Black Lion Audio’s Auteur DT aims to make their “Chicago-Style” mic pre technology accessible to anyone who wants a nice upgrade from their entry-level preamplifier. It’s not mentioned in their promotional materials, but was can assume the DT translates to Desktop, which is certainly where you want to place this handsome unit with its black aluminum chassis and wood side panels. The single-channel Auteur DT marries a high-speed front end and a transformer-coupled output stage and can pump up to 60dB of gain, which is enough to juice even the most power-hungry ribbon microphones.
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Long gone are the days of the garage-built aesthetic
Long gone are the days of the garage-built aesthetic that BLA was known for and which we quite liked, knowing these units were constructed with the blood sweat and tears of the Chicago crew that hand-assembled their early units. No, Black Lion Audio has now positioned themselves as a sophisticated boutique manufacturer of mic pres, compressors, patchbays and power conditioners. Thankfully, they still hotmod MOTU and a variety of other brands, still maintaining their connection to how they started, and still deliver their excellent Word Clock generators.
The Impression Of A Fine Automobile
But the Black Lion Audio Auteur DT is a new avenue for the company that wants to get their brand in front of upcoming musicians, producers and podcasters. To that effect, we had four different reviewers, including a studio owner and a podcast production company, spend some quality time with the Auteur DT to see how it performed in their workflows and to see how it would take the punishment of daily use in our long-term test – their impressions in quotes below.
All of our evaluators highlighted the build-quality and the “rich aesthetic” of the Auteur DT. The black, brushed aluminum body sandwiched between the real, maple wood side panels with a large, gain knob and backlit analog VU meter on the front, gives “the impression of a fine automobile.” Certainly one that you’d like in your garage, or in a prominent position on your workstation. The front has four buttons across the top, 48v phantom power, phase inversion, -10 dB pad, and HI-Z. A power toggle switch and a HI-Z 1/4″ input feature underneath. The back contains a XLR microphone input, a TRS balanced output and a connection for power. Two reviewers commented on the “Goldilocks size of the unit” – 6″ width x 6″ height and 2″ tall and weighing in at 2.5 lbs.
The Auteur DT’s VU Meter and maple wood side panels
Our podcaster found the Auteur DT proved to be “a nice complement to his podcasting studio” that “solved problems with low talkers” and “provided nice colorization with deep, male voices.” The solid state preamp with a stated frequency response of 10Hz–30kHz provided a nice vintage presence to all voices sent into Antelope Audio’s Orion Studio computer audio interface. “The Orion [Studio] works quite well to capture clean audio, but with podcasting, you want each voice to showcase the personality of the host or guest. The Auteur [DT] enabled me to dial in real weight to both small and big voices without any unwanted artifacts or noise.”
The studio owner who evaluated the Auteur DT found the units compact size and versatility was a “problem solver” when “a quick remedy” was needed. “When a musician is ‘in the moment’ that last thing you want to do is take a break to drag out or patch in another preamp.”
Close up of the top of the Auteur’s brushed aluminum chassis
Another one of our reviewers who happens to record a lot of acoustic guitars and percussion in the Woodstock, New York area was pleasantly surprised on how well the Auteur DT performed, considering the price point. For someone who’s go-to pre is a Millennia STT-1 Origin, Black Lion should be pleased with his appraisal. He tracked a Handpan musician using the Auteur DT and a Neumann TLM 49 Large Diaphragm Condenser and thought it did an acceptable job capturing the unique characteristics of the Handpan. Comparing it with the Millennia, our reviewer found the Auteur lacked a noticeable amount of depth and detail. However, for someone recording acoustic instruments and percussion in their home studio, it certainly “punched above its price point.”
“The first thing I can say is that when you pull out the Auteur, it doesn’t look like a $250 preamp.”
Our fourth reviewer, a small, commercial studio owner, whose clientele ranges from singer-songwriters to independent film production companies, spent over a month with the Auteur. “The first thing I can say is that when you pull out the Auteur, it doesn’t look like a $250 preamp,” he observed. In addition, he found the Auteur to be surprisingly “cleaner and more precise than more well-known brands costing double the price.” That said, he found that the Auteur DT did pick up unwanted Wi-Fi interference and “could benefit from better RF-proofing, especially the connectors.” Another gripe was the lack of a XLR output. This plagues other Black Lion half-rack interfaces, including the Auteur, the B173 and the B12A, and appears to be a top-down decision to lower costs. That said, the Auteur DT does provide a balanced TRS 1/4″ output, which we feel is certainly acceptable at this price point.
This reviewer compared the Auteur DT to an Avalon VT-737SP on vocals for both voice-over and singing applications. Clearly a mic pre costing 15 times as much as an Auteur DT is going to prevail, but he came away impressed on male voice-over applications, citing the DT’s bottom as “solid, strong and meaningful.” This reinforces the Auteur DT’s excellence as a Podcasting mic pre. To this end, we fired up RØDE’s excellent RØDEcaster Pro II and did some tests in our SoundLab on how the Auteur DT paired with this all-in-one podcasting solution. The results were significant. When completely bypassing the RØDEcaster Pro II’s onboard DSP, the Auteur DT added a nice “creamy quality” to the vocals when “slightly pushed,” while “still maintaining detail.”
The Auteur DT also features a 1/4″ Hi-Z Direct Input for guitarists. Our reviewers appreciated the connectivity, but without the ability to record directly into their computers through the interface, they didn’t find it compelling enough for that application alone. That said, this could easily be a natural extension for the Auteur DT in future incarnations. Adding A/D with a USB output would certainly open up the potential market for a unit of this nature. With its compact size and good looks, the Auteur DT would work well for guitarists who are looking to quickly capture inspiration or have small home studios.
Black Lion Audio Auteur DT Specifications:
- Single Channel Solid State Microphone Preamp
- Modern IC-based front-end
- Frequency Response: 10Hz-30kHz bandwidth
- Vintage-inspired transformer-coupled output-stage with USA made transformer
- XLR mic and 1/4″ Hi-Z inputs / 1/4″ TRS Out
- Phantom power, phase inversion, pad, and Hi-Z toggle buttons
- ~60dB of gain
- Backlit classic style VU meter
- Balanced TRS line output
- Brushed black aluminum chassis, framed with maple side panels
- Power Source: 24V AC, 500mA power supply
- Height: 2″ x Depth: 6″ x Width: 6″
- Weight: 2.5 lbs.
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Conclusion
At this price point, you’d think a few obvious corners were cut, but the Auteur DT delivers sound quality and aesthetics far beyond what other manufacturers are charging for the same money. For home studio owners who are looking for an economical methodology to capture acoustic instruments and vocals, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better choice. For podcasters who are looking to add professional flavor and quality to their productions, you can buy four and have individual control over your guests for less than a $1000. Highly recommended.
Black Lion Audio Auteur DT Rating: 94%
Cheers:
+ Bang-For-The-Buck
+ Aesthetics
+ Build Quality
+ VU Meter
Jeers:
– No XLR Output
Black Lion Audio’s Auteur DT costs $259 and is available now.
The Future: As mentioned in the review, the Auteur DT is ripe for USB connectivity. We understand the cost cutting to meet this very attractive price point, but a XLR output would be a welcome addition to certain users.
