The Shure SM7B is a legendary microphone, but it's not without its quirks. Its warm, rich sound is perfect for voice-overs, podcasting, and broadcasting, but it's also known for its high self-noise floor – aka a hiss that'll make you want to scream. One way to combat this is by using the Cloudlifter CL-1, a humble but mighty preamp that's essentially designed to give the SM7B a healthy dose of gain.

Here's the thing: without a Cloudlifter, you're going to need to crank up the gain on your preamp, which will probably introduce some nasty amounts of hum and noise into your signal chain. **Amping up the gain** (no pun intended) with the CL-1, on the other hand, gives you a cleaner, quieter signal with plenty of headroom to spare. One pro tip: **try setting your gain to around 3/4** on the Cloudlifter – too much gain will just introduce more hiss, and not enough will leave your signal a bit too wimpy. Find that sweet spot and you're golden.

If you want to dive deeper, check out this YouTube search for a tutorial and review of the Cloudlifter with the Shure SM7B: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cloudlifter+sm7b+tutorial