What Does a Blue Yeti Shock Mount Do?

Blue Yeti mics are popular amongst streamers, podcasters, and other content creators. If you go on Twitch, you’ll notice it’s one of the more common mics people use. It’s often recommended that you use a shock mount to get the most out of your Blue Yeti mic, but that suggestion may leave you wondering what precisely this accessory does.

A Blue Yeti shock mount absorbs noise and vibrations that would otherwise travel to the stand. These vibrations can interfere with audio recordings by being picked up as sound. While a Blue Yeti shock mount isn’t required, it’s recommended for the best quality audio.

This simple explanation may leave you wondering how the shock mount dampens undesirable noise and vibration. The rest of this article will discuss more about this and whether or not you need a shock mount. Let’s get started!

How Does the Blue Yeti Shock Mount Work?

It may seem like a fancy gimmick to the uninitiated, but the shock mount uses the laws of physics. In a way, it’s not dissimilar to suspension found on a car — without it, you would feel every tiny bump and stone in the road as you drive. Not only would this give you terrible back pain, but it would also rattle your bones and the car itself to pieces.

Blue Yeti shock mounts employ elastic material to suspend the microphone in a series of rings. This material absorbs vibrations moving to the stand and prevents vibrations in the internal plates. In this way, they only respond to your voice.

Mic shock mounts all have one thing in common — they’re there to prevent unwanted vibrations from being picked up by your microphone. If you want to understand how shock mounts work, it helps to understand how condenser mics work — let’s take a look.

The Condenser Microphone

A condenser microphone employs two electrically charged plates to pick up sound. When you speak into a mic, the pressure from the sound waves causes these plates to vibrate, and the resultant change in distance between the two plates is what creates the electrical signal.

As you can probably imagine, any form of shock or vibration acting on these plates is going to be interpreted as sound. The mic cannot tell the difference. Even if you’re very careful, it will detect vibrations.

You can test this if you own a desk-mounted microphone. Even if you put your headset down on the table and rub the surface of the table while recording in an otherwise silent room, any friction between your fingers and the desk will sound a lot louder than you might expect. This is an easy way of demonstrating how sensitive some microphones are.

Going back to the car analogy, you can imagine these dielectric plates as passengers in a vehicle, the vehicle being your mic. They may get to their destination without any suspension, but they would be in a lot better shape with good shock absorbers — not unlike your audio recordings.

Is a Shock Mount Essential?

Any sound engineer worth his salt will tell you that a shock mount is essential for recording the best quality audio . You can have the most amazing mic in the world, but without a decent shock mount, you’ll be picking up all kinds of unwanted vibrations and sounds.

To put it plainly, if you plan to make a professional quality audio recording using your Blue Yeti, you’re putting yourself at a huge disadvantage without a decent shock mount. It directly impacts the final result since the vibrations are interpreted as sounds. 

What Is the Best Shock Mount for a Blue Yeti Mic?

If you hop on Amazon and do a quick search for “Blue Yeti Shock Mount,” you’ll notice there are dozens of options to choose from, including the official Blue Radius III Custom Shockmount for Yeti and Yeti Pro, which features perfect compatibility with Blue Yeti mics and the Blue Compass boom arm that you may already own.

Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The truth is, almost any shock mount is better than nothing. Even a simple one can absorb some unwanted vibrations and make your audio quality significantly better. It’s also true that some are better than others — a bad shock mount may not help or hurt your production quality.

You don’t have to splurge for a good Blue Yeti shock mount. The Auphonix Pro Microphone Shock Mount (available on Amazon.com) is a popular alternative that also comes with separate adapters for mic stands with both ⅜” and ⅝” threads.

Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

How To Use a Blue Yeti Shock Mount

While the science behind shock absorption and sound interference might sound complicated, you don’t have to know about all of that to use a Blue Yeti shock mount. They’re easy to install and use.

To use a Blue Yeti shock mount, follow these steps:

1. Install the adapter if needed. The thread on some mic stands is too small for a ⅝” socket shock mount. Do this by screwing it into the shock mount gently and firmly tightening by hand.
2. Install the shock mount onto the mic stand. Again, it only needs to be hand-tight.
3. Install your mic onto the shock mount. Hand tighten firmly.
4. Position your mic by adjusting your mic stand. Your mic may be in an awkward position if you previously set it up without a shock mount.

These steps are for Blue Radius III and similar shock mounts for the Blue Yeti, like the Auphonix Pro, mentioned previously. You may need to get an adapter for your mic stand separately — most of them don’t come with these. 

Silence 2 Pack Thread Adapter (⅝” Male to 3/8″ Female) on Amazon.com are top-rated, featuring a knurled grip and smooth threads that won’t damage your mic or shock mount’s threads. You’ll also have a spare handy if you ever misplace yours.

Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

How Else Can You Improve Your Sound Quality and Get the Most Out of Your Blue Yeti?

The quest for high-quality audio recording can be a long one. Just ask anyone who has ever tried to set up a home studio — you have to contend with bad acoustics, background noise, and the inherent weaknesses of some types of equipment. Here are a few tips on getting the best quality out of your setup.

Invest in a Pop Filter

If you know anything about mics, you’ll know that even the best models have flaws. An almost universal sound quality problem that mic users deal with comes from the very thing they’re trying to record — in this case, spoken words.

A pop filter is a screen that’s designed to help dampen hard popping and hissing sounds we naturally make as we speak. Without one, these sounds may sound quite harsh compared to other sounds and cause noisy clipping. 

The Pemotech Metal Mesh and Foam Pop Filter (available on Amazon.com) is an affordable and easy-to-use option. It fits over your mic using a simple yet effective elastic design and features a 3-layer construction. 

Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Pop filters are also great when you want something to protect your mic from contamination.

If you’ve ever wondered why your vocalist insists on using their own microphone even when the venue you’re playing at has something better, it’s likely not because they’re sentimental but rather aware of how gross some mics can be, especially those that are used night after night by different speakers and performers.

Pop filters prevent saliva droplets from contaminating your mic. This helps it last longer and also stops it from becoming a potential health hazard thanks to the possibility of bacteria developing. 

Know Your Acoustics

If you’ve ever moved into a new place, you’re probably familiar with the echo of a large empty space. This is known as reverb and can be responsible for ruining your audio recording even if you have a pop filter and shock mount installed.

Reverb is caused by sound bouncing between 2 parallel surfaces. This can cause certain frequencies to sound louder than others as the sound waves interfere with each other. Some frequencies will be canceled out, while others are amplified.

Acoustic Panels Are Not Just for Show

You get all kinds of different acoustic panels, from highly aesthetic wall-hangable types that resemble painter’s canvases to the egg box-like square foam blocks that you have to attach to the wall using glue or other means.

Acoustic panels are designed to help absorb reverb since the bouncing soundwaves can also ruin what could otherwise have been a decent recording session. It’s important to note that not all acoustic panels are made alike — there are also important safety concerns one must consider before installing them.

Acoustic Sound Panel Absorption and Fire Ratings

Acoustic panels should include a Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) rating that defines how much of which frequencies it absorbs. The NRC for a given frequency range will be expressed in a value between 0 and 1, with 0 meaning it doesn’t absorb that frequency range at all and 1 meaning it absorbs it entirely.

To get the most out of an acoustic panel, you need to have an idea of which frequencies are giving you trouble. You can then choose a suitable acoustic panel by checking which frequencies it absorbs best.

Whether you’re renting or are planning to install acoustic panels in a home you own, you’ll want to check with your insurance or landlord before plastering the walls with noise-absorbing foam. The neighbors might appreciate it, but it can pose a fire risk.

Acoustic Panels Might Not Be Worth the Risk

You may be better off installing a couple hangable acoustic panels — you wouldn’t want to put an insurance claim in only to have it rejected because you glued the acoustic foam to your walls. Unless you’re planning a permanent or long-term studio space, it usually isn’t worth the risk.

It would also be best to hire a professional contractor and clear your plans with insurance to ensure strict compliance with fire safety standards. Your premiums may increase if it’s deemed to increase the risk of damage to property, but this is one of the hidden costs of owning a home studio you may have to contend with.

With acoustic panels, you also face diminishing returns at a point. Adding a panel or two at a time until you’re satisfied with the results is the way to go. For a small studio, you may only need a handful of panels or a decent-sized hangable panel to kill that annoying echo.

Try Logitech’s Blue Voice Technology

If you didn’t know already, Blue is a brand owned by the well-loved Logitech, and their mics are compatible with Logitech G Hub. You can download this software to take advantage of its robust voice modulation — known as Blue Voice — and equalizing to get the perfect vocal sound for your podcast or stream.

Logitech G Hub is free to download and comes with various vocal presets. You can make your voice warmer and richer or even tweak it so you sound like a robot. Using G Hub allows you to tweak the EQ pattern of your mic and enhance your experience with your Blue Yeti microphone.

G Hub and Blue Voice compatibility is exclusive to Logitech devices. It has a lot of different settings you can play with, which may seem intimidating. If this is the case, try to find a preset that works for you and tweak it to your liking. Right amongst the controls for your mic is a recorder, allowing you to record a short clip and play it back to test your sound.

Conclusion

Shock mounts are essential to get the most out of your Blue Yeti mic. Their purpose is to absorb vibrations that would otherwise travel through the stand and cause interference with the sound you’re trying to record.

That said, there are other things that one needs to be aware of that might affect the overall quality of your recording, such as poor acoustics and the absence of a pop filter.

Sources 

• ATS Acoustics: Understanding Acoustic Panel Sound and Fire Ratings
• Reddit: Blue Yeti X Accessories
• Adventures In Audio: Why does a microphone need a shock mount?
• My New Microphone: What Is A Microphone Shock Mount And Why Is It Important?
• Logitech: Homepage