VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Quicksilver · Been Here Awhile Joined: 29 Oct 2012 Posts: 217

Does anyone have any experience with the Kaotica Eyeball? Or any other portable sound booth?

http://kaoticaeyeball.com/

I'm looking for something to travel with that sounds better and is easier than recording in a couch fort. Mostly I'm concerned with how it sounds compared to a treated room.

Also curious if anyone has been able to rig 416 to work with this?

Thanks in advance!

DC

AlanTaylor · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:18 pm Post subject:

I borrowed one from a friend and used it on my AT 4033. It helped somewhat with rejection of exterior noise, but it's far from perfect. It didn't seem to change the way my mic sounded. I haven't used one in a travel situation, but I know some folks who have done so successfully.

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

A neat trick I learned in hotel room recording was to use the curtains in a semi circle with me facing the middle of the semi. The curtains are usually heavy material and absorb and diffuse a good bit of sound.

sdaeley17 · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:08 pm Post subject:

I have the eyeball and Harlan Hogan's porta-booth plus. Neither is perfect and can still have reflections if the read is loud or the mic is very sensitive.

I know both Anne Ganguzza and Cliff Zellman are fans of the eyeball as a travel solution, and many vo's use it and an Apogee mic in their travel setup (I've done this as well, and it does help bring out the lows in the mic, as well attenuate plosives.)

The porta-booth pro or plus would be a better fit for the 416, as Harlan originally designed it to work with shotguns, but I hear Kaotica is working on a model that works with shotguns/front address mics as well.

The pocket sound booth ($40, http://www.pocketsoundbooth.com/) does work with front address mics, but i don't think it would work with a shotgun either.

Hope this helps, and good luck in your search!
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Bish · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:19 pm Post subject:

Anyone who has spoken to me about this before already knows my opinion. It's an over-hyped, over-glorified, over-priced nerf ball with a hole in it. Put that much high-density foam around your LDC and it's going to have an effect on the sound. This change is often interpreted (mistakenly) as an improvement.

As for use with a shotgun mic... the design is such that it sits on an LDC and encapsulates it in a wuffly ball of nerfdom. A shotgun mic works on a completely different principle and even the makers of this perforated nerf ball acknowledge that the design is pointless for a shotgun microphone.

Wink

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Jason Huggins · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:45 am Post subject:

Personally, I just toss all the blankest (starting with the fuzzy one) over one of the hotel's bag carts and then hop inside. If I'm staying somewhere other than a hotel, I've just picked up a bag of recycled denim and placed it strategically. I had one of those portable booth deals, but it just sounded boxy to me.

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

Ditto. IME it's next to impossible to get the same audio quality on the road compared to my controlled studio environment. But for a quick audition, a blanket over the head can work.

Quicksilver · Been Here Awhile Joined: 29 Oct 2012 Posts: 217

Damn, that's what I was afraid of. And yeah Bish, I had the same thoughts about it being a $200 nerf ball but was hoping there was something I was missing.

I'm pretty good at rigging up a mobile setup but it's never a comfortable way to read and was hoping for an easier solution that might be viable for a few weeks of full time work out of state.

On the upside, $200 will buy enough Auralex to cover a closet and I did that for a year and a half when I started.

You guys rock, thanks much.

NorthEndVoice · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:12 am Post subject:

I've found when traveling , a bag of plastic spring clamps, a Stage Ninja mic mount and a 50 ft ethernet cable are about 90% of what you need to be able to work. The spring clamps allow you to hang and position whatever materials are at hand to "tame" the space. Forget the desktop mic stands...the Stage Ninja w/clamp works beautifully with a shock mount for a 416 (or similar). It clamps to anything. The cable is for when I have access to the router on site (rather than go wireless if possible). Your travel bag, roll-on, suitcase....whatever..can be opened up and used as a "backstop".
MUCH more effective than any other "gadget" that I've seen, at least with a shotgun mic. Pillows are also your friend. I would agree that the "eyeball" is entirely useless for a shotgun (which is the only mic I'll use on the road).

The "eyeball" however could be utilized as a pretty expensive anchor buoy if one happens to have a boat

Quicksilver · Been Here Awhile Joined: 29 Oct 2012 Posts: 217

That Stage Ninja is pretty slick! I always have trouble getting a good angle on the mic using a desk top stand under a luggage carrier with a blanket over my head.

Gotta wonder what the maid thinks of the setup as well, ha.

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Then again you could always leave work at home when you travel...
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DeadDillo · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:46 am Post subject:

SACRILEGE!
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Quicksilver · Been Here Awhile Joined: 29 Oct 2012 Posts: 217

Haha, wish I could Dayo but the boss can be a real $##%$%!

Someday, someday...