Helpful ReplyAnyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"?

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sharke
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2018/02/07 03:37:50 (permalink)

Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"?

Looks a bit kooky but I've heard people say it works pretty well.....
 

 
https://www.kaoticaeyeball.com/

James
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wst3
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/07 17:14:39 (permalink)
one person's experience!
 
I tried it at an AES show, which ought to be a pretty good place to test something like this, and was very disappointed. Not only did it do very little in terms of isolation, but it made the microphone sound bad, or at least not as good as it could.

I've used "shields" in teh past - one built from a music stand and Sonex, one commercial unit. For straight up voice-over work they both work very well (although the commercial one looks a lot nicer!!!!). For a solo vocalist they work well more often than not.
 
For almost every other application I'd rather a little bleed, they really do change the way a microphone reacts to the room - which is the intention, but for me in a way that is not always positive.

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dmbaer
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/07 21:56:30 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby sharke 2018/02/09 03:50:51
Here's a review (from 2014):
 
http://soundbytesmag.net/kaoticaeyeball/
 
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wst3
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/08 01:46:07 (permalink)
The reviewer had a very different experience than I did!

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TheMaartian
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/08 14:49:49 (permalink)
A hollowed out foam ball with a pop filter. $200? For a product that cost "maybe" $25 to make?
 
Give me an f'ing break.

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sharke
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/09 03:50:46 (permalink)
I've seen other mic shields, some more expensive than this, and I always wondered how they'd sound on guitar. Having said that I should imagine setting up an XY pair with them would be quite trying, lol....

James
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wst3
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/10 00:32:51 (permalink)
sharke
I've seen other mic shields, some more expensive than this, and I always wondered how they'd sound on guitar. Having said that I should imagine setting up an XY pair with them would be quite trying, lol....

If your room is sub-optimal a decent shield can make a small difference, but you hit the nail on the head, you don't want to put more than one microphone in there - I did try to set up an X/Y pair, once!

-- Bill
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sharke
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/10 01:30:23 (permalink)
wst3
sharke
I've seen other mic shields, some more expensive than this, and I always wondered how they'd sound on guitar. Having said that I should imagine setting up an XY pair with them would be quite trying, lol....

If your room is sub-optimal a decent shield can make a small difference, but you hit the nail on the head, you don't want to put more than one microphone in there - I did try to set up an X/Y pair, once!




Oh my I didn't even think of putting two mics in the same shield - I was thinking a separate shield for each mic, and considered even that to be unworkable. Some of these shields are heavy as well, so they're more suited for upright vocal mic stands rather than the kind of boom stand you'd use for a guitar. 

James
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wst3
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/10 15:44:33 (permalink)
sharke
Oh my I didn't even think of putting two mics in the same shield - I was thinking a separate shield for each mic, and considered even that to be unworkable. Some of these shields are heavy as well, so they're more suited for upright vocal mic stands rather than the kind of boom stand you'd use for a guitar.

If I were admitting to past foolishness I might confess to trying that as well, but I'm not. If I had tried it I'd probably say that arranging two shields was the reason I tried to put two microphones on a stereo bar inside one shield.

Vocal Shields have a purpose, and they can be really effective for that purpose. Sadly that purpose is - at least from my experience - limited somewhat to single microphones on single sources. I've never been happy with any guitar recording I made with mine, for example. I do know a guy who has a low-ish ceiling (9 feet I think) and he puts a shield behind his drum overheads to make the room sound bigger. You'd think eliminating those reflections would have the opposite effect, but it works for him.

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Mosvalve
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/11 04:07:22 (permalink)
If you think about it a shield should be place behind you. The mic is facing you and picking up the room behind you not in front of you.

BobV 
 
 
 
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wst3
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Re: Anyone tried the Kaotica Eyeball "mobile vocal booth"? 2018/02/11 17:05:38 (permalink)
Mosvalve
If you think about it a shield should be place behind you. The mic is facing you and picking up the room behind you not in front of you.

It depends on the problem you are trying to solve.

If you have a source of noise directly behind you than a baffle of some sort does quite a bit of good. I don't think a shield will be large enough, or dense enough to do anything.

These shields are intended to provide a more "Vocal Booth" like experience, without the expense (and size) of a vocal booth. They will diminish the energy reaching the microphone from the rear, which will tend to deaden the recorded track. Depending on the room the effect can be subtle or quite obvious.

This does not mean you don't need baffles (aka gobos). These are invaluable in the rooms where many of us end up recording (myself included!). And they can be really handy in a well thought out, well behaved space too!

-- Bill
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