Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter CL-2 Reviews

4.5/5.0 based on 7 customer reviews

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Customer Reviews

Brian
from Hampton, VA
May 21, 2012Music Background:
Guitarist, Recording Engineer, Project Studio Owner

Really Does The Job!

I bought a Royer SF-12 Stereo Ribbon Mic and a Presonus ADL-600 dual mic pre a while back, and love them both. I wanted to take my Royer SF-12 out and use if for some recording in my drummers live room. After a few recording sessions it was obvious that moving my very expensive, delicate and rather heavy preamp was not a good idea. I needed a more portable solution for preamping my ribbon microphone. After hearing about the Cloudlifter from my Sweetwater rep, David Hess, and hearing Ronan Chris Murphy from Ronan's Recording Show talk about these handy devices, I decided to give one a try. I setup my Royer SF-12 just like I did before, but now with the cloudlifter as a pre (using the ribbon as a drum overhead). I plugged the output of the cloudlifter direct into two channels of my RME Fireface UFX and activated the phantom power for the two channels of the cloudlifter. I got a very solid, and clean signal out of the Cloudlifter. This is a great tool to have available for ribbon mics, or to overcome signal loss from long cable runs. This preamp works.

Sam Heuck
from Bozeman, MT
May 19, 2012Music Background:
Musician, Recording Engineer

Perfect Complement to Cheap Mic Pres

If you have a mic pre with a relatively low input impedance and not a lot of gain, this box is killer for low output mics such as ribbons. Not only do you get 18+ dB of clean gain before your preamp, but this box provides an ideal load for velocity sensitive mics. With a 3 kOhm input impedance, the loading is just right to give a ribbon or a moving coil dynamic mic a fuller frequency response and a smoother top end.

Benjamin Alexander
from Mpls
March 14, 2013Music Background:
Singer Songwriter, arranger

Great!!!

This thing is great!!!!

It's doesnt add anything to the signal besides volume

Rick Cox
from Eastern North Carolina
March 24, 2012Music Background:
Musician , Engineer, Project Studio Owner, Berklee Alumni

25dB of Vault!

Get ready to reach for the pads on your pres. I do a good deal of location recording and have been hesitant to break out the R-121's until Mike Picotte recommended the Cloudlifter. Also, I was hesitant to apply 48v phantom power anywhere near these mics, but this thing works, it really does. I wanted to use the mics for drum OVHDS and what a great choice for capturing the kit like it really sounded. I found I had gain to spare and actually applied a pad to each of the mics for reduction and tracking into ProTools. The unit's transformer does get warm, but I tracked for three solid hours without fail or coloring. Hear how your ribbons can really shine. For the price, you can't beat the Cloud!

Ryan Mowdy
from Oklahoma City, OK
August 18, 2011Music Background:
20 + Musician, Audio Engineer, Studio Musician, etc.

HOLY CROWLEY BATMAN!

Wow. I just blew out my headphones. well not really b/c they are really good monitors however i almost went deaf from the feedback. this little device is absolutely cool. I don't know if it just increases the signal 25 dB or adds something else in addition. I am using AEA's R84 mics (2 of em) with my CloudLifter connected to my Great River 2N-DV pre. It's almost too loud but you just have to tweak it a little bit. I had to change some of the plugins in my vocal tracks but this definately gives it more zest or (Sorry I lack the vocabulary of an audio enginner) it just adds more to the mix but its not amazing. Now I can actually see the waveforms in PT and Logic with my Vocal tracks and I'm using a Noise Reduction Plugin b/c this cloudlifter is very sensitive and you just need to activate the phantom power on your pre to get it to work. Don't worry about that with ribbon mics it does not adversely affect the ribbon mics so go ahead and turn that 48K on there. In conclusion I'd say this is quite nice to get such a rise in hertz or is it dB? At any rate don't go running out to buy this right away but if you dig ribbon mics this is a keeper. All in all its pretty cool. I like it.

Dan Myers
from Kennewick, WA, USA
September 6, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician, Recording Engineer

The Cloudlifter CL-2 solves power-hungry microphone problems beautifully.

The Cloudlifter CL-2 solves the problem of power-hungry dynamic or ribbon microphones. Now when I use my Sennheiser 441 for live performances, I only have to use half the gain I once used, opening up the sound with a little more clarity. Even better yet, when I do field recording with my Korg MR-1000 used in connection with my Royer SF12 ribbon microphone, I have more than enough gain for capturing all the nuances of any situation. Wish I'd had this piece of equipment much sooner!

Dan Myers
from Kennewick, WA, USA
September 6, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician, Recording Engineer

The Cloudlifter CL-2 solves power-hungry microphone problems beautifully.