Stood in one of these at Gearfest 2019 in a loud crowded convention center and once your in , it’s like you’re buried under ground. Blocks out so much ambient sound.
I own an IsoVox as well, and the two biggest problems are [1] no room for an ipad for scripts...almost impossible to mark a script up or move pages (makes audiobook work very tough) and [2] you need to record using a Lo Cut/Hi Pass filter to remove much of the small-box boominess. It is perfectly possible to make a recording in an IsoVox useable...but it is tough to work in for longer jobs.
Oops, pressed send too soon. I have an Isovox 2 that I took with me to Gran Canaria. It worked all right although I do have a few issues: 1. The stand does not fold enough to go on a plane. 2. The length from the mike to the script/iPad is too short (57yo with glasses!!). I need to be able to adjust the mike, which is not possible now. 3. Recording audiobooks, I need to be able to read in a looong flow and just mark the audio file when I make a mistake so I can edit easily afterwards. So like you I need some kind of view or connection to tne laptop I record on. I’ll start experimenting with using a wireless keyboard and mouse. I just don’t really know where to place them. It’s so great to be able to travel with the job. But the Isovox does need to be optimized. Especially for the really long projects that I do a lot of. It would also be great if it folded a little more so it could fit in a regular suitcase.
It would be great if someone could test the noise reducing level outside of the box, I need to know how useful it is for vocal rehearsals to prevent others in the house or neighbours hearing you.
Thanks for all the comments. I've now made the audio from the studio and the gym sections downloadable - and provided a sample from the same mic in the studio, unprocessed, at soundcloud.com/mikecoopervoiceover/sets/isovox-2-audio-samples
Great review, but would have been nice to hear a recording without the box through the Neuman. It sounds really bassy to me, but I don't know how much of that is the microphone and other elements.
@@Arman... Yeah, but you can actually treat a room for way less than this costs. An actual vocal booth (that can be moved around too with removable panels) is preferable in nearly every way to this.
@@Arman... You don't really need anything premade - just look up DIY acoustic panels on here. Typically people screw together a rectangle of planks of wood and stuff it with rockwool or similar.
I Haaaaate the way that iso booth sounds. Sounds so muddled its insane. All your hear is base and low end. Makes you sound like your speaking through a pillow. If the box was bigger it would make it sound much better.
This looks like a great solution to keep unwanted noise out of your recordings. I just wonder how much sound it keeps from getting out? Unfortunately my living room studio is not very isolated. I can hear my neighbour talking when they have an argument or when they play music and i don't want them to hear me singing without music. I'm not the worst singer but i'm very shy. As soon as my vocals have been recorded and are played back with some music i'm acctually fine with the result. It would improve my performance a lot if i knew nobody could hear my dry voice.
I've got IsoVox and although this review sound good on the surface, I don't believe Mike truly described the end product which is the record. In my case I don't have very well treated rooms - one with a lot of furnishing and a carpet, another one (where i initially was planning to use) with quite a lot of reflective surfaces. I need to use it for VO/not as a singer. In summary, for both rooms I have both noise entering in (which you cant EQ) and the boxiness effect clearly heard. So now to make further investments into trying to build something around it to eliminate.
It's better than I expected very pricy compared to others however I do see its the best without investing in a sound booth, would it be able to use a BLUE mic and screw it onto the stand?
Fantastic Review. So looks like it could be good for me then in a small humbling apartment with neighbors that remind me of my ... singleness. Not trying to record that type of material. Thanks again and take care.
If i took 3 large pillows top left and right . 3 smaller pillows front back and bottom sew them together maybe sew them on to a zipper just for kicks . will it have a smilar effect and a way cheaper cost , what do you think ????
y’all are wildin if you’d rather have have room reverb in your recordings rather than just eq’ing or multibanding a little low end. it looks like it does the trick. expensive but sounds like you could get consist recordings with this thing
The price of the product is quite high...do consider reviewing the price.. I just cut some plywood and with MMT accoustics foams and some mounting accessories, I could build one that works extremely well.
Nice review Mike. Many thanks. I am in the process of building a new (very small) house - in the NC mountains I might add. While I'm in the transition process I'll have a particular challenge. I've been recording in my home studio equipped with a "Vocal Booth" (a prefab until I bought years ago). It also can sound a bit "boxy", but with mic technique and some other factors, I've learned to make it work pretty well. However, for a coupe long-time clients, I need to be able to match the sound of recordings already done in my existing booth. So my question is ... with all other factors being equal (meaning the same microphone, same preamp, same general recording area/environment, etc.) how different does a file sound when recorded in your usual booth versus one recorded in the Isoxox?
This was a good review with usable demonstrations, but I can't say I am all that impressed with it. It has a really odd decay, some say its bassy but I hear the highs decaying out really oddly and the bass balance to be ok. It sounds boxy, tight. I would prefer a wrap-around with an open top to this with a blanket around my shoulders. It needs a little breathing space. I get this same sound (for basic youtube vid-overs) with a Blue Ball USB mic inside of a 14"x16" fold-able storage cube from Wal-Mart with some wedge sheet isolation foam inside, open front. mine cost me 12.80 CAD for the container and the foam was leftover from a guitar ISO cab project. Probably 40.00 CAD worth of good quality studio foam. This may be built better overall, but for the money, I would take my cube.
Totally agree with you. I've yet to hear a single demonstration of this product that sounds good. Then again how could it, since your effectively putting your head in a drum. It would be far better if the sides were not covered in a reflective vinyl like material.
nice review mike , i would like to see how much it isolates the sound coming out of the unit, the company make a big claim via 2 sound bites that you can hardly hear someone singing , then they put a nice disclaimer that it might not be the same for all singers mm not convinced.
looks like a Focusrite ISA430 in the background too. Well done! I recently had a stroke but my voice still works fine. Been thinking about voice overs for years. But now I have time. Endless time lol
All things considered, it does knock down the sound a good bit. Great review Mike. It's too bad it doesn't accommodate the Sen 416. That really is the ultimate road mic. I wondered about rigging something the it could be offset to the side a bit (not ideal) but at least you could fit a giant head like mine in there. Thanks for the video. If you ever find yourself on Vancouver Island without your Isobox, I have a studio waiting for you to use. Cheers!
Hi Dave, I know it's a couple of years ago that you commented, so you may be on top of this already. The Townsend L22 has a superb shotgun emulation which I've been using (in preference to all the other vintage emulations)for voice work. It is a large condenser Microphone (and recently won a Technical award @ Nam). I can't recommend it highly enough. Check out this review townsendlabs.com/brent-hagel-reviews-l22-for-voice-over/?
@@richardridings7511 Hi Richard, I am currently in the process of purchasing an isovvox - I saw your comments here and was interested, as I'm looking for a good mic. could you recommend any other microphones - the cheapest possible condenser mic without pulling the quality down? tia
@@dreamwavecollective Hi Vikki.... I've done most of my recordings in dedicated studios over the years (and normally on Neumann U87's), so I really don't have much experience of the cheaper range of condensers at home. With the pandemic- I have now set up at home and have invested in the the Townsend Sphere Microphone, which while not cheap is by far and away the best Mic Modeller, and most versatile as well. Coupled with a Universal audio Interface and an Isovox or similar (I actually went for a VoMoPro in the end). If there is any way you can stretch to this set up then I would go for that, as it will save you money in the long run. I hope this helps. Maybe check this out. townsendlabs.com/voice-over-live-panel-on-december-11th/?
Hey Mike, I'm a voice over artist from the states. I hate telling clients that I'm away from the studio when I travel. How does it do with Condenser mics? I couldn't tell if your test mic was dynamic or condenser.
Lara Parmiani Voice Over Personally, I found it “boomy”, but I guess that depends on your definition! And it may well be different with different voices.
That's a great point! The height is determined by the stand, and I think a standard speaker stand would probably be too short for you. There are extra tall stage speaker stands around - Sweetwater has some, for example - but that would, of course, add to the cost - unless you were able to talk Isovox into supplying one, I guess?
I'm afraid it's not possible for me to test it in all conditions, but you should get a good idea of sound isolation from the clip inside the house with the aquarium running. Do remember, too, that it's never going to be a sealed booth and it's not really designed to keep outside noise out, but to keep your voice in!
WAY too expensive for what it does. And while it does deaden the ambient noise in the room, it makes the vocals sound too muffled and distorted on the low end. Yes, that can be cleaned up with some EQ, but the entire point of this is to minimize the amount of time needed to doctor your vocal takes. I guess if you have a REALLY noisy recording environment that can't be tamed with a limiter and compression, and you can't figure out how to isolate your vocals in a creative and inexpensive way...and you have $1000 to throw away...then go for it.
Great review, but its seriously overpriced. A room divider and some decent acoustic foam in a wrap-around format will deliver the same results minus the smothered sound...Cost? $300 Aussie dollars and 20 minutes of assembly time (pinning)
@@MikeCooperVoiceover Literally one of the selling bullet points for it on Sweetwater is and I quote "Up to -35dB of noise leakage reduction lets you sing without disturbing your neighbors"
@@MikeCooperVoiceover Watch this vid from GearGods - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IKXcC00biBo.html He actually puts a mic in his neighbors apartment to show how much it quiets the sound of him singing and screaming. I'm just saying it would be nice if someone else reviewing it did the same thing as it is one of the main selling features for people in apartments to practice and record without noise complaints.
This is a great product I have ears and its very good. you make it seem like its okay but its really great. There is nothing I know better than this. This is an unfair review. You are a lovely man of course. But you trying not to sound biased ended making it look like it's not so great. Do a comparison of all the portable booth out there and you will find yourself singing the praises of the ISOVOX 2. Others like Eyeball Kaotica, Aston Halo and many more then you'll appreaciate. This great product. So next time brother. A little bit of excitement make you and your video exciting and more views and subscription you will get. Trust me friend. Have a lovely life.
@@TheLillianYoung Honestly, if it worked as advertised, I might consider paying full price for it. But it doesn't. My main problem with it is it just sounds awful.
@@MetalArcade If that's what you want it for you'd be far better off just sticking your head in a closet full of lots of clothes. Hell that would be better for *any* application than this, including recording. Plus it doesn't cost hundreds of dollars.
@@CLaw-tb5gg You would need an enormous amount of clothes to even slightly deaden the sound in a closet, and that wouldn't reduce the volume of screaming low enough for neighbors. Plus I don't have any available closets where I'm at, they're all being used for storage.
we are forgetting about People Sweating inside that box...Remember they will not be inside for just a couple of minutes.. Do they Have Fans inside the Box????
It didn't do much to block out the noise of that pump, so it wouldn't stand a chance against planes, my deaf neighbor who like films at a THX volume, nor my girlfriend's blender. Ugh. BTW, I want to make sweet love to your reading voice 😆
You're too kind ;-) To be fair, any box with open sides can never offer sound*proofing* - the best it can do is treating reflections and stopping some of the sound from getting in. It's never going to be a substitute for an isolation booth, sadly. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I was wondering about that test. Before you went into the isovox you were using a mic outside of it, presumably the mic in your phone. We were still hearing that mic after you went inside the isovox, so we didn't actually get to hear how well it cut the fishtank.
@@KeenApollo bro i see u comment alot on this is having a u87 to put in this a complete waste of the mic, subtracting the eq…does it take away from the good sound quality if the mic?