During my recent interview with Jordan from Black Salt Audio, I had the pleasure of delving deeper into the company’s background, their popular plugin ‘Low Control’, and the brilliant brains behind it.
If you’re unfamiliar with ‘Low Control‘, be sure to check it out as it has become an indispensable tool in many music producers’ and mixing engineers’ workflows.
Very simple to use and has easily become a needed tool in my arsenal.
Are you ready to get into the nitty gritty? Let’s get started with the interview!
What Inspired The Inception of Black Salt Audio, and What’s The Story Behind The Name Black Salt Audio?
Black Salt Audio was created by popular mixer/producer Jordan Valeriote. Jordan is known most for his work with Silverstein, Intervals, Nick Johnson, and Auras. BSA was created as a way to take complex mixing processes and combine them into simple, intuitive, and easy-to-use plugins for all levels of mixers.
Our UI designer Markus came up with the name. He interviewed me about all of the values, principles, and vision I had for the brand. “Black Salt” is a high-end, rare type of salt used in cooking. So it really captures our vision of creating plugins that are simple and can become essential staples in your workflow, but with an elevated, premium feel to it.
What’s Black Salt Audio’s Team Comprised Of?
The team is comprised of audio mixers, composers, sound designers, and the development team behind YUM Audio.
Jordan Valeriote – CEO
Jordan is a professional mix engineer who has, as stated above, worked with bands such as Silverstein, Intervals, Nick Johnson, and Auras. Jordan is also the owner of an online education platform called Hardcore Music Studio. This is an online company that teaches people the ins and outs of recording, editing, and mixing heavier music.
Shawn Barnes – COO
Shawn is a composer for Universal Studios and runs all the day-to-day for Black Salt Audio. Shawn’s background in music stemmed from Jordan’s online platform and eventually evolved into music for movie and video game trailers. So they’ve had a history and known of one another for quite some time, but BSA was the first time they officially met and joined forces.
Jonas – DSP Specialist
Jonas is the one who takes our general BSA plugin ideas and really brings them to fruition. As an experienced sound designer and musician, he has a trained ear and understanding of sound, which allows him to create DSPs that work exceptionally well in a music production context.
Benedikt Adams – C++ Specialist
Benedikt is in charge of taking the DSP and the design of the UI and packaging it together into the plugins that are on the market today. He’s known as ‘The Wizard’ in our team chat rooms.
Markus – UI Designer
Markus is brilliant at taking our initial archaic design ideas and really bringing them to life. His designs and ideas always exceed our expectations.
Tobias Madsen – Web Developer
Tobias is the brains behind everything to do with our website.
Hayley Erdman – Admin
Hayley is the newest member of the BSA team and has been an invaluable addition, as she handles almost all of the customer support. She’s a rockstar.
What Was The Idea Behind Low Control?
The idea for Low Control came from a lot of other mixers we spoke to. A significant number of them would report that the low end seemed to be the most difficult to get right in the mix. So we developed a plugin that streamlined the process for them. Low Control is a very simple way to get a rich and powerful low end that translates across all speakers.
What Makes Low Control Different Than Other Low End Enhancers?
Well, Low Control is one of the few plugins that offer both the Control side and the Enhance side within one plugin. A lot of plugins offer either or but not both.
Low Control has also been designed in such a way that it’s optimized for the low end. The user doesn’t have to get bogged down with unnecessary controls and functions, just simply move a couple of faders, turn the enhance knob, and you’re all set.
You’ve got a rich and powerful low end that will translate across all speaker systems.
How is This Different Than Boosting Low End Frequencies With EQ?
In some cases, boosting low end frequencies with an EQ still might be necessary. But when contrasting Low Control with an EQ, they serve two very different purposes.
Low Control is used to clamp down and control your low end below a user-defined threshold, then enhance it with harmonics. Whereas an EQ simply boosts or cuts certain frequencies but doesn’t address the compression or enhancement needed for a powerful low end.
What’s The Best Way For Music Producers To Incorporate Low Control Into Their Workflow?
Low Control is primarily used on the bass guitar and kick drum of your track. So, for instance, if you work with heavier style music, then Low Control is perfect for clamping down on the low end of your bass guitar and really controlling its dynamics. Then using the Enhance knob at a user-defined frequency to help the bass be heard across all speaker systems.
But Low Control will work in any genre that has low frequency information. It’s been used in Hip-Hop to enhance 808’s. You can use it in pop to control the low end of a piano track or get that super subby kick sound.
Shawn from BSA uses it on all the low brass and bass tracks in his cinematic music. So it really has a wide range of genres it can be applied to.
What Can We Expect To See From Black Salt Audio in The Future?
Without saying too much here, let’s just say we have a big collaboration on the way…
Wrap Up
We want to give a huge ‘thank you’ to Jordan and Black Salt Audio for their time and willingness to share with us. Definitely check out Low Control, in our store right now (80% off). We can’t wait to see what new plugins BSA releases in the near future.
