recordinghacks

Blue Microphones Snowflake

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

Based on the design of the Blue Snowball, which was Blue’s first USB microphone, the Snowflake is smaller, more portable, and more convenient: the microphone has an integrated case that doubles as a mic stand, capable of hanging from the top of a laptop screen or standing on a desktop. The included USB cable fits inside the case.

The Snowball is a good deal bigger and offers an omnidirectional pickup pattern (as well as two cardioid modes). This is not true of the Snowflake, possibly making the Snowflake less-well suited to interviews. The single-element design is intended for telephony (Skype), voiceover, narration, and voice recognition — basically anything that involves one speaker in relatively close proximity to the microphone.

The Snowflake’s built-in ADC outputs 16-bit, 44.1 kHz digital audio via the mic’s USB port.

Blue has not released many product details yet, but you can see Blue founder Skipper Wise show off a prototype Snowflake at the Fall 2007 AES show; see the video link in the sidebar.

EQ Magazine

This little condenser mic exceeds expectations. It hypes the high end a bit and is subtly “peaky” in the upper mids (actually, though, that’s a good thing for voice applications) … for narration, quick acoustic guitar sketches, and recording rehearsals, it’s surprisingly good.

Permalink: Blue Microphones Snowflake

The mic was released in 2008.

Specifications

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Cardioid (n/a mV/Pa; 35 - 20,000 Hz)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diameter n/a	n/a

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
n/a	n/a	n/a	USB (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power

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