Photo: Michael Hession

Why the ASMR Community Loves the Blue Yeti Microphone

Published May 14, 2018

We recommend the Yeti by Blue as the best USB microphone because it’s easy to set up and produces clear results, but our expert audio testers dinged it for a few audio quirks. “Smacks noticeable,” wrote one. “Picks up mouth noise a bit,” another noted. “Definitely some sibilance” was the one negative a reviewer gave the Yeti, which they ranked the best overall.

I recently discovered, however, that one person’s “flaws but not dealbreakers” are the driving force behind another’s livelihood. One particular group of audio enthusiasts found that the Yeti is a great starter mic for recording whispering, brush strokes, tapping and scratching, and up-close customer service role-playing. We found this out by accident, when an editor saw, in a YouTube video with nearly 10 million views, the wire-mesh dome of the Yeti beneath a pickle being eaten, loudly, intentionally. These seemingly random recordings share a common purpose: They’re created to induce autonomous sensory meridian response, better known by its acronym, ASMR.

ASMR is a physical, euphoric response to certain sounds, voices, or situations, often referred to as “triggers.” Responses vary from person to person, but are often described as “tingles” across the top of the skull, which can travel down the spine. “Tingles” is just one description: others are “goosebumps on your brain,” a “flow-like mental state,” or a stoned-like, zoned-out relaxation. It’s not a therapy, and the vast majority of people don’t find it sexual (less than 5 percent in a peer-reviewed study) but it can be therapeutic and relaxing. Triggers also vary, but broadly speaking, they involve close or amplified encounters with typically gentle visual or auditory stimuli. Some examples include whispering noises, mouth sounds, brushing, or someone acting as if applying makeup on your person without actually doing so. This rabbit hole goes very deep. But you can get a better feel for what ASMR is and is not, and what it sounds like by listening to the second act of an episode of This American Life, “A Tribe Called Rest.”

Scientific research on the phenomenon is scarce, limited to one notable study as of this writing. Nonetheless, many claim to have experienced the ASMR phenomenon for years—although it’s only recently gained wider acceptance, along with the perfect way to cultivate and explore it: YouTube.

One of many ASMR videos featuring the Yeti by Blue as not only a microphone to capture whispers, but with its hatched metal surface as a trigger itself.

YouTube ASMRtists want something different from their mic than we assume most people want, but some of a mic’s issues that we perceive as weaknesses make it exceptionally well-suited to this particular situation. “This microphone is able to pick up mouth sounds or breathy sounds incredibly well,” wrote Kiki, the creator of the Hermetic Kitten ASMR channel, by email. “Over the years, many viewers have told me that the Blue Yeti gives them more ASMR tingles than any other microphone!” And Maria, the voice behind the ASMR channel GentleWhispering, with 1.3 million subscribers and more than 460 million video views, succinctly but enthusiastically responded to our question about this: “Yes, Blue Yeti is a great starter mic for ASMR videos! :)”

Many ASMR artists discuss the Yeti (and other microphones) in their videos—though they don’t miss the chance to use the unboxing itself as a chance to try scratching/tapping triggers.

Among the features that make the Yeti particularly well-suited to this line of work is its built-in stereo pick-up pattern, which features distinctly separated left and right channels. This allows the mic to record a sound as it travels from one side of the mic to the other, similar to how a sound gets louder in one ear and softer in another as it travels around your body. Stereo panning provides depths to the experience of being up-close with a speaker, and left-to-right/right-to-left traveling sounds are part of some people’s triggers.

Then, there is whispering. ASMR video producers (or ASMRtists, as they call themselves) told us the Yeti is particularly good with up-close whispers.

A typical whispering ASMR video featuring the Yeti. Notice the movement of the speaker around the Yeti, orbiting around the left and right sides.

“Whispers come out very tingly, as the mic gives (a) soft bassy sound,” the creator of ASMR Art of Sound wrote to us. “The sound it picks up is phenomenal and everything sounds amazing up close to it,” wrote Tony Bomboni of the Tony Bamboni ASMR channel. We even found validation for the Yeti as an ASMR mic nestled inside our own guide:

In 2015, [the Yeti] won over three of our four expert panelists, producing what one called “the most personal connection to the [speaker] out of all the mics.”

Then there are the reasons both ASMRtists and we as general-use reviewers share in recommending the Yeti. The Yeti is easy to set up: Plug in a USB cable, adjust the gain knob and your computer’s input level, and use the Yeti’s built-in headphone jack to hear how you sound. Its stable base and sturdy build provide some shock absorption. The four distinct pick-up patterns allow producers to experiment with different mic distances and movement patterns. The Yeti is also affordable, relative to the other microphones like the 3Dio; it’s essentially the last stop before you need XLR cables and a USB Audio Interface. And its distinctive look and shape are easy to identify in videos, making it easy to find for a newcomer looking to get started.

That distinctive Yeti look is how I ended up on this brief tour of the ASMR universe, one I’m glad I embarked upon. I discovered how our pick meets the expectations of some of the most demanding microphone users on the Internet, not in spite of, but due entirely to the specific areas that most people would find fault with it. Though we would consider changing our pick if we found a microphone that offers the Yeti’s ease of use and audio clarity, minus its propensity for picking up mouth sounds, the ASMR community loves it for those specific reasons.

Although Blue, the company that makes the Yeti, hasn’t specifically reached out to ASMR artists to promote its products, Blue representative Hillary Money told us the company is aware of its mics’ popularity in ASMR videos, and is proud its gear is serving them.