Here's a rough'n'ready realworld test of the effectiveness of the RealTraps Portable Vocal Booth.
Testing equipment was as follows:
Brauner Phantom LE
Vovox Mic Cable
Metric Halo ULN-2 Pre-amp/A-D
Logic 7 DAW
The testing room is what you might call a 'normal' untreated room with average furnishings, although there are a couple of MondoTraps in the corners, unlikely to make a big difference to this close-miking.
In the background whirring away you can hear a PowerBook G4, 2 x LaCie Hard drives and my Kurzweil K2000 (which has a noisy internal drive). I also installed a loud IKEA clock somewhere behind the mic. Obviously I try to avoid recording under these conditions(!) but it seemed a good 'torture test' for the PVB, since it's the kind of equipment you might want to use in a less than ideal room anyway.
I chose the Brauner Phantom as it's super-sensitive to room noise and seems to have a slightly wider pick-up than my preferred Gefell M930.
The PVB was installed on the supplied bars on a standard K&M mic stand. I placed the 4 MicroTraps behind my head in very similar arrangement to what you see in the photo on the RealTraps site
here.
(OK - that's an SM7B in the photo but the tests were still done with the Brauner!)
Don't ask me to compare the PVB to the SE Reflexion Filter - I've never used one so I've no idea of the subjective differences. If SE would care to send me one I will surely try it out and post results! For sure though the PVB looks a heck of a lot easier to set-up and can conveniently be placed on a table, which works well for some spoken-word applications.
Since I was running a test anyway, just for good measure I also show you the effectiveness of the Pauli Superscreen Pop Shield by removing it in the last file - it's not difficult to hear what that does!
All files are 24-bit/44.1k with no processing whatsoever.
No Treatment.wav PVB Only.wav PVB + MicroTraps.wav PVB + MicroTraps (No Popshield).wav
I think we can safely say what we knew all along: the PVB isn't designed as an isolation booth but it sure as heck helps cut reflections and damps reverberation if you're looking for a nice dry vocal-booth-type sound in an open space. Add an array of MicroTraps behind the source and you're really good to go!
Of course I only tested the PVB on voice - spoken-word at that, and I wasn't in particularly good voice that day either! But I'm sure there are other applications where the PVB could prove effective.
As always, YMMV!