The goal is to minimize excessive room ambience and also off-axis sounds from either the intended source or other sources in the recording space. This unwanted sound could also be leakage from other instruments, A/C noise, or even reflections from nearby hard wall surfaces.

The MudGuard sent to me for review was easy to set up and use. It comes with all the necessary mounting bracket hardware to fit all mic stands with a choice of several different mounting options possible. Whether your preference is to "hang" a vocal mic from the end of boom stand or mount it on a simple vertical mic stan--it's your choice.

I went with hanging the mic and MudGuard from a tall boom stand. Even though MudGuard in not heavy, its added weight along with my MXL Revelation tube mic's heft dictates using a proper studio boom stand with a heavy cast iron base. For safety's sake, I also threw a sand bag on the stand's base just as an insurance policy so the whole rig would not tip over if accidentally brushed up against.

Sonically, MudGuard has an interesting effect: it seemed to increase the mid-range quality of the Revelation mic (set to cardioid) by reducing the proximity effect (bass buildup) slightly. It also "dried out" the sound of vocals sung using it--especially loudly sung vocals that tend to produce sound reflections from nearby walls in my vocal recording space here at my Tones 4 $ Studios.

The MudGuard has to be a "must have" accessory for recording in home/project studios that are set up in less than ideal acoustical spaces. By sliding the mounting bracket to move the mic further into or out of MudGuard and then adjusting your singer's distance from it and the mic, you can dial in the exact amount of room ambience. Nice!

The Auralex MudGuard is very useful for voiceover booths, radio station studios, "on-the-go" voiceover work in ENG (electronic news gathering) trucks and on-set ADR (automated dialog replacement).