Is this happening?
You hear a faint hiss under your voice on air. It's most obvious between sentences. Noise gates sound choppy and unnatural. Turning down gain makes you too quiet.
How the problem shows up
The announcer mic requires a lot of gain to hit broadcast level. That puts the preamp near the top of its range. Then compression and leveling bring the noise floor up further.
The problem
If you're living at the top end of gain, hiss becomes part of the broadcast chain.
The fix
Add clean gain before the preamp so you can lower preamp gain and reduce the noise floor.
Mic → Cloudlifter → Preamp/Interface (phantom power +48V ON) → Broadcast Chain
Note: Cloudlifters work with passive dynamic and passive ribbon microphones. They are not compatible with condenser microphones that require phantom power through their XLR connection.
Choose your Cloudlifter
If you want the simplest setup: use the CL-25 Mini. It's the quickest "one connection" way to add clean gain. With the CL-25 Mini, it plugs directly onto the mic's XLR output, and your single XLR cable connects from the CL-25 Mini to the preamp or interface.
If you already own a Cloudlifter: the CL-1, CL-2, and CL-4 do the same job (clean mic activation). They use the standard inline connection in your mic chain.
A quick example
A station kept fighting booth hiss with gates. A Cloudlifter allowed lower preamp gain and the booth channel stayed quieter without aggressive gating.
FAQs
Will this fix electrical noise problems? It won't fix wiring issues, but it can reduce hiss caused by extreme gain.
Where does it go? Mic → Cloudlifter → preamp/interface (phantom power +48V ON).
Does my preamp or interface need to supply phantom power? Yes. The Cloudlifter requires +48V phantom power from your preamp or interface to operate. Enable phantom power on the channel the Cloudlifter is plugged into. The Cloudlifter uses that phantom power to provide up to +25dB of clean gain — without it, no signal passes.
Quick takeaway
If your booth sounds hissy on-air, a Cloudlifter helps you get more mic and less preamp—quieter broadcasts.
