NEWS

A collection of BLA news, reviews and testimonials.

  • Product Review // Eighteen // MusicTech Magazine ~ John Pickford

    A top-class analogue recording channel input makes all the difference in the digital domain. Plug-ins that emulate vintage kit and effects can go a long way to spicing up audio recorded through clinical-sounding interfaces but little beats creating the vibe at the source. It follows the trash-in, trash-out philosophy of programmers or the front-end-first mantra of audiophiles who realise that upgrading your loudspeakers is pointless if you’re pumping low-grade audio through them.

    Aside from the authentic analogue sound of the Eighteen, there’s something satisfyingly tactile about adjusting the relative levels of input and output to inject the right amount of harmonics before sweetening with a touch of EQ on the way in. The Eighteen can also be used as a standalone EQ or to add colouration from the unit’s transformers.

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  • Butch Walker – Singer // Songwriter // Producer

    “The Signature Series Mod that you guys packed into my 003R is unreal. Such a world of difference. I used to DREAD going from my HD rig to having to use the little 003 box, but now this thing gives my HD converters a run for their money. The mic pres are actually good now, as well! Good things always come out of Chicago.”

    Butch Walker
    Singer // Songwriter // Producer
    (Katy Perry, Weezer, Pink, Panic! At The Disco, Avril Lavigne, Dashboard Confessional)

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  • Product Review // B173 Quad – Four Channel Mic Pre // Sound On Sound Magazine ~ By Neil Rogers

    Black Lion’s designers set out to bring versatility and lower noise to a classic preamp without sacrificing character — have they succeeded?

    Black Lion Audio first made a name for themselves through their popular ‘modding’ service — the idea being that they’d apply their analogue electronics know-how to upgrade the performance of other companies’ products. Starting in 2006, they were probably most well known for ‘hot-rodding’ the old Digidesign 002 and 003 audio interfaces — this was back in the pre-Avid days when you could only use the Pro Tools software with the same company’s hardware, and these were the most affordable multitrack interfaces that were compatible. The hot-rodding typically entailed upgrading the analogue input and output stages, the power supply and the internal clocking — small individual improvements that collectively added up to a significant improvement.

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  • Product Review // Word Clock MKIII // Streaky Mastering

    Streaky tries out the word clock made by Black Lion Audio in his mastering studio.

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  • Mod Review // Apollo 8P // Ask.Audio – By Matt Vanacoro

    Modifying your audio gear can be a great way to make it perform to an even higher standard than it already does. Matt Vanacoro found out what Black Lion Audio could do to supercharge his Apollo 8.

    The first thing I was curious to find out was ‘exactly what are you going to do to my Apollo?’ I talked with Nate from BLA and he gave me the lowdown. Newer, high-performance op-amps would be put on the analog ins and outs (mic, line, monitor, headphones). The capacitors would be upgrade on the analog input signal path. The A/D and D/A converters would be decoupled, as well as the mic preamp chips.

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