Blue Microphones (legally Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics, LLC) is an American audio production company owned by

Logitech Logitech International S.A. ( ; often shortened to Logi) is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Newark, California. The company has offices throughout Europe, ...

that designs and produces

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

, recording tools, signal processors, and music accessories for audio professionals, musicians and consumers.

History

BLUE Microphones was founded in 1995 by American session musician

Skipper Wise Bernard Louis "Skipper" Wise (born March 6, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and entrepreneur born in Los Angeles. In 1983, he fronted the contemporary jazz group, Windows, which delivered four top 10 radio records punctuated ...

and Latvian recording engineer Mārtiņš Saulespurēns. The company's name is a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

for ''Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics''. The company was started up in Latvia, with the development of the first few prototypes happening there, and now it is headquartered in

Westlake Village Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vil ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. BLUE Microphones first creation was the “bottle,” a versatile studio XLR microphone encompassing interchangeable capsules curated to isolate sonic signatures for any application which became widely used among professional recording musicians. The concept of this came from Skipper’s daughter Jessica, an aspiring singer at age 12, suggested to Skipper to create a microphone for sending audio recordings through the internet. The sizing and shape of the snowball was similar in size to a

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. (the Snowball is in diameter) BLUE Microphones perspective was to collaborate with other aspiring creatives online, synonymous with the needs of the developing consumer world of technology in the 90’s. With a nudge from

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

, the Westlake Village company created a low-cost condenser microphone called the Snowball for use with music recording software, GarageBand. That microphone became popular with aspiring pro musicians and dedicated hobbyists as an alternative to renting time in a recording studio. The first BLUE microphone was created in 1995 in Riga, Latvia. From 1995 - 2004 BLUE microphones were manufactured in Latvia, from 2005 the production moved to China, with some microphones being built in the US. In 2008, Skipper and Martins sold BLUE Microphones to Transom Capital, a private Equity firm from Southern California. In 2013, The Riverside Company acquired BLUE Microphones from Transom Capital. Intrepid Investment Bankers advised BLUE Microphones in the transaction. In July 2018,

announced plans to acquire Blue Microphones for $117 million USD. File:Blue Yeti Blackout.jpg, Yeti Blackout File:Blue Microphones Snowball.jpg, Snowball File:Blue Microphones Dragonfly.jpg, Dragonfly File:BLUE bottle microphones (setting for grand piano).jpg, Two Blue Bottle microphones set up to record a grand piano

Awards

Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...

2000 Editor’s Choice Microphone of the Year - Blueberry condenser microphone * RetailVision 2009 Best Hardware peripheral - Mikey and Eyeball 2.0 * BeatWeek (formerly iProng) Best in Show 2009, 2010 * Blue Yeti X was awarded for Innovation in 2020 by CES (Consumer Technology Association)

References

External links

*
BLUE Designs Website
BLUE Website
Interview with Skipper Wise
NAMM Oral History Library (2011)
Interview with Martin Saulespurens
NAMM Oral History Library {{Logitech Companies based in Westlake Village, California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Microphone manufacturers Electronics companies established in 1995 American companies established in 1995 2018 mergers and acquisitions Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States American subsidiaries of foreign companies Logitech

History

Awards

See also

References

External links