SonicScoop Interviews Chris Lord-Alge

SonicScoop is one of my favourite music blogs. They’ve recently posted a great set of interviews with legendary producer, Chris Lord-Alge, who was interviewed by New York musician, Erica Glyn.

SonicScoop Power Sessions with Chris Lord-Alge

In this first part of the interview, Chris Lord-Alge talks about how he feel in love with music and got into the music business. I love the way he talks about starting out and just taking “the smallest, most un-Rock ‘n Roll sessions,” just get himself started.

“It was like flutes and horns and not even a drum kit. But, I was in there to win.”

Part 2 – Mixing and the Magic Chains

In the second video Chris Lord-Alge talks addresses the question of how to produce hit mixes in three hours. He discusses the importance of having the right gear and also, more importantly, knowing how your gear works. He also answers some questions on how things have changed with the advent of digital recording and what that means for a producer and mixer.

The Anthemic CLA Mix

Finally, we get some insight into how Chris Lord-Alge sets up his monitoring and the importance of mixing and working at low volume levels. It’s fascinating to listen to the language he uses to describe the mixing process; he talks a lot about taming sounds and making them work together. He also prefers to do all the EQ work in one hit and doesn’t necessarily compress every track of a song, including critical elements like the snare and kick drum.

“The music is not going to mix itself, you actually have to move the faders!”

If you want to read a little bit more about Chris Lord-Age and his approach to production and mixing, then take a look at this excellent interview on Audiofanzine, Mixing with an Attitude.

“Everyone is just doom and gloom. Well, that’s just your attitude. If you want to be a doom and gloomer, go work in a different business. But as far as I am concerned, music is only going to get better, and you just have to be positive and make it happen. Chris Lord-Alge”