Reflection filters..

mrleon83

is anyone using one? There's so many out there it's hard to know whether it's worthwhile then which to go for room only has high end attenuation..

so so far I've looked at 
Fom from proacoustic - cheap, light but doesn't have the tech (or marketing) if some name brands
Se - apparently heavy which puts me off
Aston Halo- pricy but gets rave reviews, light weight ..but pricy (again)

ive just laminated the floor in the room so I know vocals are going to be a battle ,.:

Cirrus

They're good for reducing spill from other instruments - eg if you're singing in the same room as the other musicians, you can use one to reduce some of the instrument spill reaching the vocal mic.

As a tool to reduce room ambiance, they're not so great.

Why?

Well, for a start, they're behind the mic, in the area where most vocal mics are naturally less sensitive. Room sound also arrives at the mic from the same direction your voice does.

Second, it's pretty much impossible to make a reflection filter that absorbs all frequencies. For lower frequencies it'll be as if the filter isn't even there, and there will be some frequencies that bounce off it, back into the mic. Have you ever heard how weird sound can get when you have a curved wall? What you're doing is creating a little parabolic dish that concentrates certain frequencies by reflecting them straight at the mic - so you get little peaks and dips through the midrange.

If you think the floor is going to be an issue, you could probably do more with a rug IMO.

Sound on Sound did an interesting article on them a few years ago. Annoyingly I can't find it.

guitarfishbay

If you're looking at spending a lot then this would work even better than the options you've listed.

http://gikacoustics.co.uk/product/pib-portable-isolation-vocal-booth/

Stuckfast

Sound on Sound did an interesting article on them a few years ago. Annoyingly I can't find it.

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/how-effective-are-portable-vocal-booths

I think they are a solution looking for a problem really. You're better off hanging a couple of heavy duvets behind the performer.

spark240

Agree with above....I have the SE Pro and aside from being very heavy it's quite cumbersome.

I use it with an Se condenser and it's all fine though I did a vocal last night with an SM58beta , no filter annnnnnnnndd.....it sounds fine !

result.....I wouldn't bother buying one. 

mrleon83

I guess the 58 won't be so sensitive though ? .. it's got me swaying to buying the cheap one, if nothing else just to try ..was really close to dropping the cash on the halo so cheers for this ! 

Cirrus

If you're singing into a 58, my advice would be to get right on the mic and just hold it. They're designed for that! The closer you get, the less the room tone matters.

mrleon83

I'm using an Aston Origin , it's a great mix but just want to get the best from it ...

spark240

To be fair..the 58 was a guide track but...its half decent !...the noise in my room comes from the road outside, so the reflexion filter does very little, and even with the condenser Ive found it doesnt achieve much, I think the bespoke home made solution would be as good and more tweak able.

Danny1969

When I was running 2020 Studios we did a whole bunch of work for the gaming industry. Basically we have to record actors and actresses doing lines of dialogue, making fighting sounds, jumping sounds, being murdered etc. Anyhow the point is these sounds had to be recorded as flat and dry as possible without any hint of reflections, so the games producers could then add their own ambiance to suit location in the game ... in a castle, in a forest, on water etc

Looking around the loading bay we gathered together 3 sheets of ply. We battened those with 2" x 2" and then covered the wood in Rockwool acoustic slab, which was then covered in black cloth. That thing worked amazing well and enabled us to record bone dry vocals in a large reflective room I designed for large drum sounds. All it consisted off was £30 of rockwool covered with cloth

colourofsound

The only time I'd employ a reflection filter is on figure 8 or omni mics. SE's GuitaRF is on my GAS list as I use a ribbon on my amp; similarly if I want to use a ribbon to capture the resonant boom of a kick drum I'd probably use a reflection filter for that too.

For vocals though, I've found they generally cause more problems than they solve.

Stuckfast

I'd be a bit nervous about using a ribbon mic on a kick drum!

colourofsound

I have SE's Voodoos - they're rock solid. Older ones...maybe not. I'd have it about 2 foot away from the kick and no where near the port hole!

mrleon83

Cool, what's the general concensous on singing into a (full of clothes) wardrobe? Its huge I can literally fit in it ...

spark240

mrleon83 said:

Cool, what's the general concensous on singing into a (full of clothes) wardrobe? Its huge I can literally fit in it ...

Perfect !

Freebird

I use a SE Space filter in front and a heavy duvet behind, in a very bad room.