The choice fell on the Fifine combo (microphone + mixer) and the Klark Teknik Mic Booster CT-1.
Why exactly this
A lot of people immediately advise: “Just get a proper external audio interface.” I thought about that for a long time and came to the conclusion that for my tasks it’s largely pointless. I don’t need studio monitoring, a bunch of inputs, MIDI, or expensive preamps. I just need to record speech properly. And I had a very specific problem with that.
Studio dynamic microphones (and many “budget studio” ones too) are fairly quiet. And my voice itself is quiet and bass-heavy. So even on a relatively good mic I had to crank the gain very high, and the noise came up with it. The sound ended up either quiet or noisy.
That’s why instead of an expensive interface I decided to go a different route: get a solid budget dynamic microphone with a mixer from Fifine and add an inline booster — the Klark Teknik CT-1. It’s a small cylinder that goes right between the microphone and the XLR cable. It runs on phantom power, needs no batteries, and gives up to +25 dB of clean gain. Instead of maxing out the preamp and picking up all the noise, you give the mic an extra “push” right at the output. The signal arrives stronger, so you can work at calmer levels. The sound comes out noticeably cleaner and denser.
The difference is audible right away. The bass character of the voice is now transmitted much better — before it often “sank.”
And why this blog at all
I keep going with this blog you’re reading right now. I’ll be honest — sometimes I just don’t feel like doing it. Not because it’s uninteresting, but because it still doesn’t bring in serious money. The profit from it is modest, if it exists at all. In those moments my hand automatically reaches to put off the next text or recording “for later.”
But at the same time I understand very well why I need it. I still don’t have normal passive income from the site. And the blog is one of the tools that lets me keep developing in neural-network programming and become more effective overall at what I do. It forces me to formulate thoughts, break down experience, and record decisions. Without it many things would simply dissolve in the everyday rush.
This blog stopped being a hobby for me a long time ago. Behind it stands a whole written book, a pile of ideas, and essentially half a life built around neurophysiology and neural-network coding. I’m not running away from that anymore and I’m not going to change anything fundamental about it.
Plus I’ve started teaching a foreign language a little. And here a good microphone becomes even more important. When the sound is clean and stable, there are fewer technical problems with students. And good sound is one of those factors that indirectly affects the number of teaching orders as well.
Why not a professional interface
I would definitely say that I don’t have some super-successful and amazing blog. It doesn’t bring in a ton of money. That’s exactly why buying a professional audio interface for 20–30 thousand rubles is simply pointless for me right now. Spending that money and getting almost nothing in return is a bad deal.
On the other hand, slightly raising the quality of the content is still possible and even necessary. You just have to understand the limits: the financial possibilities from the blog are limited, so the upgrade has to be reasonable. Not “all the money,” but targeted — the kind that actually solves the problem. That’s why the Fifine + Klark Teknik CT-1 combination is a perfectly conscious and pragmatic choice for me right now. Not the maximum possible, but enough to keep moving forward without constantly fighting the sound.
When sound stops being a problem, writing and shooting becomes noticeably easier. Less irritation, fewer “I’ll re-record it later,” more desire to just sit down and do it. So the blog will live. It will develop. And right now, it seems to me, it will go a bit more vigorously.
Video on the topic: https://youtube.com/shorts/07Fc2Z4NznU?si=QVcAzgxti5Xmvp1k
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