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Kaotica Eyeball


justanross

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Hey Guys and Gals,

 

Not sure if any of you have seen this but its pretty damn cool. It was even designed by a local team here in Calgary. Product is actually made in Michigan. 

 

Now I meet the guy who is head of the company the other day. I bought one off him. I just set it up in my kitchen with my Bluebird condenser mic and recorder into my MAXX. It was next to the fridge that was on and my kid was just in the next room with the TV on. I couldn't hear the fridge and the TV I could very faintly in the background. But what I was impressed by was how dead the sound was. It sounded like the mic was in a proper studio space. 

 

I know this wasn't a fantastic test but I was very impressed by its results. I think this will greatly improve my voice over recordings when on location. Anyways, I think this is worth checking out and I'd love to hear what you guys think.

 

Website: http://kaoticaeyeball.com

 

 

Here is a great example of it: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclyK_RvoTk

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Hmmm...

 

I have always been wary of those "magical" reflection filters that "transform your room into a professionally designed acoustic environment" for only $149.95 !

 

However, the test does sound rather efficient. I think this could be useful in the small budget production scenario, as long as your producer understands that this is a make-shift solution and cannot be compared to a real recording facility.

 

Let me know if you're happy with it. For $200, it may very well find its way into my kit.

Thanks for sharing anyway.

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Hmmm...

 

I have always been wary of those "magical" reflection filters that "transform your room into a professionally designed acoustic environment" for only $149.95 !

 

However, the test does sound rather efficient. I think this could be useful in the small budget production scenario, as long as your producer understands that this is a make-shift solution and cannot be compared to a real recording facility.

 

Let me know if you're happy with it. For $200, it may very well find its way into my kit.

Thanks for sharing anyway.

 

No from talking to the owner of the company, its not to replace recording in a studio. His main target is the at home studio amateur or hobbyist.

 

For me, like I said, it will just help me out on location at getting a cleaner voice over track. At least I hope.

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Cool. Listening to this on my phone(HTC one with Beats audio, I mention this because it beefs the audio up some and it may or may not have effected my experience) I noticed the sound with the eyeball sounded compressed, and the natural decay (of the first video in particular) sounded much more unnatural. My headphones are hd25s, and I know they too can make you hear stuff you wouldn't hear through speakers for example.. but this initial experience was I just would've chosen another Mic...

Would be interesting to see a test in a small studio with lesser damping than a professional studio, like a living room. I think that's where this product would most likely apply anyway.

But a real cool product! I could imagine it being very effective for VOs on location or in other rooms. Podcasts and amateur radio too. Would be cool if there was aone in the shape of an American football to accommodate a long (like mkh50) Mic.

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Very interesting, A possible use I see would be to record wild lines or VO of dialogue on noisy locations or on locations with bad acoustics.

The only thing is how (from what I see on the pics) the kaotica ball  could accomodate the usual microphones we use/bring on set .  

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Interesting that the "before" on their example had such a even timbred, noise free reverb... And that the 'after' was such a quiet environment you couldn't even hear the guy's breaths.

Of course I'm not saying that verb or expansion were added in post. No manufacturer would enhance their product demo that way.

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Interesting product.  Is it flexible?  Could it be collapsed down to a smaller travel size?  I have a vo artist/producer friend who does vo work on the road and he might be interested in this.  I too thought it sounded somewhat compressed and I could hear more plosives with the eyeball than without.  Maybe the pop filter isn't doing quite as much as the circular one?

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It may have a place in certain applications (as mentioned, e.g. amateur radio or gome studio), but I wouldn't consider it for anything more serious. Whatever it can do, you can do better with half-decent plug-ins ins post. Izotope RX is not that much more expensive. Or am I missing something?

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Interesting product.  Is it flexible?  Could it be collapsed down to a smaller travel size?  I have a vo artist/producer friend who does vo work on the road and he might be interested in this.  I too thought it sounded somewhat compressed and I could hear more plosives with the eyeball than without.  Maybe the pop filter isn't doing quite as much as the circular one?

 

No it can't collapse unfortunately. 

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 I too thought it sounded somewhat compressed and I could hear more plosives with the eyeball than without.  

 

Why assume that had anything to do with the large ball around the mic and performer's mouth?

 

Compression can't be the product of an acoustic environment, until you start to pressurize the room with SPLs many times louder than a singer could manage.

 

Plosives happen between the singer's lips and the mic diaphragm. The only thing they'd indicate in this cue is that the guy was either a lot closer or a lot more on-mic for that take… which might suggest something about the difference between 'before' and 'after'...

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Why assume that had anything to do with the large ball around the mic and performer's mouth?

 

Compression can't be the product of an acoustic environment, until you start to pressurize the room with SPLs many times louder than a singer could manage.

 

Plosives happen between the singer's lips and the mic diaphragm. The only thing they'd indicate in this cue is that the guy was either a lot closer or a lot more on-mic for that take.

Didn't mean it was actually compressed, only that it sounded like it was compressed as a way to describe the change in sound the ball seemed to cause.  Do you think it didn't cause the change in the way the singer sounded?  I think the singer was about the same distance from the mic and the built in pop filter just wasn't as effective as the one built into the eye.  I noticed the same thing in the other examples that I saw.  I like the idea of this device but I'm not sure I like the odd character it gives to the sound. 

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 Do you think it didn't cause the change in the way the singer sounded?

 

Things like the character of the before's "room verb" and the breath-free quietness of the after make me suspicious. So I can't tell whether the ball caused the change, or something pretty easy was done in post.

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  • 1 year later...

The kaotica is small enough to be thrown into a carry-on luggage or check in. Our purpose to use it was because we do VO in hotel rooms alot or in someone's living room. For these purposes, the kaotica shines. In no way does it replace a proper studio but for a mobile recording tool it works well.

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