Doug Turkel
Liz Atherton
Joel Snyder
Tom Antonellis
Marc Preston
If you’re relying on your audio interface’s built-in mic pres, you’re short-changing yourself. Even if you have a high-end mic locker, you’re never going to achieve a pro-level sound with sterile, gain-starved preamps. That’s where the Black Lion Audio Auteur MkIII comes in. This 2-channel microphone preamp is top-tier all the way, boasting a transparent, modern IC-based front end and a character-infused, transformer-based output stage. The result is lightning-fast response with a vintage-inspired sound that’s guaranteed to inject your recordings with an ear-grabbing quality that demands attention. The Auteur MkIII includes all the features you’d expect on a professional mic preamp: line and hi-Z inputs, balanced line outputs, a -10dB pad, 48V phantom power, and polarity reverse. And with 62dB of gain on tap, the Auteur MkIII is primed to handle all but your most gain-hungry of microphones. You can’t attain a studio-level sound without a solid analog front end, and the Black Lion Audio Auteur MkIII really delivers.
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Smart design with high-end components
The Auteur MkIII boasts an intelligent design and top-tier components. When a signal hits this mic preamp’s modern IC-based front end, which yields you fast response and transparent sound, you get exactly what you need to capture every nuance and detail of your source. The Auteur MkIII’s vintage-inspired output stage includes a high-quality CineMag transformer for a massive, colorful sound. Each channel includes a line-level input for infusing keyboards, synths, and even full mixes with weight and warmth, plus a hi-Z input for DI’ing your electric guitars and basses. Here at Sweetwater, we’re impressed by the durability of the Auteur MkIII’s tour-worthy chassis, and we find the included removable rack ears and 1U rack compatibility to be a convenient addition. This preamp is extremely portable as well!
Black Lion Audio: the mod squad
Founded in Chicago in 2006, Black Lion Audio has made their mark on the audio industry by hot rodding audio equipment and upgrading the sound quality of popular music-production gear, elevating industry-standard products to new levels of sonic quality. Though they started off modding gear from other manufacturers, they’ve utilized their cumulative expertise to design their own line of boutique mic preamps and word clocks. BLA gear and modded gear can be found in studios from Los Angeles to New York to Nashville and heard on projects from artists like Maroon 5, Alison Krauss, Metallica, T-Pain, George Strait, MGMT, Beyoncé, George Duke, Slayer, Erykah Badu, Rod Stewart, and more.
Black Lion Audio Auteur MkIII 2-channel Microphone Preamp Features:
- Modern IC-based front end yields you transparent sound and lightning-fast response
- Character-infused output stage includes a high-quality CineMag transformer
- Line and hi-Z inputs accommodate line-level and high-impedance sources
- Balanced line outputs integrate seamlessly with the rest of your studio
- -10dB pad tames extra-loud sources
- 48V phantom power for your condenser microphones
- Polarity reverse eliminates phase problems
- 62dB of gain — primed to handle all but your most gain-hungry of microphones
- Tour-worthy chassis; includes removable rack ears with 1U 1/2 rack compatibility