Isolation shield for SDCs? (open to DIY)

[Icantthinkofaname]

Looking for a Kaotica eyeball style isolation shield for a small diaphragm mic (needs to be able to fit the AT4053b though I'll probably be using an MKH 8050. This is going to be used alongside moving blankets. I'm open to making a DIY one by hollowing out a foam ball, though I'd much prefer to buy one if possible.

 

[Paul W]

You can find similar items for $25 to $30 dollars on Amazon, or under 20 dollars on TEMU. I can't vouch for any of them, but am curious.

I'm thinking of this mostly in the context of recording a single vocal or acoustic instrument track at a time, minimizing bad reflections in a not well treated space, rather than for reducing bleed when recording multiple acoustic tracks simultaneously. (Usually me alone, or me and a friend or two playing mostly electric/electronic instruments "silently" while somebody sings or plays an acoustic instrument.)

I'd think that any little foam box (whether eyeball-style or cubical, or just one of those singly-curved things) is going to reflect some of the sound back toward the mic and result in some comb filtering, and likely other weird effects I don't understand on the frequency response and/or proximity effect. (?)
That makes me wonder if it would work better with the mic against the back wall of the isolation ball/box, like a boundary mic, where hopefully the foam would absorb the very high frequencies and avoid much comb filtering, and at low frequencies it'd just act like a boundary mic, with negligible delay relative to the direct sound.

Alternatively I wonder if a tube would be better, open at the back so that you don't get reflections off the back of the isolation ball/box right back into the mic, but do get reflections off the actual wall behind it, hopefully treated at the first reflection point and/or far enough away that the first reflection isn't too bad.

I'm thinking that if it's a big enough tube, relative to how far the mic is recessed into it, the first reflections off the interior of the tube will not hit the mic, but will bounce around in the tube behind the mic, being absorbed or passed out the back if not transmitted through the walls (like LF mostly would be, I guess.)

More generally I'm interested in trying to figure out how to make a sort of portable vocal booth mainly to minimize the sound getting out into the room where it can reverberate badly, without reflecting it back toward the mic and making things worse.

A lot of people seem to use PVC frames making a little vocal booth roughly the size of an old-school phone booth, with moving blankets for the walls and maybe ceiling. (Either homemade or bought at wildly inflated prices.) I'd be worried that moving blankets would reflect enough sound that it'd be a nastly little box at high frequencies, while doing pretty much nothing at low frequencies.

 

[cyrano]

I tested the Kaotica Eyeball when it was new. I wouldn't advise it. It does change the way the mic behaves, but not in a good way. Made it sound duller and the chamber behind the mic created new resonances.

 

[cyrano]

Even the old trick with two mics works better. In this case, one mic is pointed at the source, the other one is pointed at the noise. Flipping polarity on the noise mic will make an adjustable noise reducer when mixing both.

Works remarkably well sometimes and not at all in other cases...

 

[kingkorg]

I tested the Kaotica Eyeball when it was new. I wouldn't advise it. It does change the way the mic behaves, but not in a good way. Made it sound duller and the chamber behind the mic created new resonances.

+1

 

[micolas]

I tested the Kaotica Eyeball when it was new. I wouldn't advise it. It does change the way the mic behaves, but not in a good way. Made it sound duller and the chamber behind the mic created new resonances.

...finally something professional !

 

[mhelin]

Please try out Waves Clarity Vx DeReverb plugin, the demos I've heard sound pretty good to me, haven't tested it myself though...