CLA at Pensado's Place

[pitoga]

[youtube]pqZHOrj1VjQ&[/youtube]

Wondering how nobody mentioned it here yet.
After reading the thread about the CLA masterclass I was pretty sure he was going to be some mayor moron, but I think in this interview he really seems a nice guy, he just really believes in him and that can come through like kinda "arrogant".

I learned some pretty interesting stuff in this interview, as for CLA being more of an adder. He mentions he prefers not to remove frequencies but add them, something almost everywhere on this forum is not suggested. He also mentioned that sometimes if he solo's something he already fit in a mix, and it seems distorted thin or just wrong, he leaves it that way cause it worked before he soloed it. (the guitar sounding thin soloed i already knew, but the distorted part was new to me). That he mostly hard pans or center was something i did know about him. As for mixing on very quiet volume proves that he probably in the masterclass just had to put them loud so everyone could hear it or to mask the ambient noise of the attending persons.

I'd say its one of my favorite Pensado's place episodes.

 

[JeffTD]

This is such a shit episode, or maybe I just don't watch the show enough. It was basically just that old guy on the left swinging on CLA's nuts the entire time.

 

[Line666]

Yeah, bit of a nuthugging exercise to be honest, Pensado is bad for that anyway. To be honest though I think with this guy the reverence/ego is too much to ever get down to dishing out anything actually useful, he thinks he is the Jesus of audio engineering or something, the schtick gets old and tired fairly fast as does the pedestaling.

 

[Virgil.]

Someone give him a razor... that arm hair is scary shit.

EDIT: It's so annoying how much his eyes shift back and forth staring directly at the camera. What a tweak.

 

[LiberaScientia]

The thing I really don't like about CLA that really comes across in this video is just how vague he is. I lost count of the amount of sweeping statements and overly exaggerated analogies in this video. All the other episodes with really humble, nice engineers, they're really psyched to be explaining their work and how they go about their shit, but CLA just seems like he's afraid of giving too much away.

 

[Clark Kent]

"guy on the left" is Dave Pensado. If you're into mixing you need to check him out.

Yes CLA is a douchebag in many ways. He likes to act like the stereotypical rockstar which he clearly isn't. That being said he is a mastermind when it comes to mixing. Everyone gets mad at him for not teaching how to mix like he does. That's just stupid IMHO. You don't have CLA's ears and work method. It works great for him but will most likely not work best for other people. Find what works for yourself. Sure you can take his tips and he gives away amazing tips.

F.ex. ROCK MUSIC: Kick, snare and vocals matter the most. And yet it's always all about the guitar tone at this forum that's supposed to be about mixing metal in general....

 

[Clark Kent]

EDIT: Also another thing he said which I've said countless times on the forum: don't mix your tracks soloed. like f.ex. solo your guitar tracks and eq them and move to the next instrument. No one will ever hear those tracks soloed so it does not matter. Mix those tracks when everything is playing.

 

[Line666]

F.ex. ROCK MUSIC: Kick, snare and vocals matter the most. And yet it's always all about the guitar tone at this forum that's supposed to be about mixing metal in general....

Thats pretty much because a guitar tone will shit on all those other things if you let it, those elements are the driving force but if you don't keep guitars in check then it will stomp all over them. Working with guitar tones you're nearly always trying to minimize the damage as opposed to maximise the potential. So yes, for the force of the music, those elements really do matter, but if guitars aren't controlled - its game over straight away.

 

[BrettT]

Pensado comes across as a completely clueless dumbass in all his interviews. It's hard to believe he is a renowned mixer.

 

[egan.]

Everyone gets mad at him for not teaching how to mix like he does. That's just stupid IMHO. You don't have CLA's ears and work method. It works great for him but will most likely not work best for other people. Find what works for yourself. Sure you can take his tips and he gives away amazing tips.

F.ex. ROCK MUSIC: Kick, snare and vocals matter the most. And yet it's always all about the guitar tone at this forum that's supposed to be about mixing metal in general....

That's a straight up audio cliche though. "Don't EQ solo'd. Don't monitor too loud. Check your phase." etc. That's all good advice but none of it is particularly insightful to non-beginners.
People get frustrated b/c he constantly does interviews and clinics where he gives out cliches or worse contradicts advice he's given in other interviews. People want the specifics and not the generalizations. Certainly you can't buy his ears but for a guy that seems to do the same thing over and over again he could be a lot more specific or at least stop doing so many interviews and appearances if he wants to keep his cards close to his chest.

 

[smy1]

Pensado comes across as a completely clueless dumbass in all his interviews. It's hard to believe he is a renowned mixer.

I totally agree ...

 

[LiberaScientia]

Pensado comes across as a completely clueless dumbass in all his interviews. It's hard to believe he is a renowned mixer.

I wouldn't say that, judging from his ITLs he seems a very knowledgeable guy. If you're referring to his constant stuttering and stuff, it's probably just cause he seems to me like someone who isn't used to being in front of a camera. But he seems a really humble and nice guy that despite his success, still wants to learn, from where I'm sitting.

 

[Clark Kent]

I love how CLA didn't answer the Paramore question. In reality Bendeth made Paramore sound big and I read a post at gearslutz by Bendeth saying that CLA ripped his sound for that Paramore record. IMO that's exactly what happened and in this interview CLA kind of admits that.

Sure Pensado isn't very fluid in front of the camera but disrespecting Pensado's Place is like a nun pissing on baby jesus. I bet all of the main FOH questions have been answered by professionals in his ITLs and interviews.

 

[Clark Kent]

That's a straight up audio cliche though. "Don't EQ solo'd. Don't monitor too loud. Check your phase." etc. That's all good advice but none of it is particularly insightful to non-beginners.
People get frustrated b/c he constantly does interviews and clinics where he gives out cliches or worse contradicts advice he's given in other interviews. People want the specifics and not the generalizations. Certainly you can't buy his ears but for a guy that seems to do the same thing over and over again he could be a lot more specific or at least stop doing so many interviews and appearances if he wants to keep his cards close to his chest.

I bet even if he did tell us what he does it would all be basic. "Sidechain this and that" / "Boost this to make is sound like that" It's all basic but with amazing gear ofcourse. The guy has been mixing his whole life. It's all the same tricks that everyone is doing. The thing that separates him is that he knows IN HIS HEAD what is right and wrong. He can hear it and fix it straight away. That can't be taught. The guy has been mixing his entire life. Then these guys that have been mixing for 5 years think they know everything and can learn what he does like a magic trick. I think it's safe to say that it's not that easy.

 

[BrettT]

Don't get me wrong I dig his show and have definitely learned from it, but he just comes across as a total noob at times. I guess that's what makes the show informative, though.

 

[LeSedna]

I think in many fields, the old timers can look like noobish at times, because during their whole career the system has changed, the tools as well, and the older you get the less inclined you are to re-learn everything. And I think that the older you are, the simpler you perform tasks. I see it in my job as well, sometimes I realize I know more specific things than the oldest guys, but their experience is incredible and is what makes the difference. I have the same feeling about Pensado sometimes but I see it as someone who doesn't really give a shit about very very specific details (like he would be the kind of guys who opens a plugin for the first time and doesn't fiddle around, just moves a few knobs and if it sounds good with little tweaking then that's all that matters for him). I think he doesn't care as well if he does sound like someone who is not expert in a specific field, while if I were in front of the camera I would think twice if not more about all my words because I would care way more than he does. That's one of the reasons why I like his show, I like to see his honest and natural reactions. I have to admit sometimes I wish the show was condensed in 20mn of more acurate talks.

 

[mva801]

I love Pensado. He's had many informative episodes, and I don't fucking see anyone else putting on a weekly show with TOP engineers wtih top credits, sharing with you exactly how they use M/S eq's or whatever. I applaud what he's doing, and forgive him for not having a highly professional journalistic demeanor. It is pretty obvious though how much he really is into the craft of mixing and how passionate he is about sharing it with others. Even if he is kind of a dork, he's got my respect.

And about CLA. I don't find him quite as abhorrent as most of you guys seem to. The one thing I could say is, if you're going to be pretty vague about what you divulge, you probably shouldn't charge people for your mix with the masters stuff. That at least should have included much more about what you were specifically doing while mixing, as those guys paid to hear how your ear translates to real world mixing moves on the fly. So he didn't deliver there. But regarding everything else, I don't think the guy owes any of us shit. He's one of the most popular mixers around. He mixes so many damn songs, how are we always expecting him to give us some magic drum compression secret that will make everything sound perfect? It reminds me of an interview I read with Joey Jordison. He was talking about how LEGIONS of fucking kids keep coming up to him asking what his secret is for playing so fast and consistent on the kicks. He then says, god damn it, there is no secret! Just fucking practice your god damned balls off!

I feel like it's the same with this guy. How many assholes keep asking him how to get drumsound a or b? I'd probably say the same thing to them. He probably doesn't even know or remember where he eq'd something or how much he compressed it. The guy just listens and works fast as hell. We know enough about what gear he uses, the rest is just up to your ears and a lifetime of practice.

 

[egan.]

I bet even if he did tell us what he does it would all be basic. "Sidechain this and that" / "Boost this to make is sound like that" It's all basic but with amazing gear ofcourse. The guy has been mixing his whole life. It's all the same tricks that everyone is doing. The thing that separates him is that he knows IN HIS HEAD what is right and wrong. He can hear it and fix it straight away. That can't be taught. The guy has been mixing his entire life. Then these guys that have been mixing for 5 years think they know everything and can learn what he does like a magic trick. I think it's safe to say that it's not that easy.

I agree it's not that easy, but basic or no there are specific things he clearly does repetitively including signal chain things. There are things he obviously listens for that he can identify. That's the whole point. It's a cop out to say "you can't teach experience" because that's obvious but there are guys who reveal far more useful info on gearslutz than CLA does in paid clinics (Bill Swedien, Michael Brauer, etc).
No one expects a magic bullet but it's reasonable to expect that a man who seeks so much exposure based on his professional skill would actually talk explicitly about what he does.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

I love Pensado. He's had many informative episodes, and I don't fucking see anyone else putting on a weekly show with TOP engineers wtih top credits, sharing with you exactly how they use M/S eq's or whatever. I applaud what he's doing, and forgive him for not having a highly professional journalistic demeanor. It is pretty obvious though how much he really is into the craft of mixing and how passionate he is about sharing it with others. Even if he is kind of a dork, he's got my respect.

And about CLA. I don't find him quite as abhorrent as most of you guys seem to. The one thing I could say is, if you're going to be pretty vague about what you divulge, you probably shouldn't charge people for your mix with the masters stuff. That at least should have included much more about what you were specifically doing while mixing, as those guys paid to hear how your ear translates to real world mixing moves on the fly. So he didn't deliver there. But regarding everything else, I don't think the guy owes any of us shit. He's one of the most popular mixers around. He mixes so many damn songs, how are we always expecting him to give us some magic drum compression secret that will make everything sound perfect? It reminds me of an interview I read with Joey Jordison. He was talking about how LEGIONS of fucking kids keep coming up to him asking what his secret is for playing so fast and consistent on the kicks. He then says, god damn it, there is no secret! Just fucking practice your god damned balls off!

I feel like it's the same with this guy. How many assholes keep asking him how to get drumsound a or b? I'd probably say the same thing to them. He probably doesn't even know or remember where he eq'd something or how much he compressed it. The guy just listens and works fast as hell. We know enough about what gear he uses, the rest is just up to your ears and a lifetime of practice.

Agree with that

It's a cop out to say "you can't teach experience" because that's obvious but there are guys who reveal far more useful info on gearslutz than CLA does in paid clinics (Bill Swedien, Michael Brauer, etc).

Everyone already know CLA signal chain, and if you spend little time understanding 4k signal flow you can figure out how he use his board just watching his youtube video.
For quote Michael Brauer: "at the end, it's just tool... If you haven't creativity you will do nothing with it"

What most people want to hear is how do mix like those guy... But that come from taste, and taste is individual...

 

[26]

i'm fine with that episode. creatives on this level of experience care for the picture not the pixel.
when it comes to teaching, the parameters should change to a certain degree of individuality, of course.