Watch This Before You Buy A Cloudlifter! (Part 1)

[@spinlightstudios]

I posted a second part to this video - testing the cloud lifter in a few more situations - Link in description!

[@oinkooink]

With dynamic mics into a preamp like the Daking MicPreEq...when you engage the eq and scoop out all the bad room sound etc you're left with a much quieter signal. If you want to compress on the way in through another hardware comp...you're left with almost no way to pump in the kind of signal that even the lowest comp threshold will see. An extra 25 odd db from a cloudlifter would fix that.

[@MrAdopado]

Makes sense to me. Adding another electronic item in an analogue chain is surely always going to add noise, even if it's just a tiny amount.

[@johnviera3884]

I would never buy a microphone that needs a cloud lifter. There is properly designed microphones that sound better without an extra device

[@davidmiseveth]

I have noticed this with the Sm7, but it has helped with ribbon mics that are passive.

[@alexanderkewley6742]

My results are very different. The cloud lifter for me removed the noise dramatically. I run a short 1ft xlr from the cloud lifter to sm7b and then the longer xlr from the CL to my Apollo x8 p. My vocals go through the uad neve 1073 pre amp into the LA-2A silver in the uad unison slot. Wondering if your unit is faulty, cables or power issue?

[@spinlightstudios]

Okay so I expanded upon my experiments and it seems the Apollo twin doesn’t play nice with the cloudlifter. When I tested it with my standalone preamps - great river - phoenix audio - it actually improved the floor noise with the sm7b. So that’s kind of interesting! I’ll have to post an update 🤣 but why the UA apollo causes issue I can’t figure out.

[@DrProgNerd]

Added another pearl-of-wisdom to my newbie-cheat-sheet. I had assumed that I had to have a Cloudlifter for my SM7. I hadn't considered that I could do the same thing (if not better) with my interface preamp - or with a preamp plugin. Now that I know, it seems so obvious. Fortunately, I bought a $30 knock-off years ago - so at least I'm not out the $150. *Cool Side Story* : about 12 years ago, my son was in after-school care at The Boys and Girls club. At some point, they decided to clean out their storeroom and filled a dumpster with stuff they didn't want to store anymore. My son noticed 'a microphone' in the trash and fished it out for his old man 🙂. That's how I came into my SM7. They probably tossed it thinking it was broken - because it wasn't very loud. What a good kid. Thanks for the great content - once again - Rhys.

[@spinlightstudios]

How lucky is that! Can’t say I’ve ever found that kinda gold in the trash! I’m honestly surprised - I was waiting to be blown away and be like “can’t believe I haven’t been using one of these for years!”… nope 😅

[@patrox247]

The noise is worse and the sound is worse with the Cloudlifter

[@spinlightstudios]

It doesn’t like the UA apollo twin

[@spinlightstudios]

Highly recommend you listen with headphones or on studio monitors and pay attention to the noise levels.

[@clintonmaher6930]

Other brands are better - the SE Dynamite is great

[@PrantoKoX]

Noise floor - Floor noise, Preamp - Ampre, Cloudlifter - Liftclouder.... Just suggesting! 😉😉😉 BTW, IMHO the Triton Audio Fethead and the sE Electronics Dynamite are both superior to the Cloudlifter... less noise, no hummy sounds!

[@spinlightstudios]

Haha yeah man I get my words muddled up at times when making these vids, I don’t script anything and it’s all free flowing - imperfections are going to happen haha

[@oscarfernandoofpublicnature]

Same issue with my Triton Audio FEThead Transformer. Returned!!

[@spinlightstudios]

Seems very hit and miss with these products!

[@88omarz]

Yea I don’t have this issue whatsoever. Literally don’t even hear any ground loop in noise I’ve been using the cloudier for a few years.

[@spinlightstudios]

I did some more tests with some of my standalone preamps and for varying results - made another short vid to follow up this one. What interface/preamp are you using it before?

[@maxprizm]

You had 1 job Cloudlifter! 😂 Always wondered if these worked, don't use sm7b much but run it through 1073 and it's usually just barely enough gain and a little noise on the floor.

[@spinlightstudios]

I’m the same, SM7b can be pretty good, but there is usually a little bit of noise on quieter vocalist - especially when you start compressing.

[@vatomaton]

I can attest to the cloudlifter being more noisy with a SM7b. I do like the cloudlifter on ribbon mics. It does work well in that application. I found this out when working on a session with the cloudlifter and the SM7b. It had so much noise through the headphones that I thought something was broken. After unplugging and muting a bunch of gear as soon as I removed the cloudlifter it was way quieter.

[@spinlightstudios]

I’ll have to test it on my R88 and see if it improves the signal on quiet recordings - it’s got a decent self noise so I’m not expecting it to do much for it though!

[@GagliardiJV]

I just went through this a few years ago ago… I had only had a cheap interface when I started and the gain wasn’t enough so I bought a cloud lifter and just thought it was necessary, but a few years later I built a legit home studio and now have real pres and noticed that my sm57b was so noisy… took the cloud lifter out of the chain and it was clear so I ditched that pretty quick haha

[@spinlightstudios]

It’s so crazy! I’ve been testing it on a few different preamps and the results vary so much. On some it’s a slight improvement, on others it’s worse or equal noise. Very hit and miss!

[@bradferguson9840]

Nice guitar playing/chord sequence.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks Brad! Took it from a song I wrote :)

[@dburridgemusic]

Hooooly crap just bought one of these last month, will have to check this now 😅😭

[@spinlightstudios]

Hopefully it’s doing what it should be doing! I posted a second video where I had better results running through some standalone preamps.

[@bigriff9946]

This is something that ive noticed myself, i use a goxlr mini for streaming and already had a sm7b and cloudlifter, goxlr mini has quite noisy preamps with the phantom power on so i assumed that using the cloudlifter would be better.... nope, it actually ends up being better nearly maxxing out the preamp on the goxlr mini than it does using the cloudlifter inline. not to mention the floor noise of the cloudlifter is just a nastier tone. good video, cloudlifters dont fix everything !

[@spinlightstudios]

Agreed, no cloud lifted here 😂

[@Awakeinthedreamofme]

thats wild , would not have guessed the cloudlifter would be noisier

[@spinlightstudios]

Yeah dude! Absolutely threw me off course when making this video haha I’m like.. umm what!?

[@GrandmasterKnox]

Really cool video! Julian Krause also has a video about the cloudlifter that is very good. I personally believe the cloudlifter (and its competitors) are a dying breed of gear. They used to be relevant back when desktop interfaces were very noisy, but nowadays most interfaces can drive most microphones without much trouble. The discourse online is also very much detached from the reality of the product, people seem to believe that the cloudlifter is a magical tool to reduce noise, while misunderstanding basic concepts such as SNR. Fact is, most people will do fine without a cloudlifter, there's no harm in using all your gain if you're not clipping.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks mate! I’ll have to check his vid out. I was hoping it would improve the noise floor slightly but clearly not. And without doing a proper test like this, you could just plug it in and assume it’s working as it should be.

[@GrandmasterKnox]

@@spinlightstudios I was very surprised to see that the noise actually seemed to get worse, and looking back now at Julian's video, his test with the Fethead (thought it was the Cloudlifter when first commenting) also boosts noise about the same way. A/B testing like yours is the way to go, especially when those things are pretty damn expensive. Anyway, really good stuff as always! You're on a roll!

[@gavmurray7398]

the classical music recording folk all say the old ones are very different to the new ones they changed the design at some point. apparently they add colour as well as the noise you found the old ones less noise with more neutral sound

[@spinlightstudios]

That’s interesting! People always prefer the original 😂 is there a video comparing old and new cloudlifters?

[@gavmurray7398]

@@spinlightstudios not that i have seen but i think the classical guys are the ones that notice cause they are using like schoeps mics and high end converters and pre amps etc etc so in those kinds of chains these things would be more apparent I guess.

[@poopking4051]

Thank u for this I thought I was going crazy…

[@spinlightstudios]

I know that feeling 🤪