Blue Microphones Radius Microphone Shock Mount

I just received my Blue Radius Shock Mount, and I was immediately floored by the the size and looks of the unit. It reminds me a set piece from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", the rings around Saturn or something built by Tesla. It's a beautiful thing, certain to impress anyone who might sit in front of it to be recorded. Certainly beats the homemade 4 inch PVC pipe and bungee cord shock mount I previously had made and my Yeti mounted to. What is impressive about this mount is you have full and clear access to the the Yeti's 3 knob's, mute switch and USB/Headphone plugs on the bottom of the mic, whereas my homemade version gave me fits with knob access. Once you screw the Yeti into the machined shock mount base, there are teflon or maybe white delrin washers which allow you to swivel the mic easily to access the back knobs or move it toward any position, say a guest speaker with great ease. The build is hefty, machined aluminum rings with stainless steel mounts and screws. The elastic suspension bands are not going to fly across the room, as they do on most shock mounts, because they are not threaded on hooks, but securely fastened to brackets, then the holding screws. The Radius also allows you to mount the Yeti on a boom stand, upside down, which I have always been told is the best way to mount a condenser type mic so dust and moisture (spit) does not build up near the capsules or internal electronics, it just falls, as gravity allows.Does a shock mount make a difference in sound? To my ears, yes, especially if you are recording into say, a laptop on a table, the fans and hard drive are going to vibrate, coloring your overall sound with unwanted hum. Although the mic stand the Yeti comes with does an O.K. job of dampening vibration, it is not going to give you as much isolation as the Radius, which will be noticed when the gain controls are turned up. There is also the science of unwanted resonance from instruments, rooms or cabs vibrating your stands, that's why you see most professional studios using shock mounts, you just get a cleaner sound. In a test, the Radius works like a charm, even from pounding on my mixing desk. A 9.0 earthquake is not going to cause any vibration.On the down side, just to play Devils Advocate, The Radius is huge, and may nor be suitable for tight spots or portability. That said, the Yeti is also a big microphone, and once mounted, may add six inches to the overall space you will need to use this setup properly. Next, when you un mount the Yeti from it's built in stand, you are going to have gaping screw holes in the side of the mic. I fixed that by screwing the old Yeti stand screws back into the holes, which actually looks kind of neat to me. To some maybe, it will look like bolts in the Frankenstein Monsters neck, but I think it all fits together. Next, smaller base microphone stands will want to tip, either angle the Yeti plus Radius back, or get a bigger stand, this is the one I have and would highly reccomend, the Samson SAMD5 MD5 Desktop Mic Stand. Lastly, this mount will only work, as far as I can see, with a Blue Yeti or Blue Yeti Pro microphone, maybe some other mics will work, but not likely.In conclusion, the Radius is an easy set up, works great and makes a Yeti look retro/futuristic sexy! Yeah it actually looks really cool, like a spaceship blasting off or landing, take your pick, I know people coming into my studio are going to say, "What The heck is that, and where can I get one!?" I may tease and say it's and award or art piece.Addendum 12/13/2011If you thread another shock mount into the Radius, you get double protection. It also looks great to talent in your studio. Over Kill or Uber Cool, you decide. See Pictures.

The shock mount for the Yeti works perfectly - better than I thought it would. There are a couple of things I think could be re-designed or changed though.1) The mounted mic is off balance. I have to set the mic at a 45 degree angle or it will tip over. However setting it at a 45-60 degree angle makes it look really space-age and cool. So I have mixed feelings about it. But the last thing you want is to have an unstable mount where you're worrying about your mic tipping over. (this is when using the tri-pod from the snow-ball mount, which brings me to point number 22) There is no base for the shock mount. What were they thinking? I didn't even see an option for purchasing the cool-looking black tripod they show in the photos of the shock mount. Luckily I have a snowball mic and the same shock mount, so I used the tripod that came with the snowball shock mount. Why doesn't the Yeti shock mount come with a tripod? Very strange and bad - especially when I wasn't able to purchase one.3) Usability-wise, you'd really like to set the mic vertically, but the shock mount makes it virtually impossible to do that as it's completely off-center when mounted. The only option seems to be to angle the mic, which places it in a position that doesn't work with the Yeti mic settings for forward and rear pickups.4) It's a really solid shock mount and eliminates virtually all bumps, taps, etc. when standing on a table and recording interviews, podcasts, etc. From that perspective I've been waiting and waiting for them to come out with a shock mount.5) I wish they made a vertical shock mount that attached somehow to the existing, and really cool Yeti Mic Stand. Then it would be vertical. Maybe a more of a spyder type shock mount would work better - or at least one that allows you to mount the mic vertically.

I'm very serious, this shock mount gets 2 stars because of one little screw.Allow me to explain.I got this mount for the same reason anyone does. Its the mount MADE for the blue yeti. That said, its huge and a bit unwieldy. On top of that, my mic was "drooping" every day, and so every day I'd untighten the screw, move the mic back up, and tighten it again... this process got old, fast. So finally I tightened it as hard as I could, and lo and behold, the screw snaps! I was startled, because I'm NOT a strong person at all. I looked at the screw and ITS MADE OF PLASTIC. Please be warned! This screw is cheap plastic, and will NOT hold the mic up at all! Until they fix this part, DO NOT BUY.This isn't even shoddy workmanship, this is pure bad design and laziness. Cheapness, even. There is ZERO reason for this part to be made of plastic. Its a SCREW! Something like this should never happen.