Making music is expensive, my RME Fireface II died...

[RexRed]

I have heard some people on YouTube recommend both the inline Mic Booster CT1 (Cloudbooster) and the preamp both at the same time.

I am running the GAP Pre 73 preamp quite high (at 65db boost) on the Shure SM7B .

What are your thoughts on that?

The GAP Pre 73 has 80db boost that is enough, but the Shure SM7B needs a lot of gain.

Most of my vocals I sing quietly and very close mic.

I am wondering if there is really any benefit in using the booster so I can turn my preamp down some (about 25db)?

Will I get better tone just using the GAP Pre 73 alone?

Edited July 11, 2022 by RexRed

[Alan Tubbs]

Yes.  Try the gap alone.  You should get a slightly beefier sound driving the unit.  And it should be able to amplify your sound by itself.

one other facet of recording is your room.  It is almost impossible at home to get a balanced room.  But with a few pieces of rock wool you can even out the worst elements in your room tone.  It also takes a lot of experimenting with the mic and instrument (human voice in this case) to get a decent tone.

 My cheap favorite method is to cut/stuff rock wool into cheap pillowcases and then put those inside burlap coffee bags.  $100 for rockwool, a dollar a shot for Amazon pillowcases and my roaster gave me the burlap bags for free.  However, I can’t sew a stitch but my kid does.  a few of these in the corners and over the recording/mixing area and either side.  You’ll be surprised how much you can cleanup and soak up extra bass .not abbey studios but every little bit helps.

[jackson white]

Another option to consider. 

https://www.seelectronics.com/dm1-dm2-active-inline-preamps

The DM2 features selectable  impedance for additional tone shaping of the SM7B (and dynamic mics in general).