MWTM Q&A #14 - Chris Lord-Alge

[@catzilla6279]

Chris engineered nearly all my favourite tracks when I was younger. Awesome to hear him give a little advice even if it's just hints.

[@zeepster]

@3:37"The most important thing to have an assistant do all the prepwork for you.." Ok i will have my assistant do all the prepwork from now on. Good tip. If only i had an assistant.

[@joeyxl3456]

CLA is great. I could listen to him all day.

[@DavidDiMuzio]

Donald Trump & Nicholas Cage had a baby? ...and he's a great mixer!🤘

[@MrArtVein]

David DiMuzio you forgot about The other Chris.... Chris Angel

[@MarloMaravillas]

Yeah, but Nick probably got too aggressive in the mix.

[@protoolsfanatic7276]

Wow..

[@rodrigoluka453]

InstaBlaster.

[@Tomatofury]

Regardless the comments that said this video is useless , I did manage to grasp a few tips & tricks here & there.. CLA sound is a signature just like Tony Maserati, Jack Joseph, Etc.. It's complicated to share everything.. Coz every mix is different & we listen & approach every song differently

[@SamBorgman]

Way to plug the plugins

[@nebstaism]

Sam Borgman hahaha yeah instead of keeping it real and saying what he actually does.. just plug the cla plugins instead 😂

[@BretBunton]

Well. Not all of us have an ssl with vintage pultec eqs, vintage top of the line comps, ext ext. So he was giving advice for the average joe

[@nebstaism]

Lol so true... it’s a good plugin though

[@Muovinen]

I find a lot of similarities between CLA and Trump when watching him speak.

[@sirkayda7205]

Cool. Great compliment to CLA.

[@jonsubs9998]

It's that New York style. That's also why people see him as cocky. But if you understand that New York personality and realize he has no need to do all these interviews, and he also has no need to tell you what he is really thinking during the interviews, then you realize he is truly being selfless in sharing his honest opinion, in the best way he knows how. I don't see CLA as cocky, I see him as unfiltered, being himself in his own style. The orange buffoon is another story. CLA does these interviews with an honest intention to help. I take something out of every one, whether we agree with all his points or not. Also, love the plugins - CPU hungry but the sound is there.

[@sirkayda7205]

@@jonsubs9998 - His name is President Trump and he is your daddy.

[@ceounicom]

CLA's hyperarrogance is half-real, half-kidding. i think its hard for people to interpret his shtick if you're not familiar w/ the humor/style of a tri-state area dude who's spent the last 40 years dealing with 90% 'music superstars'. Its tongue in cheek in one breath, and like "fuck yeah im great' in the next. Its complicated. Trump isn't really. He's 100% serious; its more from a business-guy arrogance which doesn't signal the subtle 'kidding' vibe that CLA does.

[@tortillaman2491]

Yep, he seems like an egomaniac asshole.

[@Savantrick]

"I'm like Thomas Edison" ROFL

[@bauduinalban2176]

Yeah indeed he might be... Edison was an impostor... he's known for all the work from Nikola Tesla... CLA seems to have some nonamers to do a lot in his stead LOL

[@maximeetsebastien]

he is obvously lying. During another interview he said he was using his outboard gear all the time for vocals in particular (compression, reverb and so on...). He is just trying to sell his plugin suite...

[@malditosimbeciles]

thats true, he thinks he is a rockstar i guess he was for sometime, but i hate that "over-confidence¨ i used to like his job

[@noisesoundtonevibe]

In all fairness I don't think he is lying. He points at his signature plugins for a reason. Not that he uses them, but they are meant to model his go-to chains. So if you're using his signature vocal plugin, you're using an emulation of his typical vocal chain. Not everybody has access to an SSL 4000G, vintage blueface 1176, Lexicon PCM 42 and the likes. So he's not really lying. But it's fair to say he took a shortcut in answering the question.

[@tekis0]

noisesoundtonevibe Right! There's no way to answer that vocal question in an hour, let alone 2 minutes! Again, he only mentions his plugins (which can be surprisingly effective, I have to admit) one time. Listen to his other answers--there's great advice in there!

[@AlienAndrew51]

noisesoundtonevibe But I have access to all that every piece of gear you mentioned and he's lying the only way to get records to sound like his is to use the gear. You can mix in the box just as long as it was recorded properly with amazing microphones and mic placement and mic's are set up right the first time no fixing it in the mix. Just the placement alone is like EQ and can change the tone of a source dramatically just by moving an microphone an inch or two.

[@noisesoundtonevibe]

Andrew Polemeni The original question was about his go-to vocal chain. He answered it by mentioning his signature vocal plugin (probably assuming the person who asked was new to mixing), which is an emulation of his typical vocal chain. So even though it's a shortcut, it's not a lie in the sense that he gave an answer targeted at someone who would get more confusion out of specifics than help. If however the person asking were more experienced, a 10 minute google research would give him the answer he'd be looking for. There are copies of concept sheets for those signature plugins all over the internet. I would agree with you that the recording is hugely important though.

[@SyBass6]

I love how CLA referred to himself in the 3rd person 😂 great guy.

[@noisyneil]

1: Be ready for anything. 2: Buy my plugins. 3: Do the prep work without listening (i.e. become wealthy enough to employ a team of assistants to do grunt work). 4: I agree, I am brilliant (unlike Elmhirst who actually omits compliments from questions), oh and monitor quietly; season to taste. 5: I don't care about mono. 6: Nobody would dare hand me badly recorded drums. 7: The bigger the head, the bigger the ears. 8: Use chorus but don't let anybody hear it. 9: Sorry, I don't understand the question. 10: Wow, I'm awesome. CLA CLA CLA CLA

[@nicolaloverre4524]

" This is not 1959 when we worried about mono " ...ah, yes, except from 99% of clubs in the world and 99% of teens worldwide who listen through the mono speaker in their iPhones :D

[@griffjohnson6488]

Nicola Loverre Good point, but I feel like the majority of people who listen to music on their mono iPhone speakers don't care about the mix in the first place.

[@tekis0]

If you think you're gonna like everyone in the music business, then it's not for you.

[@jonnyclueless]

+Nicola Loverre Dont think I have ever been to a club that was in mono.

[@nicolaloverre4524]

+jonnyclueless Unless you are talking about concert venues, where speakers are obviously in stereo pairs, clubs, discos etc always use mono sets of speakers, or at least the vast majority of them.

[@Nooneofconsequence47]

"What's your typical vocal chain?" Answers with shameless plug for his plug in without actually sharing his vocal chain...

[@dan_abrusci]

+EthanSimpson I thought the exact same thing..

[@peter9314]

The right answer to the wrong question😀

[@LAstudio8]

I like to keep notes when listening to these vids. My notes for this are: Vocal Plugin chain-CLA Signature plugin. So I'm moving on to someone else video, and maybe I'll learn something. :)

[@decmccallion]

In fairness to CLA, Ethan, try his vocal plugin and you'll understand what he's saying, it does seem like a shameless plug in this context, but boy does it work. If you record a decent and direct vocal straight into your DAW with very little alteration to the direct signal and add this before you alter anything, you're in the ballpark of full transparent vocal tone straight away. It's all a little adding and subtracting after that with EQ's, compressors etc. Kind regards.

[@LAstudio8]

***** Can you give me the exact point where he said it please.

[@ricksalt6860]

6:20 , Mixing for mono . Totally agree with Chris , and referring to what people listen to music with , lets not forget the people with their 5.1 surround listening to stereo mixes . I had a client that was frustrated with my mix and then the bass player told me they were listening with a stereo that had reverb built into it . Then there's the , "Kinda sounds too bright " as they review the mix on their computer speakers .

[@AlextheBant]

His mix on diamond eyes was absolutely masterful

[@MrArtVein]

Chain is L1>SSL E Channel>Urei 1176> DBX 520> Back into SSL> Sends to Lexicon 480 etc long delay and tape slap 1/4 and 1/8 15ips

[@chrisgalactic]

I dont see it as a shameless plug. He answered the question the plug in he is talking about is a plug in that just happens to carry his vocal chain process in one plug in. Im sure he uses outboard gear but the process still remains the same. The plug in was meant for people like us who can't afford all the gear but want something close to what this guy is doing in his music. If you dont like it just dnt buy the plug in lol

[@triniticoclough6387]

right...thats exactly what i was trying to say earlier!

[@analyzingfunny]

"Bullshitting With the Masters" no mixing here...

[@jasonjasonjasonjasonjason]

Led Zeppelin used a lot of samples on their drum sounds am I right? lol Steely Dan, Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Supertramp, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, they all used sampled drums am I right?

[@americanliving4473]

The man! Love his philosophies

[@manifestgtr]

some people see his perceived arrogance as off putting...I see it the exact opposite way...you want a guy like that on your side when you wanna get your stuff out there in top form...chris is the shit and he knows it

[@triniticoclough6387]

Right!!! He knows his shit..folks call me cocky but hey I have my social proof and track record.

[@djfsg]

Hmmmm. "...an audio maid." I fired my audio maid yesterday for mixing the whites with the colors.

[@jazzatnight]

Nicholas Cage really knows his stuff!

[@wavegodaudio4134]

The answer to the mono mixing question was perfect. "I don't care about mono"

[@triniticoclough6387]

Yes nor do I .....why do we in 2018 care about mono?

[@kraig800i]

totes legit, anything below 7.3 mixing is lame, hugh jackman's ghost, it's 2045 ffs

[@GimmeDangerRecords]

Won’t lie. It works lol

[@wavegodaudio4134]

@@GimmeDangerRecords Absolutely true. It's pretty cool when you apply it effectively. It still just kind of ends up being less necessary though one the mix goes stereo

[@SamBorgman]

Only dumbdasses and boastful asses would fail to understand the importance of mono mixing. CLA is the boastful asses type. He has enough experience to not need it maybe. But for anyone not in the same stage in their career should absolutely still take it seriously. Bluetooth speakers are basically mono and not all music sound good on them while they sound good on bigger speakers. CLA's clients need to start asking him to demo the mix to them in mono lol

[@Augustgtag12]

Great Video!

[@Simonewhitesim-1music]

Love the whole interview, But season to taste yes!

[@giovannigramegna8566]

Questions: 1) 0:31 2) 1:49 3) 2:48 4) 4:18 5) 5:56 6) 7:32 7) 9:26 8) 10:45 9) 12:14

[@protoolsfanatic7276]

Honestly about the vocals..you don't need any expensive plug ins. A really good singer is #1 stock eq,stock reverb,stock compressor in pro tools is all you really need. It's nice to have fancy plug ins but just being honest.

[@jamineli]

which song is at the beginning of this video? cool guitars and drum mix and intro dynamic change.

[@BrandonChaunceyOfficial]

holy FUCK. The guy at 6 minutes asked the ultimate mono question I've been searching for my whole life but no one seemed to understand. on phones all you can hear is vocals in my mixes and it KILLED me esp cause my music is hard rock.. A) don't give a fuck about mono. Thank you CLA.

[@redpillmafia960]

Great question... To tell you the truth I don't worry about any of that stuff... I hope I answered your question.

[@starboy2013]

His plugs are very good I use them on every mix.....

[@swangonzalez4797]

Love him or hate him he's probably one of the greatest mixers that ever lived. With great work to show for it.

[@bedtimeread]

"I'm like Thomas Edison" -CLA 2014

[@TheRTM]

What’s your fav mic?

[@skegsurffer]

THANKS CLA YOU ROCK DUDE!!!

[@johnwhyte9088]

Steve albini is way more humble and in my opinion more iconic. He doesn't care for business alge is a typical Yankee version of a real estate agent in music,he is a defo talent but actually I find his brother more artistic. I don't appreciate his shameless promotion of a plug in which he clearly doesn't use cos it seems he uses mostly analogue hardware. In that sense I prefer Maserati he explains why his plug ins could be useful for you and I feel he does use them!

[@triniticoclough6387]

Steve Albini is closed minded when it comes to digital and is unwilling to learn it or work with it over his beloved analog as if tapes dont degrade and need to be baked and transferred then you need something to play it on then a console with all of the out board gear to be able to pull up the mix!

[@hemantshrestha7872]

Very easy to use CLA plug & get what sound you want

[@chucksano]

That big head he's got must be hard to find headphones for but, the upside is the huge ears on the big head it make it easy for him to hear better than us mere mortals.

[@DocECS69]

I totally agree about forget about mono!

[@amaldc-brc]

To me these were practical and useful ideas, and ideas and things to think about go a lot further than the technical little details you people obsess over.Oh what plugin is in in your vocal chain, what compressor do you use to parallel compress etc. That shit is trivial honestly

[@triniticoclough6387]

So True and it gets very nerving to keeping having these questions thrown at you!

[@Skrenja]

Will Arnett would be a better match.

[@manuele.itriagom.728]

CLA and TLA are so similar and so different haha. Pretty awesome though, that 2 siblings are exceptionally good at the same thing.

[@HipDaJunkiez]

This guy is living legend.. He eat Grammy's for breakfast, lunch and dinner for sure.. So why dont we sitback, relax and learn from the Master..

[@cgluck]

Loved this.. It gave me few ideas..

[@soakedp90s]

Damn Chris. Looking good man.

[@noamusic]

no doubt he is one of the best , to bad tough ,he's acting like one that knows that and doing that all the time . cocky . he loves promoting his ego. i love his work and always followed him around the net ,for starts, i thought its sarcasm and Humour ,but after awhile i realised its not...

[@okcguitarbear410]

How you doin'?

[@MrLuismizraji]

Gracias Cris! ...todo genial!

[@adobedirtblues1321]

Is this an advertisement?

[@CCNC..]

Chris is either jaded or being sarcastic..

[@blerkh]

It's like Will Arnett playing one of his douchebag characters.

[@kronier]

I can't help liking this guy although he has one of the most over inflated egos of anyone I've ever seen in my life.

[@joeyxl3456]

+La ne CLA has that passion that another artist will always understand and find charming.

[@petefaders]

+joeyxl3456 Passion about how great he is. A drop of humility..just once would be nice.

[@AbirTarafdar]

Yeah rather than finding big ego people offensive I find them highly entertaining. It doesn't take anything from me to have someone else hold a very high opinion of themselves

[@albundie3]

+La ne his ego stifles my ability to like him, I do like his mixes though

[@PeterSavad]

+DamageIncM Yep, most likely he's just a mixer because he's not good at working with people.

[@MikeBurnsArrangedAccidents]

I've been given the green light by my Lord and Savior to not care about mono! My life just got a lot simpler.

[@patrickp8446]

Where is the "inflated ego" people are talking about? I see a rightly self assured confident guy. Cant imagine the charisma of the people knocking him lol

[@triniticoclough6387]

yeah the folks who feel his ego is inflated are way below his league. When you know your shit you can see when others know there shit

[@sophiatyriel7399]

Exactly. Nevertheless crazy how rampant the distaste is, I mean at the end of the day he doesn't have to give any interviews or answer any questions. The mf'er works for a living. At a very refined art that clearly 99.9 percent of musicians underestimate/ don't understand, can't hear... Every GREAT mixer has a feel a personality, it's just his persona, like deal right? These sensitive ass mf'ers having to rebuke him in comments to a video with him answering questions? But for those of us that know, have been warned, when you get to the top of your field the haters really will come for you. SAD

[@cortnysellers]

The drip is real

[@signalchef]

How can u add 9db to a file that is normalised at -3db?

[@harseybaber]

"Mastering" compressors can add 9dB of apparent gain and still have it meter at -3 -- you may hate it though...

[@MajorFay]

Thank you so much

[@lil-link]

I don’t think Chris understood the first question. Either that or he haven’t had a lightbulb moment in sooo long. “Be prepared for anything” is not a lightbulb moment hahaha..

[@ThePizzaMan_]

What's the intro track?

[@LordDRockMusic]

11:30 he says he delivers mixes at 0? I don't understand, isn't that the max? Anyone care to enlighten me

[@harseybaber]

I believe he delivers his mixes on analog tape which can go quite a bit above zero. He probably also mixes to digital but delivers tape to mastering.

[@OsUltraBug]

I'd go so far as to say that Trevor from GTA V was inspired in Chris! :)

[@ggvbeer4339]

nicholas cage ?? .... this guy is Paul Stanley from KISS !!!

[@closinginonclosure]

My dude looking like the crypt keeper

[@TakeFlight]

you rock chris!

[@peachhead1928]

Looks like CLA had a long night...

[@TheChrispablo]

love his approach to mono. just don't care

[@danield2000]

Some of my fans? Hey you're not the artist. And BTW, you won't get his vocal sound by using his signature vocal plug in.

[@jawnydabeste]

Cmon man you have to share your methods properly.

[@dvamateur]

Nice Yamaha speakers.

[@animerecords2575]

Ah, CLA is really cool.

[@AlienAndrew51]

Don't buy his plug in he's just trying to make money of you... You aren't gonna get the same sound unless you have great microphones and good mic placement to start with. Usually a good vocal chain would be U87 or a Bock 251 going to an LA-2a with about 3db of gain reduction that goes into a Neve 1073, Api 512c, or an Avalon 737.

[@Yaksonator]

One big sales pitch.

[@malibustacy3606]

Jesse "The Body" Miller

[@MysticAlankar]

Great info here! 💯

[@ctal615]

He provides no practical answers to any of the questions. His answers are for people buying their first 2 channel interface. He acts like he can't provide technical and practical answers because no one would understand the complex techniques or answers. Even the way he reads the questions sounds condescending like we're all wasting his time. He was the same on pensados place... He is the one and only audio engineer I have ever seen interviewed, and every time I think, "WOW, what a dick".

[@holland151]

He doesn't go into specifics, because there is no right nor wrong way to mix. He gives very, very important "tricks" of the trade though, like trust your ears and mix at low volume. I watched the Pensado's Place video and he did seem like a dick, but he knows that giving specifics will hurt engineers more than helping them. A few years ago, I personally took specific advice to heart and tried to use it on every mix. It resulted in horrible mixes.

[@Buzzbass]

Nope !! A genius who keep his secret !!! No advise ,technique or honest answer just flurting the question !!

[@levihoward4470]

I'm interested in coming to be a Sound Engineer and mix Engineer ing

[@morbidmanmusic]

by my stuff... goof ball

[@drums364]

Nicholas Cage! LOL!!!

[@levihoward4470]

Hi Chris I can hear the samples or tack By Listening to all types of music Genre

[@BassManDan1018]

Hahaha he’s like a detestable Will Ferrell character from some frat-pack movie

[@triniticoclough6387]

I don't find him cocky or anything...He has several grammys and gangs of plaques oh his wall so he has been tried and tested and doesn't have to prove anything to any of us or even answer anyone's questions

[@QuabmasM]

HAHAHAHAHA Nicholas Cage!!!!!!!!!! Good one! I think dude looks more like the former owner of WCW(Eric Bischoff when he was in NWO with the black hair). Kinda looks like Alice Cooper too.

[@colinmurphy3478]

What!? He looks nothing like Bishoff lmao!!

[@dano1307]

Hey buy my plugin..wtf!...only engineer that says something like that in these videos. I really enjoyed the rest of the videos though.

[@tm8473]

He doesn't share knowledge while appearing on a knowledge-sharing video series. Need to sell more waves "magic boxes" in order to keep people unaware of what they are doing? Scared of commercial competition? Just pathetic.

[@erikcebokli9585]

Dafuq.. I'm reading all these comments about CLA being ride and sarcastic - I can't see it? Where exactly is he being rude and arrogant?

[@agesonjohanesburg2915]

Hes from jersey. its in the blood. At least he's not a pussy.

[@erikcebokli9585]

@@agesonjohanesburg2915 I don't get it tho. I'm not a native american (nor do I live in the US) so I obviously have no idea how you guys perceive arrogance and rudeness but seriously, I couldn't detect a single drop of it. Sarcasm is ok if it's tasty and him explaining sarcasm like "it's not my fault the mix sounds bad if you don't listen in front of the speakers" actually makes a lot of sense. Like seriously - does one put his eyeglasses on his forehead instead of in front of your eyes and then complain that they can't see? :D

[@chimptor50]

Mix Team?!?!?!? MIX TEAM?!?!?!? Chris!!!! I think you've been in the rarefied air, or sun judging by the tan, for too long!! Who has a mixing team at most mixers level? My mix team consists of me!!!! That's it! Me, Myself and I!!! That's my mix team. Not all if us can go to the South of France, why does it have to be held there by the way? I guess Tarzana ain't glamorous enough, to A. To Hold MWTM and B. Get a proper tan?!? Do you have a tanning team? Let's get a little more down to earth Chris, K? Mixing Team............. Please!

[@christianolmeda]

Paul Schmdit Your hate rant was too funny. The dude is actually giving solid advice. I interpreted that as A not that he expects you to have a mix team but he's keeping it real with us that HE does. B, that essentially try and setup as much of the obvious crap ahead and then start really listening. This could be ground noise in clip cleaning that needs to happen, trimming, panning, etc. If you're a one man team, like I am, then we're sort of having to interpret that as, try and do as much of the setup and then really begin. I think it's still helpful

[@robwojtach2651]

I know it sounds odd to you, but I know from first hand experience, he does have a posse that they mix and work as a team, together. It actually is pretty awesome to watch.. Just saying..

[@electricbuffalo4137]

Slimeball-o-rama

[@itallama]

Too much oats and barley

[@sw4712]

i like CLA alot like his personality alot the botox looks rough. he'd be prettier without it.

[@Kakaobutter]

9:15 lol :D cool dude

[@AdrianRomeroJr]

he keeps looking to the top slightly left side of the camera, he obviously is reading scripts they must've wrote for him... he gets paid to do so haha he didn't learn his lines well

[@ninja0724]

Nope, Bruce Willis would be a better choice.

[@JohnnyF71]

Annoying frequency no. 1...CLA

[@januardmosia3949]

Nicolas Cage 😂😂😂😂

[@kimseniorb]

Why does he look like a vegan

[@joebutler2550]

CLA and NIck Cage should do Face Off 2

[@PaulManningg]

Jesus this guy is the worst

[@forsure2283]

Absolutely pointless.