Sam Inglis wrote:A microphone converts acoustic energy into electrical energy, outputting a very low-amplitude signal. This needs to be pre-amplified before it reaches the analogue-to-digital converter and is transformed into a stream of numbers that your computer can record.
And where is that converter?
Sam Inglis wrote:This pre-amplification is done using active circuitry which requires power to operate. That power can come from a mains supply, from USB bus power or even from batteries.
Some mics require more pre-amplification than others, which is why preamps have a Gain control.
I have an audio interface...
Sam Inglis wrote:A few mics require so much pre-amplification that the preamp in an interface such as the Onyx might struggle to deliver enough gain. But this has nothing to do with electrical power, it's just that those mics (the SM7B is one) lie outside the range the designers of the audio interface were anticipating.
Am I doing myself a disservice starting off with an Onyx Blackjack? (I bought it becasue it is small or thus portable when I travel.)
Sam Inglis wrote:Some microphones also have active circuitry in them which requires power to operate. This includes all capacitor (condenser) mics.
Nearly all of these mics are designed to draw that power from your mixer/audio interface through a 48V phantom power supply. The amount of power the mic draws is minimal -- usually much less than 1 Watt -- and is always the same.
Other mics, including the SM7B, are completely passive devices, meaning they draw no electrical power at all.
So my Electro-Voice RE50N and Shure SM7B are passive mics?
And my Rode NT2A is an active mic?
And there, only the Rode requires phantom power?
Sam Inglis wrote:Moving the Gain control on your preamp doesn't significantly vary the amount of electrical power drawn either by the mic or the preamp, and in any case, the amount of power needed is relatively small.
Essentially, you could think of the Cloudlifter as a device that turns a passive mic (such as the SM7B) into an active mic, delivering a stronger signal so that the interface preamp does not need to apply so much gain.
So the CloudLifter is a preamp?
And if so, the Cloudlifter adds additional signal preamplification on top of the preamp in my audio interface?
Or does my audio interface not have a preamp?
Sam Inglis wrote:It too is an active device that takes its power from the phantom supply. It applies a fixed amount of gain and its power draw should be the same regardless of how loud or quiet the signal is.
So one or more of the pins/wires going into the ClodLifter is a power supply and needed to make it work?
If so, if I turn off the Phantom power switch on my Onyx, then the CloudLifter stops preamplification, because it has no power to work?
Sam Inglis wrote:Phantom power is designed to be 'invisible' to passive circuits, so there is not possibility of damaging your SM7B by accidentally applying phantom power to it.
I thought I heard that some type of microphones (maybe "ribbon" mics) can be destroyed if you turn on the Phantom power while using them?
Sam Inglis wrote:But the SM7B doesn't benefit from phantom power or need it in any way.
But the CloudLifter needs Phantom power to run and deliver more preamp that the SM7B *does* need, right?