For recording engineers in the know, Black Lion Audio has earned a spot as an absolute go-to brand for preamps, clocks, and other studio devices. The company got its start modding other interfaces (a service they still offer), growing its business via forums and word of mouth before expanding into building their own gear front to back.
It's a business trajectory shared by many indie pedal makers, and Black Lion remains one of the foremost examples of this particular boutique style in the world of recording gear.
This week, Black Lion has come to the table with an expanded version of their Auteur preamp. The original Auteur was designed to bring extreme detail and nuance to its front-end, which then gets jammed through an output transformer for some extra vintage vibe. The expanded four-channel version takes that same circuit and adds metering, as well two DI inputs.
When we visited CEO Noah Bierderman and Chief Design Engineer Jesus Ortiz in their Chicago workshop recently, they explained to us the simplicity and attention to detail that underlies their design process. The team is scrupulous in its component selection and testing, and as they explain in the video above, they've learned through extensive testing that the most expensive components don't always create the best sound.
Watch the full video for more about this awesome audio firm, and stay tuned for an inventory update early next year.