu on your windows and type “Blue Yeti” in the Search bar. When its screen opens up, click the EQ option, which you will find below the Menu.

Then, select Smooth to disconnect the EQ effects on the Yeti. By doing that, you will also turn off the direct monitoring feature, enabling you to make voiceovers and record tracks without having to listen to yourself through your headphones.

How To Turn Off the Live Monitoring on the Blue Yeti Nano

The Blue Yeti Nano is the upgraded version of the Yeti that offers premium sound quality for recording podcasts, YouTube videos, and Twitch streaming. It also has mic monitoring, just like the Blue Yeti, which may disrupt you while recording.

So to switch off this feature, press the Volume control button in front of the microphone and below the BLUE icon for about two seconds until it turns pink. When the button color turns from green to pink, the monitoring will turn off. In case it turns to a different color, hold down the button once again until the pink one comes up.

When Should You Turn off Mic Monitoring on a Blue Yeti?

You may have to switch off the monitoring feature when doing voiceovers, making podcasts, and having zoom or Skype interviews, as it can disrupt your concentration. The best thing is to run trial tests before you start to ensure that the recording levels are set right. Otherwise, you may end up bursting your listeners’ ears when the volume is so high or turning them away because your voice is too low.

How To Make Your Blue Yeti Sound Better When Mic Monitoring Is Turned Off

Since the mic is bound to pick up echoes and other noises in the environment when the monitoring feature is off, you need to set it well to get high-quality recordings. Here are 9 tips to help you achieve that:

1. Acoustically Treat Your Recording Space

It would help if you placed acoustic panels on the walls to treat the room and prevent echoes from interfering with your recording. However, if your budget doesn’t allow you to buy these panels, you can use thick blankets, duvets, or towels to cover the walls and other items in the room, such as the bookcase and shelf.

Additionally, place rugs on the floor to cover the hard surfaces that can cause sound reflections in the space. In addition, think about using bass traps in the corners of your recording room. Low-end frequencies are often overlooked when treating a room, yet they can muddy your recording if they’re out of control.

2. Make Recordings While Close to the Wall

It’s best to do this because it reduces the chance of experiencing echoes and reverberations. If you make your recordings in the middle of the room, the frequencies will build up to create standing waves that can throw off your records’ balance.

Moreover, you should avoid making recordings near desks because they tend to allow bass frequencies to grow under them, causing a boomy sound that can drown out your voice. But if you cannot avoid placing it on a desk, get the Radius III shock mount to shield it from ambient vibrations, noise, and shock.

3. Rid the Space of Noise

Before recording, you should switch off all devices that will create background noise, such as your TV, fan, and AC. Background noise can distort your recording and lower its quality. As a result, you’ll find yourself rerecording or cleaning up the audio with various tools and wasting valuable time. So always ensure there’s no noise in your home studio before you start making records using your Yeti.

4. Correctly Set Up Your Blue Yeti Mic

When setting up the Yeti, the side with the Blue logo and volume control button should always face you. Moreover, place the Blue Yeti vertically with the top facing upwards instead of towards you because this microphone is a side-address device.

This means that you need to speak and sing into its side and not the top to get high-quality audio. Besides that, you should position the mic at the right height by placing it on a suitable stand to avoid hunching over, as it can affect the sound quality of your voice.

5. Place the Blue Yeti at the Right Distance

This microphone should be 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) away from you to enable you to produce content with a good sound image. The distance you decide on should depend on your voice and how you speak because if you tend to be loud and set your mic closer to you, you will end up with a very loud recording.

Whereas if you are soft-spoken and put the mic farther away, people may not be able to hear what you are saying. So you should first run a test with mic monitoring on to find the sweet spot by recording yourself with the Yeti placed at different distances.

6. Choose the Right Polar Pattern

The blue Yeti has four settings you can choose from, depending on how you plan on recording. Cardioid mode is best used when creating content solo since it captures the sound directly in front of the Yeti. The Bidirectional one is suitable for recording two-person interviews or duets as it enables you to record from the front and rear.

Similarly, you should go for the Omnidirectional setting if you want to capture the feeling of being live. For example, in a live performance and a multi-person podcast since it picks up sound around the entire microphone. The Stereo pattern is good at capturing broad and realistic sound for choirs and acoustic guitars, as it can record from both the left and right channels.

7. Use Reflection Shields

These can help reduce the sound your Yeti picks up from the home studio space. When the mic is set to Bidirectional, Omnidirectional, and Stereo modes, the shields should be placed around the mic since they can capture sound from different sides.

For the Cardioid setting that allows the capture of sound from the front only, you should put the shields behind you to lessen the chances of the mic picking up echoes from its front.

8. Install a Pop Filter for Your Breath

You may breathe loudly into the microphone as you record, which can ruin your content by creating pops in it. The cheapest way to manage this issue is by working on your mic control through consistent training, or you should angle your mouth so that you speak past the side of the mic.

However, if you want a quick fix, you should add a studio filter, such as The Pop, to your Yeti to keep these artifacts from your records.

9. Set the Recording Levels Right

You should set the gain and volume of the Yeti right for your recording to have a great tone. When the gain is at the right level, it can perfectly capture your voice without any unnecessary noise from the signal.

Moreover, a high volume may also be susceptible to picking up background noise, which can distort your production. To get an ideal volume level, you should listen to commercially released music for reference.

Final Thoughts

Although mic monitoring is great at helping you identify the faults in your recording in real-time, there are times when it can be an inconvenience. The abovementioned ways enable you to turn it off when using different applications and software and still produce excellent audio.

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