The FetHead Phatom (which passes on phantom power) is deliberately neglected it in this video as you don't need an in-line preamp with a condenser mic. With a condenser microphone the mic is mostly the limiting factor in terms of noise performance. So, even though a FetHead Phantom reduces the preamp noise, when you use it with a condenser mic it has next to no effect on the noise floor of the recording.

Julian my mans, I really need you to start blinking more often :)

"CloudHead or FetLifter". Yeah, I heard that 😎

this guy doesn't blink!!!

You have helped lift the cloud of confusion on the question. Excellent video.

Julian, thank you for this very thorough, and well-executed video. You definitely brought up some very valid points, and it was great to see (and hear) these side by side comparisons in action.

This was an excellent video! This is the first intelligent explanation that I have heard. Now I finally understand why I get such low levels from my SM7B into my Zoom H6. The sales girl at Guitar Center told me I might want to consider a fethead or cloudlifter, but I ignored her advice. I will be going back to the store soon. Thank you, Julian!

Wonderful and very helpful video Julian! Thanks for all your great and honest reviews and videos. You have really helped me in getting the practical and theoretical knowledge on so many subjects around home studio & recording! Thanks! :) Pls keep doin these great videos!

I was thinking about this for a while. Makes perfectly sense.

in the world of microcontent and constant rush for quick results, this is a gem. Thank you Julian!

This video is great. All the info I needed summed up in one really great explanation. Thanks for this! You helped me a lot here! :)

Clear and concise, thank you. I've just purchased a Scarlett 4i4 to go along with my Shure SM7B as my RC505 was struggling. Appreciated kindly sir.

Great stuff. I've been getting into audio recording lately, and I've noticed the same thing: Every time the SM7B is mentioned the immediate chorus is that you MUST get a FetLifter. I was planning on making a video with my thoughts on subject and had it planned when I saw this video go up. Your video is almost exactly what I was planning. You do such a good job explaining the point, i changed up my video plan a bit and just linked to yours in the description. I hope that's ok with you. I just figured there was no point in making almost the exact same video, and probably not even doing as good a job as you did. Cheers.

Excellent video. The demonstrations and listening comparisons of the device in realtime along with the explanations for how and why they work is a very lucid. The flowchart is kinda cool too. I thought I understood the basics but after watching I feel much better informed.

This is an EXTREMELY helpful video! Thankyou

Very useful. I use a Dynamite inline preamp with my passive ribbon mics because my preamp doesn't have quite enough gain for quiet acoustic guitar recording. It's the kind that plugs directly into the microphone, and is also useful for ensuring that I never accidentally have phantom power going to the mic.

Spot on advice with excellent examples. Thanks 🌹

6:55 "Cloudhead or Fetlifter"😂 8:06 " Cloudfet LifterHead"😂

A video about facts that’s really nice. The microphone part was an eye opening experience thank you.

Logic! Thank you! Every time I heard 'boost without increasing the noise floor' my snake-oil alert was going off. Thanks for making this clear

Das war wirklich das beste Video um zu verstehen was es mit diesen Teilen überhaupt auf sich hat. Ich hatte vorher NICHTS kapiert. Danke!

Very interesting, thanks Julian!

awesome explanation and chart. subscribing to your channel, great stuff!

I appreciate your review Julian, cheers!

Thank god for KZfaq! How in the world would've have known all this without this platform, people really take youtube for granted these days! Great tutorial Julian, danke!

I learned so much with this video! Thank you so much, your explanations are veyr logic, clear and useful.

Very helpful, and very well presented. You are a remarkably articulate presenter, especially assuming that English is your second language. Thank you!

Great video Julian, thank you!

Love your videos! Very informative.

Best video about this topic out there, life saver!🙏🏽

Because you talk about numbers, your video is easier to learn than Chris Judd's one. Thank u.

i'm enjoying soo much your channel, please keep it going!

Thanks for the information, not many videos clarify whether a Cloudlifter or FetHead is needed.

Excellent explanation Julian, thanks.

such a great video. straight to the point and very informative

I really appreciated the analtical delivery. Thanks man..

Thanks, man! This was a tremendous aid!

This video was scientific and funny. Great work. :)

Wow. You just saved me some bucks man! Thanks. I bought a Shure SM7b and I have a Yamaha MG10XUF mixer. The Yamaha has great and super quiet D-Preamps with 64dbs. After watching your video I checked the preamp's noise rating which is at -128. So now I know I won't benefit from the SE Dynamite booster. I borrowed one from a friend, just to confirm, and it was actually a louder hiss than the mixers pre-amp. I don't even need to max out the preamp gain on the Yamaha to get to zero. Thank you so much for this. EVERY other person immediately tells you to get a cloudlifter/booster with the SM7b.

Very well explained and wise conclusions. Thank you!

This was an amazingly informative video. I loved how you explained all the technical aspects and demystified what we really need to look for when considering gain boosters. Subscribed.

I like your videos. Quality staff!

Your awesome sauce brother. Thank heaven your not into 'R'n'D' developing the newest hi tech weapon...lol. We need more of people like you...Down to earth and truthful. BTW, I'm not buying either after I order a new mic tomorrow. You got to love marketing...N.O.T. Keep the great work up...

I use an AKG D5 with a Zoom H5 for voice recording. The microphone sits on a Samson 20cm desk stand and has a foam muffler fitted. I speak over the microphone which is angled at 45 degrees from a distance of about 20-30cm. The AKG D5 has a quoted sensitivity of -52dBV re. 1V/Pa (2.6mv/Pa) which, I believe, puts it somewhere near the Behringer XM5800 in terms of noise performance. I record to peak levels between -12dB and -6dB (with a level adjustment of about 6.5 - 7) and find the noise level to be acceptable.

Awesome video dude! This was really helpful. I just got an H4n Pro and am making videos with an SM7B in a studio where it’s not in frame (and thus a few feet away from me). The preamps are totally ruining the audio quality, been searching around all night trying to find the answer. Thanks for making it really clear!

This was super useful, thank you so much!

Have you ever had an interview with a jet engine? Haha. I loved that joke.

Great review, thank you very much!

Great video, thanks for the tips man.

I have a Presonus Studio 26c and a Shure SM7B mic. In this case. I need a Cloudlifter. Thanks for the great vid and info!

That's I looked for. Exactly my setup. Thx

Julian, very nice video. Congrats.

Great videos as always.

Holy shit that "three" at 1:03, Inglourious Basterds flashback!

I’m excited that he used the same mics I use; XM8500! I have 3 of them. Low price, excellent sound!

incredibly useful video. liked and subbed.

Question answered immediately thank you!

thank u man! love your content!

Sooo pro straight to the point thank you so much !!!!

Thanks mate, great video

Thanks Julian for a very helpful demo and explanation for this SM7B owner. I appreciate your clear, logical approach. Excuse me now while I go find a jet engine to interview!

excellent as always

Thanks Julian, helpful and comprehensive!

Awesome video mate, thank you

A cloudfetlifterhead😂😂😂

Thank you. Very informative

Great Video! You helped me a lot

I had too much hiss with my sm7b with my apogee duet. I got a cloudlifter and still had hiss. It just amplified the hiss. Since then, I stick with condenser mics. But really liked how the sm7b sounded in a full fledged studio. That's why I bought it.

Great video. And I'm shocked how slight the difference was between the sound of SM7B and XM8500.

Another very informative video. On a different note, that 8500 held up remarkably well against the SM7B - I think I preferred it!

Great video, thank you!

Hi Julian, I like how you changed the names of the mic activators at 6:51 to Cloudhead and Fetlifter :) -- I don't think most viewers noticed the change.

“Interview with a jet engine.” 😂 Excellent video. Thank you.

thank you. When i heavily compress my vocals there is a huge noise floor with the sm7b. You answered a question i had perfectly. I need a Fethead

Great video, I think way too many people buy these devices that don’t need them just because of what I call “groupthink” or stuff that you hear on forums or around the water cooler. That being said, there was one aspect that you left out that should be considered when looking at an in-line preamp as a solution. That is the case of in live sound if you are running an extremely long line of several hundred feet or more and a mic level signal is inappropriate or you are just having noise issues from other closely coupled lines for example. If you were to install something like a fethead or cloudlifter in line very close to the source, it can boost the signal up a lot closer to line level which will give you a lot more noise immunity and therefore allow you to retain a lot more signal at the other end of the line greatly improving your S/N ratio. We would often times use multichannel versions of something like these to boost signal on long runs across a venue where you might have a microphone hanging from a ceiling for ambient crowd noise and the cable up there might be over 1000 feet back to the booth.

Thank you. I'm getting a Shure SM7b soon. I have a Scarlett Solo. I'm going to be recording screamed vocals (on a different account) and was worried about needing an in-line preamp. Your video tells me I shouldn't need one. I will save the money and just get the mic first. If I find I do need an in-line preamp, I will buy it at a later date. First time here. Great video. Liked and subbed!

If you need more gain for your dynamic microphone and were thinking about buying a cloudlifter as a solution then you could also consider buying a DBX 286s which has a high gain pre-amp (+60dB) and a very low self-noise and save money at the same time. Also, you can now enhance the sound of your signal at the same time. The only advance with a cloudlifter would be with a field setup in combination with a dynamic microphone.

It's called LiftClouder!

Very useful videos!!!

Hi, and thanks for this. I'd appreciate your view on three things. (1) Moving closer to a dynamic mic affects the frequency response ("proximity effect") as well as the signal strength. Thus the solution of moving closer might not work on all situations - especially when a singer wants to use the proximity effect at times but move away at other times to avoid it. (2) In live situations where the mic cable might have to be very long, use of one of these devices might also be helpful. (3) For a low-output instrument pickup going direct, use of one of these devices at the output of a direct box might be very helpful, especially if a long cable run is involved.

Hello Julian! Thanks for creating videos with great technical details....I have few questions.... 1. Some of the good preamps are... Focusrite 2i2, MixPre3, Audient id4 and Dbx 286s 2, Dbx: -125dBu, 22Hz-22kHz, 150Ω source impedance 3 Audient; ein

Thanks Julian! :)

Good video, solid logic although it only deals with noise issues. There are other reasons to consider a mic booster, following your first 3 points: 4. Live Work. Working with a low output dynamic can mean you're working at a low level overall. If you need to drive an aux or an effect whose performance depends on drive, a mic booster comes in very handy. You CAN daisy-chain channels but the output noise of many mixers is relatively high (around -100dBu) so you need to boost at least 40dB at the first stage, preferably higher. And you're creating a confusing situation. 5. ENG / Run and Gun. You'll be wanting to print straight to camera for minimal editing. 6. Long and / or interferency cables. All mic boosters give a hotter signal to mitigate interference - wherever it comes from. And some drive cables better than a simple dynamic mic, so you don't lose top end due to the capacitance of long cables. 7. Distributed Gain. Many (most?) mic preamps exhibit more distortion at higher gains. So, running a booster at +30 and a pre at +30 could well give you a cleaner signal than the pre alone at +60. Split the work. So it's not that you NEED a mic booster but for some situations, they're the obvious practical solution. And in a lot of situations, a booster isn't the answer but a decent condensor mic instead of the fashionable SM7B ;)

Great video! Informative! I just bought a procaster and found that it won’t work with zoom h5 alone. So I ordered a facusrite Scarlett solo. I will be testing it out tomorrow. I hope that a further investment of a cloud lifter will deem unnecessary. Cheers

Thanks, this was useful info

8:06 “So, do you need a CloudFetLifterHead?” I love how subtle this was lol. I thought you mixed them up earlier in the video by mistake but after hearing that I realized you knew what you were doing. As an owner/user of the XM8500, it holds up very well next to the SM7B in your demo here! Thanks for the helpful demonstration!

I'm using a Focusritre Saffire Pro 24dsp and I can confirm that to get a decent level, the preamp has to be turned all the way to 10, and it's super noisy at that point. I am now considering upgrading to a better audio interface, but my thinking is that most audio interfaces aren't going to sound great at high gain, so a FetHead or a Cloudlifter makes sense.

Really Informative

6:55 "cloudhead or fet-lifter" 8:05 "cloud-fet-lifter-head" Hilarious 😂😂

Straight to the point thanks now I have time to leave a comment for once

One of the biggest reasons I'll recommend people buy a mic activator is if they are using an interface with a preamp possessing less than 60db of gain. Many inexpensive USB interfaces only offer 55db of gain which may not be enough for users of the SM7b especially in LIVE applications like streaming or Q&Q podcasting. The Zoom H5 still has pretty good preamps compared to very cheap units. I've observed that higher gain on these cheaper recorders can push the preamps hard thus introducing more noise.

Answering all the questions like reading my mind, this is too funny. Definitely a major concern on anyone's mind buying an SM7B. And damn that SM7B sounds awesome...

Thank You I was going to buy cl cloudlifter preamp

Fantastic video. Very clear. Thank you for producing it and for sharing all of this information with us!

Honestly, even with the SM7b and a Focusrite 2i4 setup I'm able to get the gain to around -12 to -18 dB for rap vocals with much less noise than with a Fethead or SE DM1. This is with the Focusrites preamp maxed at about 90%, so not even fully maxed out. I'll probably keep the Fethead for recording quieter signals with the SM7b, but this video saved me from irritating noise that goes along with vocals that are loud enough for my mic and preamp combo without an inline booster. Returning the DM1, so you saved me money!

Julian, again, excellent video, I have a question, could you make a video about the differences between an analog mixer with usb output and an audio interface in terms of noise? Thanks for all the material, you have helped me a lot.

Cloudlifter does offer a benefit, especially with microphones such as the Shure SM7B. The extra boost delivers headroom, mitigating having to crank the dials up.

Useful. Ty. Subbed.

Klark Teknik CT - 1 Test, Hope to see that review soon!, It's only 44 dollars on amazon!

Great video. I think that your analysis works well for recording but I think some people may want to still consider a pre-amp for live situations. Personally, I've found a fet head useful with a low noise Audient id14 interface. The problem is that the gain isnt quite loud enough for some consumer sofware unless you use the 10dB digital lift. For post production I completely agree with you and I think its still usaeable like. However, its nice to have the additional hardware gain when using a low sensitivity dynamic mic.