There’s a new player in the Live Sound arena…

I realize that it has been some time since I have published a gear review, but when I had the opportunity to demo the enCORE 100 and 200, two new live sound offerings from Blue Microphones, and share my thoughts with you all, I could not pass it up. Firstly because I love playing with new toys, and secondly, because I find these toys in particular very intriguing.

Since I first got into engineering, Blue has been a name among names for top quality recording microphones. However, a lion’s share of their recent releases have been targeted at a broader audience. I believe that the Ball, and subsequent Kick Ball and Eight Ball were the start, but they soon led to the more affordably priced Bottle Rocket models, the USB line of the Snowball, Icicle and now Yeti, and even the odd releases of the Mikey, Eyeball and Snowflake. All of these speak to the fact that Blue is trying to broaden it market share and reach out to a wider range of consumer. But by throwing their hat in the live sound ring historically dominated by the Shure SM58, are they destined sit on the sidelines like Sennheiser’s e835? Or could they possibly be the David to what is arguably one of the audio industries sturdiest of Goliaths? More >