Blue Microphones Dragonfly

I have been fascinated with BLUE mics for some time now, and was looking for the right opportunity to jump in and try one. I got the Dragonfly at Guitar Center for just under 700. The sales rep discounted me because it was the display model, and because I am a regular customer.

I love the sound of the Dragonfly. It's clean, crisp, and still full with just the right amount of low end. You can't beat its positionability. In case you haven't seen it (and you really should look it up, it's quite unusual looking), it has a long body with a floating round capsule head that is wonderfully positionable for different sounds and applications. My acoustic guitar sounds awesome in this mic. Plus, it grabs the sound of any electic guitar cabinet and produces every nuance faithfully. I'm not big on this mic for male vocals, but I've heard some women who sound spectacular with the Dragonfly.

A little price for an amature like myself. Still, it's a worthwhile investment for the future. This will be a classic mic.

While I've already given a hint at what the mic looks like, let me just add that it feels solid. It comes with its own built in shock mount. I'm hoping that the moving head of the mic will maintain its quality for years to come.

I don't know what kind of bucks you have to shell out, but this mic is worthy of your investment. I wouldn't recommend it for your basic beginner mic cabinet, but it should be your first choice when taking things to the next level. I plan on adding a Kiwi next. In the meantime, the BLUE Dragonfly WILL NOT dissapoint you in the least bit. Plus, it's a whole lot of fun to use and is quite eye catching to look at (why looks are important, I don't know, but this is one cool looking mic).

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The design on the Dragonfly is really unique and I believe it won a number of awards for its innovative spec. The physical design as well as the circuitry is very different than most cardioid condensers. Blue claims it's meant to be used as a pop vocals mic and for electric guitar. Well obviously it does work well for vocals. I found that the Dragonfly works particularly well for young girls and guys with higher voices. If you have a 20 something year old with a Taylor Swift or Adam Levine type of range then this is an incredible mic to have at hand. I feel it adds the thump that those vocals need.

While it does also work nicely for drum overhead (who would have thought?) I also found it works great on my Taylor Jumbo and a couple other acoustics. I never would've found this out until one day I needed to record an acoustic part and the Dragonfly happened to be turned on. I was surprised how much it complimented my acoustic. It's since become a staple for that purpose.

It is okay for electric guitars but not like I was led to believe. Maybe as a room mic? I would rather use another more specially designed cab mic but I suppose this would work in a pinch.

OVERALL OPINION

You can use this thing for a surprising amount. It will do almost any drum duty their is. Toms, snare, overhead, or bass kick. Whatever. Also it doesn't seem to be fussy with placement like a lot of Blue mics are. For the price it's a no brainer. This is a building block mic for any small studio considering the versatility. It has the high Blue build quality and finely tuned performance they are known for in spades. I can't complain about it in any way. It's worth twice what the asking price is. Highly recommended.

The Blue Microphones Dragonfly is a uniquely designed condenser microphone made for use in the recording studio.  It has a unique shock mount that holds the mic in place and also comes with a storage box.  There isn't much more to say about the characteristics of this microphone as that is pretty much all there is to it.

OVERALL OPINION

I've used the Blue Microphones Dragonfly a number of times to record a variety of applications and I've found it to be a very good microphone.  It isn't my favorite microphone that Blue has to offer, but this doesn't mean that this isn't a great mic, I just really love the line of mics that Blue has put out.  Like all of the Blue Microphones, the Dragonfly has its own quirks and interesting look and shape which lends to the way that you can place it and what it is best suited for.  I have found that the mic works great for a variety of applications including vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, horns, and bass guitar.  This being said I can't say if it will work well with other applications for sure as I haven't had the chance to try it out for other things, but I would bet that it would sound great for most applications as this is definitely a well rounded microphone that is built for a variety of applications.  The price of the Blue Microphones Dragonfly isn't all that cheap but is definitely reasonable considering the quality of microphone that you are getting.  If you are looking to add to your collection the Blue Microphones Dragonfly is a great way to go, but I probably wouldn't recommend buying it as your first or go to microphone for a smaller home studio setting because of its strange design that may not make it the best choice for certain situations.  All in all, the Blue Microphones Dragonfly is definitely a microphone that is worth checking out.

This is a very strange mic at first glance. It looks like a wimpy podcasting mic, but don't be fooled! This is a very serious contender in the studio large diaphragm condenser range. This mic has its limitations, but it has some nice unique features too. First of all the design is really unique and cool to look at, which may please some and others won't care. It has an integrated shock mount for the capsule, which I haven't seen on any other mic and is very convenient for when you need to get a mic set up quickly. The capsule and diaphragm are actually located on a rotating clamp, so that after you get the microphone body itself positioned nicely, you can then rotate the capsule to fine tune your mic placement even more. This feature may seem simple, but you would be surprised at how handy it is for minute adjustments like when you are recording acoustic guitar that actually have a big impact. The polar pattern is limited to cardioid though, so this mic does lose a couple of points there. Overall the sound of this mic is up to par with other Blue products, which is to say the mic sounds very nice. The mic has very low self noise so your recordings come out as clean as the weakest link in your chain. The mic also comes with a nice box for storage.

OVERALL OPINION

I have access to this mic at a studio I work at frequently, and I often use this mic for acoustic instruments like guitars, banjos, or string instruments that need a little bit more body than a small diaphragm condenser would provide. This mic is actually very cheap for the sound quality you are getting. That combined with the other unique features on this mic make it I think a great value from a solid company. To top it off, the studio once had a problem with the capsule getting disconnected from the body. The mic was still under warranty and apparently Blue was fantastic to deal with on the customer service end - something that many people will be pleased to know. I definitely recommend this one.