043 - Mics and Podcasting - Ben Thompkins, Blue Microphones

Guest: Ben Thompkins, National Sales Manager- Pro Sales, Blue Microphones

Topics:

  • Ben runs professional sales for Blue in North and South America, has been with Blue ten years

  • He handles B2B business, distribution, and educational sales

  • How does Blue differentiate in the microphone industry?

  • Blue’s unique history (very music focused, podcasting has been recent)

  • Started as a high end microphone company (many of their mics are still $6,000-$10,000)

  • Took premium sound and made it affordable (see their podcasting mics)

  • Blue’s marketing stands out - fun names like Yeti and Snowball <— please use my link if you want to buy a snowball, this helps support the show!

  • 4:34 Story: Snowball was originally called Softball - founder story

  • Softball (Snowball) was built for GarageBand, per Apple’s request- a simple USB mic

  • Founder Skipper turned them down

  • Emily used Snowball on her first podcast (throwback: The Digital Dive Podcast)

blue-snowball-microphone

  • Hear about podfading (half of podcasts fade after 6 episodes) in Emily’s episode with Phoebe Mroczek

  • 8:10 Emily asks: are people ready for a more passive media experience (e.g. podcasting and voice - audio content) due to social media overload?

  • "Half the picture is sound" - George Lucas on the importance of audio in film

  • High quality audio is paramount for communication and marketing

  • Bad audio on YouTube is worse than bad visuals

  • Blue was acquired by Logitech for $117 million

  • Ben is seeing a trend of XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)

  • If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too

  • Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics

  • Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic

  • People are spending more money on higher quality mics

  • Ben is seeing a consumer purchasing trend with XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)

  • If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too (gaming)

  • Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics and willing to pay

  • Example- Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic

Ben with Chino Moreno, Deftones singer. “We all had the same music manager for a bit. Alice in Chains and Deftones are still with them but I’m a mic guy now.” - Ben Thompkins

Ben with Chino Moreno, Deftones singer. “We all had the same music manager for a bit. Alice in Chains and Deftones are still with them but I’m a mic guy now.” - Ben Thompkins

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