The CLA Technique That SOLVED Mixing In The Box

🔵 Download the Home Mixing Cheatsheet here: www.audioedges...
Mixing hits for Green Day, Prince, Springsteen, and The Rolling Stones, Chris Lord-Alge is a legendary mix engineer. He pioneered translating his analog style into the digital world-not just through his famous plugins, but by crafting sessions that emulate analog environments. As an award-winning engineer, I’ve studied CLA for years and applied his methods to avoid that sterile digital sound. In the modern age, many new mixers ignore these strategies, never having mixed on a console-and their mixes often pay the price. So let’s make sure you avoid it too. By the end of this video, you’ll learn how to incorporate his techniques into your in-the-box setup to bring that analog sound into your mixes.
Waves Plugins in the video: (Using these links helps support the channel!)
SSL Channel: waves.alzt.net...
CLA-76: waves.alzt.net...
NLS Channel: waves.alzt.net...
Puigchild waves.alzt.net...
CLA Drums: waves.alzt.net...
CLA-3A: waves.alzt.net...
Hire Alex to Mix Your Song! 👉 www.audioedges...

[@audioedges]

Download the Home Mixing Cheatsheet here! 👉 www.audioedges.com/homemixingcheatsheet

[@sevchyk]

I think this video would improve by 80 percent if this guy played any example.

[@SHOCMUSIC]

Very good rundown, I believe CLA also mentioned that if he mixes in the Box he has the CLA MixBus on the Master on Default Settings

[@Fred.A.Dubeau]

i do this all the time, printing it most of the time!! really liking the Sonimus stuff for this

[@Marco-HidalgoMusicRecords]

AND BEFORE I GET TO USE ANY OF THOSE PLUGINS MY COMPUTER EXPLODES!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@LukeProvMusic]

Editing absolutely on point !

[@audioedges]

Cheers brother!

[@hinky7729]

Seems like you know him very well, how many records have you done with him?

[@cristouk]

Even since I started mixing ITB in Cubase I've been looking for a good analog solution, and I've tried almost everything, but the Slate digital console and Virtual tape machines were ultimately the way to go for me. Don't think it really matters what eq you put over it, it's those two slate plugin that do the job. One day I'll go for a Tegeler or a B32 Vancouver hardware summing box, but for now the Slates are closest software emulations to what I was used working on SSLs and Studers.

[@TheChrispablo]

Not sure if this was covered, but an ITB Brauerize video would be awesome 😁 Great vid!

[@audioedges]

@@TheChrispablo oh great idea!! Putting that on the list! Thanks!

[@hummarstraful]

I know that you're inspired from his mixes with Stephen Slate. But you're giving the impression that CLA mixes in the box. He mixes through analog gear mostly. He doesn't really use all those plugins. I've got every mix video he's ever done in his entire life on my hard drive and I've seen them all 100 times. The CLA sound is analog. He only mixes in the box for demonstrations for plug-in companies. But having said that yeah you nailed it. You showed exactly what he does with the plugins when does demonstration videos.

[@JeremusMaximus]

What’s even cooler is that his mixes are totally irrelevant today. Greenday? Come on man. Also, the “Mix with the masters” stuff on mixing early era Coldplay tracks? 2025 will be this: A.I WILL PRODUCE AND MIX MY 🔥 TRACK BRAH and hit 3 million on spotify before your done watching Chris analog himself to death. Swallow it. There ya go 😊

[@vizionaryrecords]

​@@JeremusMaximus 😂😂There you go! 💯

[@shtdapuck]

@@JeremusMaximus Irrelevant in what way? Post a mix of your song and we'll be the judge of that. Enjoy your $.004 for those 3 million streams lol ....I'll check back when that never happens.

[@JeremusMaximus]

@@shtdapuck brother you missed the ENTIRE point lmao, it was sarcasm. Irrelevant because standards in mixing today have basicallly vaporized. Go ahead and mix through 100k worth of equipment just to get smashed through a phone speaker at 128kbps. My mixes don't need your critique bud. Also, that would equate to roughly $120k which by anyone's standards, ESPECIALLY in this market would be damn near IMPOSSIBLE to make otherwise. This was about his methods and cash-grabbing new producers with methods that IN FACT, bear ZERO relevance in today's mixes. He's trying to stay relevant, which explains why he's selling all his gear as we speak lmao. You're out of you're depth Donnie. Now, go download that home mixing cheat sheet.

[@anotheryoutubed]

You really need to start mixing in buses also.

[@anotheryoutubed]

Most important part of emulating an analog signal chain is to flip that little ANALOG ON switch on the Waves plug-ins....

[@rayprimmusic]

I didn't see the slate plug-in you used.

[@andyswitch]

this is how i mix too, great, but why use ssl emulation when there is ssl channel plugin inserted at first ? Isnt ssl channel already emulating the preamps too ?

[@audioedges]

Good question - The SSL Channel plugin doesn't emulate the mic preamp in the same detailed way that the NLS Channel does. It’s focused on replicating the channel strip's processing rather than the entire signal path, including the preamp. The NLS Channel includes the nonlinearities and subtle distortions that would be introduced by the mic preamp and other components in the console.

[@andyswitch]

@@audioedges thank you for reply. It makes sense now. I use ssl native channel plugin and that one has preamp section integrated so i guess im sorted. Anyway i also use neve style eq by ik multimedia with mic pre on first slot when need that extra analog juice.

[@vernonowen6857]

Thanks

[@audioedges]

You got it! :)

[@iconikbeats]

Can someone explain why he chose mono instead of stereo on the ssl channel?

[@nonenothing4412]

Maybe all his stems are in mono, so it's to save some performance

[@internalmethods]

Audio examples???

[@johnisrael5183]

One Huge Advantage of Waves, is you can fill the whole mix up with plugins....get everything where you want it....bounce and level...that's a faster way to Pre Master a Mix

[@audioedges]

Yeah, I've always been able to get a good sound fast with these tools. Especially that CLA-76. It's definitely my most used compressor!

[@anotheryoutubed]

Holy compression on your mic.

[@nonenothing4412]

It's so that we can hear

[@cmdrsquiddy]

do you know how to import session data? this was painfully slow

[@audioedges]

Well sure, but I don't see how that would make a helpful video. To import session data, there has to be a session to import session data from. I don't see how just importing session data into the session would help someone understand what's on the tracks and why, and how to wire up the session themselves the first time.

[@StargateMax]

Seems like suitable for rock and pop-rock genres, but not electronic, ambient, etc.

[@johnisrael5183]

Exactly...thats typical CLA....the whole focus is on Rock....but Pop. Hip Hop, Dub Step, Tech and EDM....these are not going to be the right mix coloring for you

[@audioedges]

Yes, CLA's sound is rock/pop-rock inspired, like the artists mentioned at the beginning of the video. Electronic music doesn't rely so heavily on analog emulations, though there are no rules :)

[@BuddieOLLi]

....now you can invite "Green Day" to play some stuff. Then you could mix it - but remember: use the plug in´s for the REAL analog sound, (which no one would have in the 80s, to much unwanted noise etc. - the digital options was the cool stuff every "PRO" was looking for: clarity, no noise, many tracks could cut or copy "in the box") - and the most top hits today does not copy the "analog" sound from the early Top Hits - they put the melodie and the notes, like Rick Beato shows us !

[@cristouk]

I remember when the promise of digital was on the horizon, most of us were looking forward to it - lossless bouncing, tape doesn't wear out, no noise etc. Tape wear was the main one, it was scary how much you'd lose if you played the tape too many times. We did a session once and the signal dropped after a few plays of the band we'd recorded. Couldn't work out why until we looked at the tape machine and found the the heads were almost black, the magnetic oxide had come off the tape! (bad glue batch) The record company sued Ampex over that one.

[@3mstudiospalmdesert]

"that analog sound" lol.

[@audioedges]

There's an audible difference when you use analog emulations vs. strictly digital tools, yes.

[@trackmasters65]

@@audioedges YET YOU DID NOT INCLUDE ANY "AUDIBLE" EXAMPLE WTFF???

[@theblowupdollsmusic]

Do you even IVO Let her Know Bro?

[@henryrowland4076]

what sechyk said! ... what? no (audio) examples? And haven't you ever heard of a summing bus? you literally duplicate a plugin 25 times when you could use ONE instance of it to get the same result?? The 50-odd plugins you instantiated could sooo drain your CPU!... and when you could get as good a result using, like , a handful ... this is just ridiculously lame advice. Sorry to be blunt. But true. The other thing which is really so much more important is you completely miss the point of how analog versus digital works! Digital never "translates" to a "bigger-sounding" mix because the zeros and ones cancel each other out… as a simple metaphor: when +1 meets -1 it equals zero! I encourage you to go listen to a complex digital mix versus that same mix run through analog buses into an analog mixer. The reason analog sounds so much better is because analog voltages combined create complex waveforms (that don't cancel out with + and - numbers--it would require wave forms to be 100% phase-locked at identical frequencies to "100% cancel"---highly improbable and why analog results in a smorgasbord of "delicious formants" and "chaotic harmonics") such that the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts". Digital waves (which are just pure math) cancel each other out "anywhere and everywhere the numbers allow" as I "simplistically" explained above which is why "complex" digital mixes always sound thinner (the more you add) like you lost something... Because you actually have! This is a simplified explanation but it is absolutely accurate. Let your ears discover this for yourself: no amount of plug-ins equals the actual physics of combined analog wave/voltages... in fact the more plug-ins you add the more you're actually trashing your mix! ... exactly what happens in Photoshop when you start using a bunch of colorizing plugins... Your original photograph (talking digital photo) starts to look like garbage. Same thing for your digital music file. That's why every producer in the know in Hollywood or elsewhere always runs their sub-group files/stems through an actual analog "summing" device so the waves actually DO "sum" together to make the mix sound bigger, more saturated and more 3-d (with the "wavelets" of complex interactions "created" as opposed to "cancelled"!) instead of smaller/thinner/flatter mixes as in "where'd the beef go?" in my Logic/Cubase/whatever file. Think of it this way: with digital it's all about "Math". Math is relentlessly unforgiving as I said earlier +1 -1 = 0. Always! Digital is "subtractive". The less complexity the better it sounds.(Because you're "subtracting" less of the information.) With analog it's all about Physics. Analog is "additive". (You're adding more information) Push a little here ... shake a little there ... Magic happens because the "forces/waves rarely cancel out" ... in fact, they "jiggle shake and harmonize to infinity and then sum" (pun intended).

[@paulov9626]

I sniff an advert for Waves....errrr...no thanks.

[@audioedges]

I've been using these plugins for almost 10 years and on over 1000 songs, and so has Chris Lorde Alge. This video isn't sponsored and I'm happily recommending the plugins... because they work! Slate Digital also has great tools I've been using. Cheers!

[@Only_One_Eye]

Waves are really good, you have to know "how to use them", like the UAD or Slate plugins! You miss something really good! (Sorry about my english, I am french😊)

[@Todzuum]

Their is this negative mentality lately towards waves. Waves legit , they have tools that sound good , problem solve and get the job done.

[@xanderpills]

@@audioedgesUmm... doesn't CLA use an actual SSL console? I think he probably only used any Waves-plugins whenever he had to produce a tutorial or whatnot

[@danaparsons854]

Only a sniff🤣

[@terrytimberlake8926]

Hold up.. I love the way, guys like you talk about how the PROFESIONALS do. I rather hear it from the horses mouth. No disrespect to you...

[@audioedges]

I understand your point, but as a professional myself, I'm not really someone your comment applies to. Mixing has been my full time career for almost 6 years, 1000+ songs. I've learned from CLA over the years and am sharing that here to help others! Walking the talk here while also appreciating the great work of a legend.

[@terrytimberlake8926]

@audioedges hold up.. no disrespect. I still would rather listen to Chris lorde himself. There are too many bootleggers and too many CC who are trying for numbers.

[@DarkTrapStudio]

You didn't brand/introduce yourself, no audio example, whole video is a Wave ad you made up for affiliation but we hate theses scammers and youl' help them get the newbies that don't know get in their trap subscription. You need to do better. Take the feedback or youll face a lot of hate (Im not hating) but I acknlowledge the work you put here and that you are better than me because I dont put the work to create content, I respect that.

[@nero00kyrie]

Oh no, he's a regard.

[@lowandodor1150]

You mean "retard", don't you?

[@ApexArtistX]

Don’t need all those plugins just work on 96khz and your mix will sound good 😂

[@hellofx]

Nope ... you still don’t get a separation and width like using a real recording console.

[@florianarndt]

Exactly. Analog Consoles do way more then saturation.

[@soulofwaves]

Just curious about what can the real console do that a very close certified ssl plugin emulation cannot, how can the real console give more separation and width?

[@foljs5858]

that's an old wives tale. There's no special magic in a 'real recording console". Just some circuit character, interference, noise, and harmonic distortion, that can be emulated (and has been emulated for over a decade now). What you REALLY can't get with plugins is the full hands-on tactility

[@audioedges]

Though tracking through a console is still common, most engineers mix in the box now for a variety of reasons. Modern plugin emulations are quite incredible, and they're good enough for the greats like CLA. The question is if an engineer is willing to trade off having physical hands on the faders, for full automation and total recall using analog emulations. The vast majority have opted for the latter, and quality of music hasn't suffered.

[@darkozoric4184]

There is this romanticized notion that just putting audio through an analog console automatically makes it sound amazing. Man, I've heard more shitty mixes through consoles back in the day from pro studios before digital than mixes nowadays by bedroom enthusiast newbies. We've got amazing tools at our hands better than ever before (for God sake, we can have infinite number of instances of a fairchild and 1176's, can't do that on analog), however, looks to me that people use the I need the old analog console sound as a way to deflect their own inabilities at mixing and producing.