Power Sessions: Chris Lord-Alge - Part 4 "Mixing in the MP3 Age"

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In Part 4, Chris Lord Alge and artist/engineer Erica Glyn discuss some of the realities facing musicians, mixers and producers in the modern age of singles and MP3s.
"I don't think I've changed my style since my first mix back in the late 70s," he says. But in what ways does he feel the "lost art of the long listen" has changed the game? And what would he change about today's music industry?

[@PaulBell88]

I will never stop listening to albums all the way through. The long listen rules.

[@ragzy02]

I had a girl once tell me that "all of the bands out there have SO much money that downloading their music wouldn't hurt them." I was like, girl, 99% of the artists out today are barely paying their bills. Of course a few illegal downloads probably won't hurt Beyonce, but come on, these people that think anyone with a record is "filthy rich" are just harmfully ignorant.

[@GODenWord]

No matter how much money somebody has it is not ur business, if u steal u are theft! Virtual reality made stealing much more easier but it is still the same crime as when u steal physical thing to the virtual!

[@slavesforging5361]

yeah, but i feel like the musicians did that to themselves. every music video that shows rock-stars selling out huge arenas, living in rented mansions, driving rented Lamborginis, with rented beautiful girls, and rented fancy amps on stage, created this notion that they were super rich, therefore successful, therefore good at what they do, therefore you should listen to them. rap during the 90's and 00's took it to whole new extreme, were even the song lyrics were about how much money they had. and they were writing songs about how rich they were before they even made it big, and were still hustling and starving. so we shouldn't be surprised that fans believe it, and don't feel like giving us their money. I live in America were everyone simultaneously acts like they're rich, while believing they're poor, no matter what their income level is. of course people that perceive themselves as being poor and needing more, aren't going to give their money to people they perceive as being rich and having the easy life. and none of it is real! we need to change the image of a professional musician to a realistic image. the ridiculously long hours, the painstaking tours, the intense studio sessions, the amount of money it takes to make a professional album. nobody knows these things. Hollywood hyped up how much hard work and professionalism they put into movies with behind the scenes features and the making of. they still make money. people still go to see movies, and people respect that industry. music did the opposite. they showed themselves joking around, driving stupid cars, doing stupid dances, and underplayed the ridiculous amount of work that goes into an album or song, while lying about how much money they make. surprise, surprise... nobody respects the music industry. I mean we all know the various ridiculous body changes Christian Bale has had to make over the years for different roles. it's practically a meme! but who knows what singers had to to do to hit a certain note, or do a certain effect with their voice? who knows what crazy studio tech magic and out of the box thinking was done to get a certain guitar tone? Who knows how much weight somebody had to change for a music video? There's so much hype about how hard it is to make a movie, and zero hype about how hard it is to make an album. take a look at what Sylvia Massey is doing... she's running vocals through potatoes trying new sounds! Who knows the kinks invented distortion by slashing their guitar speakers with razors!? i'm hoping that music movies will spark people's respect for how hard any professional musician has to work every day. I think movies like Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is born, Straight out of Compton, and even shows like The Voice are changing the way people think and respect the work and lifestyles musicians actually lead and people are going to start respecting music more, and will start paying for it again. fuck me that was a long rant. sorry about that. all the ideas just started pouring out! hmmm... this sociologist/musician might just have to make a video or even publish a paper going deeper.

[@knotquiterite]

For some of us, listening to an album all the way through is still a way of life! Even if we're young. I hate singles and they tend to be my least favorite track on an album

[@TerenceKearns]

Nice interview. Good questions. Thanks! Very informative.

[@deathbass13]

i'll always buy the cd or vinyl of bands i like. espeacially since mp3s are less quality of sound. the only thing good about mp3 is being able to go to the gym or something with an ipod and not have to carry a bulky cd player. other then that, cd's and vinyls all the way!!!

[@MrTommySullivan]

4:00 absolutely correct.

[@davidhiser2266]

So I bought the LP, then the 8 Track, then the Cassette, then the CD...all for the same song. Now I should pay for the MP3? I bought the song 4 times already. That is the part they leave out

[@viruslived]

I buy all my music because I want to support the artists that I enjoy. Some of the artists I like give their albums away for free yet I still purchase them in support for what they're doing. I already see the outcome of the industry and what we are left with is a bunch of indie artists and local "past-time" musicians leading the scene. Unfortunately music is becoming stagnant. There needs to be some regulation on this matter and this comes from someone who absolutely hates regulation.

[@slavesforging5361]

i agree. the movie industry got off it's but and made them create and enforce strict regulations. the music labels saw that they could still make money, even though artists and producer's wouldn't, and did nothing. so here we are. some things need regulation and enforcement in a capitalist society. that's the nature of such an intensely greed oriented system.

[@Jay_Flippen]

3:45 I've never heard this aggressive approach before. 4:40 Crucial point here- the major differences between replicability power of analogue versus digital have major market effects. If you look at the bands that tried prosecuting their thieves- they typically weren't small local bands. They were large (or somewhat popular) bands that had the backing legal power of a record company and a pre-existing financial footprint to help foot the legal bill. Nowadays with streaming it is easy to get away with legally (and morally) not possessing a digital recording of a work- even though it is loaded through the computer... and the person has an instantiation of it... nearly the same as if they were to be playing it through iTunes. But the programming's mechanisms of operating are what set the fine line I suppose.

[@slavesforging5361]

yup. the industry as a whole never stood up and invested money into lobbying for regulations or enforcement the way the movie industry did. one is still valuable in the market. one is not. music industry has always been everyone for themselves and they got decimated for it.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Very good discussion in this episode. All the albums on my MP3 player and HD have all been burned from my personal CD collection. And all the software on my PC is genuine copies. i get offered crack copies all the time and won't accept them because quite simply its theft !!

[@slavesforging5361]

me too man. i used to buy new copies of scratched cd's over and over again. then i started copying them to a drive. I'd say 95% of my library is bought and paid for right now. and i don't stream anything, aside from youtube music videos while i exercise at home. i'm not against streaming services per se, i just like to pick what i listen to and to listen to entire albums. playlists don't excite me unless i painstakingly picked every song on them myself! i'm just picky.

[@postaflip7]

YES...More CLA please!

[@SinAsTheTic]

re: listening habits... haven't changed for me. i used to skip songs on vinyl by lifting the needle and i still skip songs today, except it's a lot easier. i don't understand all this talk of always listening to complete albums back in the day. my friends did the same thing, listen to just their fave songs and rarely beginning to end. DROP THE NEEDLE ON YOUR FAVE SONG. maybe me and my friends were ahead of the times

[@uncommonsense9452]

+Sinasthetic Nope. The vanguard of the ADD crowd.

[@SinAsTheTic]

+uncommon sense LOL

[@aibrainlet8041]

Lol!

[@slavesforging5361]

good point. for me i always tried not to buy an album that only had one or two good songs on it. back when i listened to the radio, if i didn't hear at least 3 or 4 solid songs from an album i wouldn't go out and buy it. i still do that today, only KZbin has become my radio station were i preview new albums, because i don't hear music i like on the radio anymore. call me old or whatever, but while there's a ridiculous amount of great music being made by young bands/artists, that's not what the labels are shoving down our throats at the moment. here's to labels dying a slow horrible and agonizing death they deserve!

[@drumpounder778]

Chris Lord-Mullet.

[@DRMS4LYFE]

Wheres part 3!?!?!?!?!

[@lumpyfishgravy]

People will pay for music; the problem in the industry has always been the thieving suits.

[@Sarah-and-Tormy]

You fully Right in this video, dear friend :-/ It's encessary to be extremely creative to find a way to re-establish a kind of equilibrium re-creating the real interest for music, in order to mek it bought and not stole for few seconds low quality listening

[@ravenshadevox]

BTW I do buy all my music and I do listent record all they through all the time, but I guess metal heads are the last bastion of hope for the music biz!

[@Stillblissstudios]

You can resell a cd. You can't resell an acc.

[@fuzzy8mike]

It’s 2022 & bottom end is back ! With an iPhone, Bluetooth and JBL Partybox. Those things THUMP ! But there’s no new music.

[@ravenshadevox]

"I wish people would pay for every piece of music" I am a musician and I'm not dead, digital audio killed the record labels not the artist! bands still make money on the road,you know the same way they did before record label and promoters robbed 'em blind. but they have to work for it! and the labels starve. R & B artist TLC earned 6 million in sales and left the label bankrupt, who's pocket was lined in that deal!

[@slavesforging5361]

i know a lot more musicians starving than labels, and now labels are including touring and merch profits into their record deals as part of getting signed. it's becoming more and more common. sigh. i think the last thing i would ever want is to get a record deal! gotta own that publishing as Steve Vai says. But why did digital format not kill the movie industry? because they invested money in protecting their industry lobbying for regulation and strict enforcement. Not to mention those delightful FBI warnings and commercials against shoplifting comparing it to illegal downloading. record labels did none of this. what if before you could listen to a track you had to listen to some crap 7 second spiel about anti piracy and federal laws? That never happened. they knew that the labels could still make money even though the art, artists, and producers would suffer. they've always wanted to cycle from the next new hit youngster to the next anyway. what better way to do that than to have artists not make any money?

[@tokerauaverill9397]

I like the joyrnalist!!, beatiful and she like the Good music t think

[@bigdap100]

i think that its up the the artist and the record labels to figure out how to get paid for their music...the consumer doesn't care about whether or not you get paid, they just want to hear the song. Thinking that people should pay to share the music is just as ridiculous as saying that you should pay every time you see an image of the Mona Lisa. Hey man, its a business and if you want to stay in business its not the consumers job to help you figure it out.

[@slavesforging5361]

True, but the only real solution is the same one hollywood and film did: They need to invest money to lobby for regulations and enforcement. the only way to get paid in our modern capitalism is to spend money buying politicians to force people to pay you. forget let the buyer beware. we're past that. it's let the producer beware!

[@bigtrex76]

hey said toupe....touche

[@ravenshadevox]

^right on the nose!I suppose CLA didn't think it was stealing when he licensed his name to WAVES to tack onto a slightly modified set of plug ins to sell for an inflated price, I suppose he must have wrote the program that makes the plug in work himself or NOT, more likely an intern on work study re-skinned the plug in and tweaked the controls. oh right taking someone else's idea and slightly modifying for sale/reproduction isn't theft it's plagirism, woops! got my laws all muddled!

[@agoogleuser7832]

THE TRUTH!

[@AlbertWeijers]

I listen all my music on KZbin, that's not stealing, or paying...

[@slavesforging5361]

True. same principles as broadcast television. paid for by commercials and or/sponsorship. unless of course it's someone else reposting music that doesn't belong to them. which it often enough is.

[@pco2004]

He basically predicted/wished for what NFTs can accomplish now ie. the tracking and perpetual payments to artists evertyime a song gets resold.

[@SonicScoop]

Interesting observation @pco2004!

[@spookybuk]

I am an artist and a musician. I love doing music. When someone says "People have to pay for music! That's what killed it for the artistis..." Those guys you're talking about, they are not artists. You're talking about salesmen. And all you guys in the music business seem to be doing pretty well. Some people are starving. Well, those starving folk sometimes listen to music and feel better. Enslaved people. All kinds of people who were brought low, so another set of people could be brought high. So stop bitching about a few coins. You don't even need it. It is just mean.

[@DRMS4LYFE]

Nvm..I found it. Thank God.

[@apbweezle]

Nicolas Cage

[@uncommonsense9452]

+silvercrow Paul Stanley without his wig.

[@GODenWord]

No matter how much money somebody has it is not ur business, if u steal u are theft! Virtual reality made stealing much more easier but it is still the same crime as when u steal physical thing to the virtual!

[@jbarkerhill92]

No self respecting music fan would listen from a phone speaker. Earbuds and Bluetooth speakers are probably most common

[@badmuddy]

c'mon chris, u KNOW the "next beatles" wont EVER be. Y? because the industry has COMPLETELY stripped talent/originality from the equation; they're just NOT interested. almost all artists signed/pushed these days r culled from either 12-18 yr old amateur singers on televised AMATEUR contests, OR the not so talented kids of the famous (ie, wsmith, rsimmons), who have NO prob robbin the FEW opportunies 4 REAL, DUES-paid, writing/composing talent. the industry's bcum 1 of plutocracy & youth-worship.

[@agoogleuser7832]

THE TRUTH!

[@10Cicegim]

i think this way of thinking is wrong, listen to krs one and immortal technique !!! the true fans will come to the concerts and buy a ticket or buy merch

[@slavesforging5361]

maybe they will. maybe they won't. but how much money do you have to invest to create a free product on the hopes that maybe 5% of your "true" fans will come to see you when you come to town? and how insanely difficult is it to tour constantly? and how tired will your fans get of seeing you because you're constantly touring, because it's the only way to make money? every touring band knows you can't play too many shows too often. people won't come to see you every month. This is a mental space that isn't feasible. making a professional level album isn't cheap. even nowadays when it's cheaper and more available than ever, it's not cheap. i've heard many glorious revolutionary, anti establishment ideals from fans who don't want to not pay anything, but none of them are feasible, and it really comes down to people just not caring enough to pay for a service.

[@Mechaman365]

Are we into music because its art? or because its an industry? I hope most of us are into music because it is a human expression (AKA Art), the people downloading music are not killing the ART they are killing an INDUSTRY that most likely destroy the art because they just want more money, they dont care if their "artists" express valuable things, or if their compositions are providing the art with beauty. they want them to sell. want to support real artists? buy their albums form bandcamp.com

[@slavesforging5361]

sure, but if they're not buying anything then they're not supporting art either. for me, i laugh inside whenever someone tells me how much they love music, because that person almost never has paid for music, picks their own music to listen to, owns a dedicated sound system for listening to music on, listens to anything other than singles, nor sits and just listens to music. these are things that were all super normal when i was a child in the 80's. nobody was showing off their fancy t'v's back then. they were showing off their fancy home stereos, and every middle class family had one. i mean, in our society you can tell how much we care about something by it's market value. music's is $0.00 USD, or very close to. so i laugh when everyone i meet tells me how much they love music here in the US. South and central america... they love music! north America? not at all. despite what we claim. we love phones, cars, tv, food, a feeling of safety, a feeling of superiority, ... but certainly not music. and there are a LOT of factors as to why and how that happened.

[@bigdap100]

slow down there big guy, I'm not saying that the music isn't worth money I'm saying that what music is worth is subjective. That's economics 101 my friend and economics helps us to determine who will survive in the marketplace. There has been a paradigm shift in everything that involves creating and listening to music so if you want to get paid you have to be creative business wise. Lol, consumers don't feel sorry for artists that sing and rap about being rich and reckless. see Louis C.K.

[@ababilashari9970]

obviously not an artist here lol