Modern Soapbox

Producers and recording engineers get much praise for how a record sounds, but much of that credit should really go to mixing engineers, who transform raw performances into the polished final product.

Two mixing engineers in particular – the brothers Chris and Tom Lord-Alge — deserve much praise for crafting the sound of hundreds of influential and chart-topping records over the last quarter century. Between the two of them, they mix an average of 70 records a year (that’s more than one a week) for everyone from pop stars like Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brother and Pink to perennial legends like Santana, Tina Turner and Steve Winwood to today’s biggest bands like Green Day the Dave Matthews Band and U2.

The Lord-Alge brothers have remained some of the music industry’s most sought-after mixers for so long because they’re more concerned about making great sounding, timeless records than keeping up or competing with current trends. “It’s all about the music, and it has always been about the music,” says Tom. “What we do as artists and mixers is try to be creative. We can’t be creative when the only thing we’re thinking about is technology.”

“The mix has to sound awesome,” adds Chris. “Not to pat ourselves on the back, but it’s just that something has to be at a very high level of quality for us to like it. If we like it, the artist or band we’re working with almost always likes it as well because we’re way fussier than they are. We favor wearing the mixing hat because we don’t have to worry about how a recording gets there. We just have to worry about where it’s going. We’re the last guys in the creative chain, and we’re the most important part of the process. We make sure that the music gets to the consumer the way it was intended to. We take the dreams of the artist and the producer, merge it into one, make them all completely at ease and deliver to them their finished product.”

Over their long and illustrious careers Chris and Tom Lord-Alge have grown accustomed to working with the best of the best – both artists and equipment. While the studios they work in may be equipped with high-end and vintage mixing consoles, compressors, EQs, preamps and microphones, they’ve been instrumental in making these sounds accessible and affordable to aspiring engineers, producers and mixers. For example, Chris has worked closely with Waves Audio to develop the CLA Classic Compressor plug-in software packages, which were modeled from favorite classic LA-2A, LA-3A and 1176LN compressors from his personal collection and feature a variety of his own custom presets.

In fact, Waves CLA Classic Compressor software is the first thing both Chris and Tom recommend for anyone who wants to soup up their recording and mixing setup. “I use them all the time, and not just because I’m his brother,” jokes Tom. “His presets are great starting points. They are truly great plug-ins.”

“I highly recommend spending your money on a variety of good plug-ins and virtual instruments,” says Chris. “Hopefully you should already have a good audio interface to start off with. Pro Tools is an industry standard, so I would recommend the Digi 003 with Pro Tools LE software. As far as recommended plug-ins go, the Waves API Collection bundle and their LI Ultramaximizer are just a few of my go-to, everyday necessities.”

The legendary SSL 4000 console, introduced in the 1980s, is the one piece of hardware that Chris and Tom say they cannot live without. “The SSL 4000 remains the biggest tool in our arsenal today,” says Tom. “It has a very specific sound. It was the first console to have compression and dynamics built into every channel. I couldn’t do one mix without my SSL.”

While most home studio engineers don’t have the space or budget for a real SSL 4000, they can enjoy the same sounds and sonic advantages with the Waves SSL 4000 Collection bundle, which includes the SSL G-Equalizer, SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and the SSL G-Channel and E-Channel channel strip plug-ins. As an added bonus, each plug-in includes a wide variety of Chris Lord-Alge’s own presets, which he consistently uses when mixing records. His drum presets can add new life and added punch to otherwise dull and lifeless sounding drum tracks, and his vocal presets can help you achieve that elusive professional quality that will make your recordings stand out.

These plug-in packages share a lot of the mixing know-how that the Lord-Alge brothers have developed over the last 25 years, but both feel that home studio engineers would be wise to also invest in equipment that will help them capture pristine performances before trying to make mixes that compete with their seasoned experience. “You can always call one of us to mix your recording,” says Tom. “Performance is king. Music is about emotion, and most of the emotion is based on performance. Don’t let mediocre performances make your record, and don’t expect technology to fix it. Rather, use technology to enhance your recording to your advantage.” Today’s technology can perform virtual miracles when it comes to fixing things in the mix, but Chris and Tom prefer to work with recordings that sound as good as possible before they reach the mixing stage. As a result, they recommend that aspiring engineers invest in a variety of good microphones and mic preamps to help them lay down initial tracks that sound great from the start.

Because singers’ vocal styles and sounds can vary so much, the Lord-Alges suggest that vocalists audition a variety of mics before choosing the ones that are right for them. “Look at your budget,” says Chris. “Guitar Center will definitely help you select the right mic that is within your budget. There are so many new microphone companies. Use your ear to pick the mic that you think sounds the clearest. And then spend a little bit more of your money on your vocal chain – the mic preamp and the limiter. That makes just as much difference as the microphone. “The Focusrite ISA 430 MKII Producer Pack offers really good bang for the buck and the sound quality is really good,” continues Chris. “It combines a mic pre, EQ, compressor and limiter in one device, which is really helpful. It’s all in one chain so it gets you familiar with how all of that stuff works together.” “Start with one of those, and as you become more comfortable and confident making recordings you’ll be ready to step it up,” adds Tom. “Then you’ll want to do some research and demo other equipment to come up with something that sounds even better. I like individual pieces, like the mic preamps and compressors that Universal Audio makes. If you can afford to spend more I highly recommend upgrading your setup with a few pieces of their gear.” If you’re recording electric guitars, the Lord-Alges both highly recommend the Shure SM57. “It’s a workhorse that really does great things,” says Tom.

“The simplest way to start is with an SM57 pointed just off the speaker cone,” says Chris. “Use one mic, one mic preamp and record straight to tape. Find the best place in the room to place your amp and dial in your sound before you record.”

“If you can’t get the sound you want with your setup, you may want to rethink what amp or guitar you’re using,” adds Tom. “Get another guitar or amp. A lot of players use two or three amps these days, but it’s better to use just one amp and get your sound from that. Simpler is always better.”

Both also suggest using a similar approach when recording bass. “I love my bass sound,” says Chris. “Put a mic on it. Let’s hear what the bass sound is. If you get a bass sound out of your amp that you like, mic it up and see how it sounds. If you have a good microphone that can pick up the full frequency range of a bass, by all means use a mic. Using a DI along with a mic can present a few phasing problems, but Guitar Center sells all kinds of boxes that will fix that.” The Radial Engineering Phazer is a highly recommended direct box that can fix phasing problems commonly encountered when recording direct and mic’d signals at the same time.

One often overlooked but crucial element for achieving satisfactory results in a home studio environment is a good set of monitors. Chris and Tom are both big fans of the legendary and now discontinued Yamaha NS10 monitors, but since those speakers are no longer available they recommend auditioning the various sets of powered monitors offered at Guitar Center.

“Bring your favorite mix,” suggests Chris. “Bring your iPod and a cable to the store or bring a CD and make sure you’re getting a flat signal from the CD player. Listen to music that you’re really familiar with through different sets of speakers. We’ve sat in front of NS10 speakers for more than 20 years, so that’s what we know and what we like. But don’t let us force you to choose what we like. It’s a personal decision and maybe you can come up with a set of monitors that work better for you. Powered speakers are the best way to go because you don’t have to worry about using a separate power amp that can change the sound.” “Powered monitors can sound great in a small home studio,” adds Tom. “You just plug them in and go. Get a pair of good powered monitors with a powered subwoofer and you’re off to the races. I highly recommend using a subwoofer because you want to be able to reproduce the bottom end that so much music relies upon nowadays. Owning a good pair of powered monitors is a big advantage if you travel to different studios to work because your point of reference is always the same.”

Not surprisingly, the Lord-Alge brothers use their own records as points of reference when recording in unfamiliar studios and when they’re working on new mixes for other artists. Tom likes his brother’s work on Green Day’s American Idiot: “It’s a great reference point for anyone making a rock and roll record. I would want my record to sound like that.” Chris returns the favor, preferring Tom’s mixing work on Steve Winwood’s 1986 classic, Back in the High Life: “That’s still tough to beat, so I play that.”

For more information and to see the rest of the interview, go to guitarcenter.com/interview

Source | At: Guitar Center, February 2010

For the past several months now, Mare&I have a Saturday morning ritual of going to Taqueria Montenegro for the best barbacoa tacos and beef fajita tortas in Austin. The tortas are toasted and filled with marinated beef, cheese, lettuce, and guacamole. The taste and texture is incomparable to anything I’ve ever eaten in my life. If heaven is on a bun, then Montenegro’s torta is a delicious cherub sent from above.

The barbacoa tacos are standard for authentic Mexican cuisine and very mesmerizing. Symptoms of itis from Montenegro’s tasty food cannot be full achieved without consuming their greasy barbacoa in a flour tortilla with their version of pico which is simply diced white onion and chopped cilantro.

The meal isn’t complete without using copious amounts of their signature green (verde) sauce. I’m convinced that it’s just a jalapeño purée, but it completes the mind-blowing flavor of our usual Saturday morning meal from the best taqueria in North Austin.

Taqueria Montenegro is a small taqueria located at 11300 Pollyanna Avenue on the corner of Braker Lane and I-35 connected to a convenient store next to a Money Box. The place has no seating and is busy every time we go. The service is relatively quick depending on how many people are waiting on their order. The staff is friendly, and the quality of the food is very consistent. Their prices are on the inexpensive side, and the menu has many authentic Mexican preparations which include tacos, tortas, and dishes with rice and beans.

They have the best barbacoa in North Austin, the best tortas in the universe, and other dishes you won’t find in a five-mile radius like tripas (which personally I’m not a fan). As long as we live in the North Austin area and our schedules allow, we’ll be stopping by Montenegro every Saturday morning for our usual order of two barbacoa tacos on flour tortillas with pico and two beef fajita tortas, a recipe for the best case of itis ever recorded in the history of man’s existence.

Thanks to GMN to introducing me to the best taqueria in Austin. He used to eat their food all the time when they were just a taco truck in the gas station parking lot where they’re located now. If you’re reading this and know an Austin taqueria that might be as amazing as Montenegro, then please get in touch.

My schedule during the weekdays have been very routine for the past several months now. I try to be in bed by 11pm each night and asleep before midnight. I first wake up in the morning when the first alarm goes off on my cell at 5:16am. Three more alarms at 5:47am, 5:57am and 6:05am plus the 10-minute snoozes continue to go off on my phone as I cradle the device with me enjoying the last moments of half-asleep before my alarm clock fires off full blast at 6:00am with the last song before The Morning X with Jason and Deb commences.

I sleep through the 6am news and usually out of bed getting ready for work by the time Morning X Rewind is played. I go through the morning weekday routine: pack my lunch, shower, dress up, and gather my portable audio devices and other necessary items I carry around with me (wallet, keys, cell). By the time I’m putting on my clothes, Morning X Sports is playing. On a good day, I’m out the door before the 1st hour Sports segment ends. On a normal day, I’m looking over at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen and it reads 6:40, 6:41, or 6:42.

I exit my dwelling unit, lock the door, and I’m in my car and warming it up during this time of the year. The face plate goes on my CD player and 101X is tuned to continue Morning X. Commercials or a song are usually playing at this time as I make the very short trek to work. Depending on whether or not I catch the light, the commute averages around seven minutes.

I get to work, scan in at the entrance to the fortress where I’ll be for the next eight hours, put my lunch in the break room fridge, go to my desk, clock in somewhere between 6:55-6:59, and start the grind. While my application loads, I equip my ears with ear buds and continue Morning X on the portable HD radio that my Maribell got me for the holiday. From the time I arrive ’til about 10am, I am tuned in to 101X listening to my favorite morning show of all time.

When Morning X concludes (now click that Play button but adjust your volume first) and the commercials starts to play again, I disconnect my headphones from the HD radio and plug in my custom-engraved iPod Shuffle I received as a gift for being the Best Man at one of my best friend’s wedding. I go through the playlist on shuffle ’til about ten minutes ’til noon.

At 11:50am, I switch back to the HD radio, exit my app, log my break, go to the break room, grab my lunch, exit the building, and stroll to my car. I enter my car, remove my headphones, and turn on the radio. I text my request to Flashback Lunch as soon as the lines open then proceed to consume my lunch which has been mostly the same thing every weekday: a can of soda (usually Coke® Zero™) and a sandwich (premium bread + premium sliced cheese + white chicken or turkey that was formed and packaged into a cylinder).

While I eat my lunch, I text the daily trivia question to TW. I hang out in my car for the radio ads to play and the first couple Flashback Lunch requests hoping that txt to 29217 was picked. When I finish my lunch and ready to return to the grind, the headphones go back on as I listen to Flashback Lunch for the hour.

Flashback Lunch finishes around 1pm. If Lawless is DJing, he plays a track from across the pond for UKTX. This is where I heard “Dominos” by The Big Pink and got into them. I scored a promo copy of their debut album at Cheapo Discs and really like it. UKTX recently played “Velvet” off the same album, A Brief History of Love, and that’s an excellent track, too.

After UKTX, I plugged back into the Shuffle and continue the mix ’til my shift ends at around 3pm. I remove my headphones, clock out, log off, and go back to my car. By this time, Toby is DJing and it’s about time for his 3 O’Clock Whatever. He was going to play Soul Coughing’s “Soft Serve” today but opted for System of a Down’s “Psycho.” He’s played “Soft Serve” before, but that song is a great jam and should be his go-to track if he doesn’t have anything else queued up.

I make the short drive home or to run an errand or two with the radio playing, and the audio doesn’t stop ’til the car stereo turns off when I pull into a parking space, shut off the car, remove the face plate, and enter my abode after a usual day at work.

Many electronic devices such as remote controls, clocks, and portable pocket radios still require AA or AAA battery power. Most other devices have rechargeable batteries designed for them or built in. When a regular battery is used up, they are no longer useful and become trash. The discard ends up in landfills and contains materials that are harmful for the environment.

Reduce waste and do a little something for the environment by purchasing rechargeable batteries the next time you need to restock. You will get your money’s worth in the long run and keep unnecessary used batteries from creating more unnecessary trash.

Energizer is still going and going and going as one of the leaders in rechargeable batteries. With the Easy Charger, your rechargeable AA and AAA batteries only require a couple hours to recharge. This eco-friendly kit is on sale for only $13 and includes the Easy Charger with two AA and two AAA NiMH batteries. The charger has an auto shut-off function that prevents from overcharging and also has an indicator to communicate how far along until the recharge is completed.

The next time you need to change out the batteries in your wireless mouse or keyboard, remote control, clock, pocket radio, or any device that uses AA or AAA batteries, just order yourself one of these and also get a few extra green batteries for the rest of your battery-powered electronics. You’ll probably find yourself not having to buy any more batteries for quite a while. That means less cash spent and less impact on the environment with less used batteries out of landfills. That’s a win-win situation.

Disk storage keeps getting cheaper as technology continues to advance. As a data collector, this always keeps me interested. A 2TB SATA internal hard drive with a 32MB cache from Hitachi is currently on sale for $168 with free shipping. Hard drive space is well into the terabyte zone, and they’ll just keep getting bigger and faster.

The days of clearing off disk space to make room for new files is behind us. Cloud computing allows access to a near infinite macrocosm of disk space to individuals, companies, and enterprises. Storing gigantic files like Blu-ray ISO images is easy with cloud services. Using a cloud can be costly to the average user since it’s a monthly bill versus a one-time investment. This is one of the main reasons why hard drives are still desirable.

The speed of file transfer is important when moving multiple files at once. With the 32MB cache on this 2TB hard drive, the Deskstar can keep up with all the data flowing through the network to reside on this inexpensive chunk of space. One of the main advantages of a local hard drive over using a cloud service is less time is consumed moving the data since bandwidth speed can be an issue on a home user level.

You might be asking yourself how you will ever fill up two terabytes of disk space. Imagine clearing physical space in your home by turning your Blu-ray and DVD collection into digital files and streaming them over your network to watch movies and TV shows with XBMC. You’ll save time not having to load tangible discs into your player and can enjoy the comfort of your entertainment center without having to leave your couch. Blu-ray discs require tens of gigs, and they add up quick.

This is just one of the ways you can take advantage of a 2TB hard drive. Think of how many smaller files like digital photos and music files you can store on one of these.

I’ve been looking for a USB device or special video card that will allow me to watch and record antenna TV on my computer since the DTV transition. I found this one this weekend on sale. For a little more than forty bucks after the rebate, I can watch high definition digital TV on my computer.

I watch plenty of TV programming, but I don’t need cable or satellite to get the shows I watch regularly. Why should I spend hundreds of dollars a year on a TV service when all of the shows I keep up with can travel through my antenna, streamed on Hulu, or found amongst the torrent community?

This hybrid video recorder is packaged with a USB extension cable since its shape can obstruct a nearby USB port. It also comes with a portable digital antennae and software to run the adapter. The software allows you to turn your computer in a DVR-like device where you can set it to record your shows at certain times.

Instead of needing a television set to watch your shows, you can just plug this HDTV adapter into your computer. This brings a new layer to multi-tasking. You won’t have to turn your head to see the TV. If I had this device, then I would not have to miss America’s Game since I have class during that time now Mondays thru Thursdays. I can just schedule my notebook to record the show and watch it after class. So 2010!

Back in May 2008, I wrote about the Kingston DataTraveler 4GB USB 2.0 flash drive available for the great price of twenty bucks. About a year and half has gone by and these wonderful devices have surfaced again on sale for half that price! Yes, you can be a proud owner of one of these reliable storage devices for only ten bucks.

I still use my Kingston 4GB flash drive as the primary storage source on one of my Ubuntu desktop PCs. These pocket-sized drives have the speed, disk space, and durability to run an operating system like a much pricier hard drive counterpart. This particular desktop runs 24/7 without any issues and has been running for months now since the cold weather returned.

If you’re a college student, then this is an essential school supply. Store all of your documents, photos, and more on this extremely portable drive. Save those CD-Rs and move around your data easily on a USB flash drive if the computers you’re working with are not connected on the same network. Doing this can save those unwanted burned discs from ending up in landfills and save you time with its fast transfer rate.

Kingston is a leader in all types of computer memory including flash drives, and I trust them and turn to them first with my computing needs. Consider doing the same and you won’t be disappointed.