The Best Portable Vocal Isolation Booths

By

Bryan Huynh

on April 20, 2024

header image

The advent of modern technology has fortunately made it easier for musicians to build a home recording studio and produce their own music. However, bedrooms are not always the best space for recording acoustically -- ambient noise can be picked up by your microphone and noise can easily reflect off your walls. 

You can always soundproof your room to block out external noise and keep the sound in, or even treat your walls with acoustic padding to help absorb excessive ambience, but when it comes to recording vocals, true isolation booths are key.

Portable isolation booths (also called sound isolation shields) are a piece of equipment you can use to help get rid of extraneous and background noise that can be picked up by sensitive microphones (such as condenser microphone) and record clear, dry, and professional sounding vocals. 

Below, we look at some of the best options for portable isolation shields. 

Our Top Picks for the Best Portable Vocal Isolation Booths

Monoprice Microphone Isolation Shield

The Monoprice Microphone Isolation Shield is an affordable isolation booth that helps you create a quality recording with clear and crisp vocals, regardless of the room you are in. It has an acoustic foam front and vented metal backplate, along with two outer panels that can fold inward for a tighter acoustic isolation chamber (and also for storage). 

The isolation shield is easy to set up but it’s fairly heavy so you’ll need a sturdy mic stand or tripod to support it. It can also be adjusted to widen it and can also keep lyrics and sheet music in front of you. 

Halo Reflection Filter 

The Halo Reflection Filter by Aston Microphones has a unique design that can filter 360 degrees. It comes in two colors: a purple or all-black finish. 

This isolation shield is made with PET felt (a lightweight material that is excellent at treating acoustics) and comes with easy-mount hardware. Because it is so light, setting it up and traveling with it is simple. 

The shield filters at the top and bottom rather than horizontally (which is a feature of most isolation shields) and keeps out reflective sounds while recording, resulting in clear and dry vocals. 

AxcessAbles SF-101KIT

AxcessAbles SF-101KIT is a bundle that comes with everything you need to make a great recording: MX-100 condenser mic, tripod stand, desktop tripod stand, SF-101 isolation shield, shock mount, pop filter, and cable. 

The isolation shield is made with 2-inch thick high-density foam that helps eliminate background noise. It’s simple to set up; you simply need to screw the steel clamps to the back of the shield. It’s sturdy, durable, and easy to fold when you want to store it. 

Neewer NW-6 Foldable Isolation Booth

The Neewer NW-6 Foldable Isolation Booth is an excellent and affordable portable booth for recording vocals that comes with non-slip feet for desktop use.

This isolation booth uses a thick, high-density acoustic foam that keeps outside noise, room reflections, and vibrations at bay, allowing your microphone to capture your vocals directly and clearly. It’s also portable and has adjustable panels that can fold and be put away when it’s not being used. 

LyxPro VRI-30

The LyxPro VRI-30 portable isolation shield is great for those who need a lightweight and affordable vocal booth. These also come in different sizes, so the price may vary. 

The smallest portable isolation shield has plenty of space and it’s quick and easy to set up since the panel is already put together, so you’ll only need to attach the mic stand. It’s made from premium aluminum and high-quality foam that absorbs and deflects ambient/outside noise and ensures your vocals are dry. 

ISOVOX 2

The ISOVOX 2 is an excellent portable vocal booth that is perfect for home studios and vocalists/voice actors who need a studio-quality recording. It does a great job of eliminating room sounds, preventing outside noise from coming in, and keeping your vocals from being heard by your neighbors. It has 360 degree XYZ shielding and up to -35dB of noise leakage reduction. 

The ISOVOX 2 is a roomy, spacious booth that you can put your head inside. It’s easy to set up and put away, and there’s a small LED fixture for lighting and a shelf for lyrics, phone, or tablet. 

The ISOVOX 2 has a very specific shockmount so you’ll have to double check which microphones are compatible.

sE Electronics Reflexion Filter X Portable Vocal Booth

The sE Electronics Reflexion Filter X is an affordable option that is lightweight, sturdy, and easy to set up. It comes with patented acoustic filter technology and has a 4-layer design (an outer composite panel, a wool fabric layer, an air gap layer, and inner acoustic foam layer) for near-zero sonic coloration.

sE Electronics Reflexion Filter PRO Portable Vocal Booth

The sE Electronics Reflexion Filter is a great affordable filter to improve your acoustic space. It has six different layers to diffuse the sound and reflections around the microphone, resulting in minimal coloration. It can be attached to any mic stand and its hardware allows it to be tilted to your ideal position and stable enough to position your microphone at any angle. 

Primacoustic FlexiBooth Wall-Mounted Vocal Booth

The Primacoustic FlexiBooth is a vocal booth that is wall-mounted and opens or closes like a cupboard when it’s time to record. It is 24” x 48” and requires some quick and easy assembly before installing but it provides 16 cubic feet of treated space to record without room ambience -- you can even put multiple booths around the house to treat the acoustics in the room. Simply adjusting the flexibooth doors can create a different acoustic environment. 

The acoustic panels are completely encapsulated with micromesh, covered with a touch acoustically transparent fabric, and has an easy to clean black melamine finish.

Primacoustic VoxGuard VU Nearfield Absorber Microphone Shield

Primacoustic’s VoxGuard VU can be attached to your mic stand and acts as an acoustic shield to reduce room reflections. It has a 15” x 18” curved absorption panel with pressure-release slots to remove resonance, along with an adjustable mic-clamp slider and a plexiglass window to keep a line of sight between the vocalist and engineer. 

Whisper Room

Whisper Room, Inc.™ has been manufacturing and shipping Sound Isolation Enclosures since 1990; its clients include major TV networks and recording studios, individual musicians, and many more businesses and institutions around the world. 

These booths are excellent for minimizing sound ambience and acoustic noise and they can be used for recording, voiceover, practice rooms, and more. 

Whisper Room offers 26 different sizes of isolation booth models and two different levels of sound isolations; these booths can come with basic or optional features. Sound booths are available as a Standard single wall or an Enhanced double wall design.

About the Author

Product Tester & Writer

Bryan Huynh

Product Tester & Writer

Bryan Huynh is a determined Product Tester & Writer. Being a coffee addict, it is only right that he mainly tests and reviews different coffee from around the world and coffee subscription services.

Bryan Huynh is a determined Product Tester & Writer. Being a coffee addict, it is only right that he mainly tests and reviews different coffee from around the world and coffee subscription services.